The world of JavaScript is moving so very fast these days, that it's hard to keep up. So, both as a business and an engineer: what's worthy of your time and resources?

This article is here to tell you: consider React.

Why React, React Native, and Redux

As we learned React, React Native and Redux, we put together a list of free resources we found helpful. These may help you get started with React as well.

React has really matured into a clear winner in the JavaScript space. The component principles of React make so much sense that I recommend you give it a spin even if you don't plan on using it--you may learn something about organizing your JavaScript code.

Then, React Native came along. It's still got a ways to go in terms of ease of use and getting started, but it's a no brainer if you need a relatively simple, cross-platform, native-feel mobile application. In terms of solutions that feel native, it's really the main option at the moment. You can use PhoneGap, Cordova, or Ionic, but this short clip can show you how big a difference React Native can make.

List of resources

After days of research and learning, these are the highlights. If you're a fast learner, you can watch most videos at 1.25-1.5x speed. Except for Dan Abramov's Redux lesson on egghead. It seems his videos are made at that learning speed already :)

React

• The React Tutorial is actually really good. Start there. Read along and copy/paste quickly to get a sense of the basics. I like how they have a backend server for every popular language and framework!
• React Fundamentals course by Tyler McGinnis. Follow along and build the weather site he has at the end. You will really learn.
• If you're totally unfamiliar, read a summary about node.js, webpack, JSX and babel.
• Bonus: read this tutorial and refactor your code to use ES2015/ES6/Babel syntax.
• 9 React tips for beginners put together a great summary of how you should think React

Redux

• The Redux series by Dan Abramov is fantastic! He really walks through step by step on benefits of using Redux. Sold!

React Native

• A good overview of what it was like a few months ago to build a React Native app for production use. Their demo of Discovery VR is great, and he gives some great examples of shortcomings that might need to be implemented native. They were able to get 80-90% of the code in JavaScript reusable across Android and iOS.
• A good overview of React Native by the guy who ported the CSS flexbox model into it (and was part of React Native's beginnings). Gives you a sense of the building blocks :)
• Quickly building an app that integrates a Spotify API with a list-view and animation. Gives you a sense of how React Native is so much better than JS frameworks.
• Facebook's experience building their first cross-platform app

Performance / large applications

This is more handy after you get the basics down and play around with small apps.

• Best practices for large React applications
• Step by step React performance advice (note that it's in 2 parts)

Thanks? Thanks!

If you find this helpful, share it with others.

If you have questions, would like to thank us, or want to suggest an addition to this list, you can contact us or leave a comment below.

Also, if you've got some engineering that needs to be done and React is looking peachy, we'd love to hear from you!