ReactJS Best Practices – Strategies To Writing Top Quality Code In 2022
Do you know a differentiator between an expert React developer and a ‘just’ React developer? Make a guess, coding skills? Nopes. Experience? Naah! Testing skills? Definitely not. Then what is it? It is the art of writing superior code in the least possible time. You might be wondering how to do it, right? The answer is quite simple. Implement ReactJS best practices explained in this blog.
No, we are not kidding. Follow these React best practices to take your coding skills to the next level.
Folder structure
When you are working with Reactjs, you should have a proper folder structure in your workspace. You should create folders for different components and files that make up the final product. If you are developing React apps without proper structure, you will be at the risk of making your app unusable.
To avoid this problem, we should create proper folders in our React codebase. This will make it easier to navigate between different files where we have different functionality and can easily change what functionality we need without having to change the whole codebase.
The first thing we should do is create a folder called “src” inside of the root directory.
Sample Folder Structure
└── /src
├── /assets
├── /components
├── /store – redux store
├── /utils – utilities, helpers, constants.
├── /views/pages
├── index.js
└── App.js
Use Redux To Manage State
Redux is a state management library that has been widely adopted by frontend developers. It is a key component of the React framework, and it has been used to design the UI of most popular web applications. Redux is an implementation of the concept of the state machine, which allows us to easily manage our application’s state.
The main idea behind redux is that we don’t need to write complex logic every time we want to change the application’s state. Instead, we can just update our reducer and let it take care of all the logic for us. This makes the application stateless, with zero state management overhead.
This means that we can write only a very few lines of code to change our application’s state, and then we can go on doing whatever else we want. Reducer is where all the magic happens and manipulates values in an atomic way using pure functions.
Naming Conventions
The naming convention is a set of rules and guidelines for naming your project and products. It helps you to avoid confusion and keep things organized. These conventions help us to keep track of our code and understand it better, as well as make it easier for others to understand our code.
By using proper naming conventions, developers can make their code more maintainable and easier to retrieve. A React developer needs to make sure that the naming convention is consistent throughout the project.
Naming conventions are not only useful when developing apps but also in the design phase of applications, so make sure you follow them strictly.
Make Use Of Shorthand For Boolean Props
When it comes to passing boolean props to a component. A lot many developers does like this:
<RegistrationForm hasPadding={true} withError={true} />
Actually there is no need of it because the occasion of the prop itself is truthful or false
Instead, a cleaner approach would be:
<RegistrationForm hasPadding withError />
Leverage The Linter
Linter is a tool that helps you to write clean code. It will check your code against the best practices and make sure that it doesn’t contain any errors or omissions. It also checks for typos and other issues, so it catches them in a way that makes sure that your code is correct.
Linter is responsible for checking syntax, style, and readability. The purpose of linter is to improve the quality of your code before you send it to production. You can also use it to check your code or reports against your own style guides and other quality control tools.
Lazy Loading
Lazy loading is a technique that allows the page to load only the needed resources at a given time. It has been used to speed up page load times, but it can also reduce your site’s bandwidth by reducing the amount of data that needs to be transferred every time you make a change to your site.
It is employed when the page loads slowly and users will have to wait for a long time to see the page. Using lazy loading, users will spend less time waiting for the page to load, and they will be more likely to stay on your site longer.
Avoid Unnecessary Div
return (
<div>
<Button>Close</Button>
</div>
);
In case of multiple components to be returned, use or use or in shorthand form <>
return (
<Button>Close</Button>
);
Don’t use curly braces for string props
In case you want to use a JavaScript expression different from a string, use the curly braces.
E.g, Want to use a number.
With plain string, it would like below example:
<Paragraph variant=”h5″ heading=”A new book” />
Set Up Map Function for Dynamic Rendering of Arrays
You can create an object with props that results in a dynamic HTML block without needing to write repeated code. To cater the same, React has a map() function to show arrays in order. In an array with a map (), you can keep one parameter from the array as a key.
render () {
let cartoons = [ “Pika”, “Squi”, “Bulb”, “Char” ];
return (
<ul>
{cartoons.map(name => <li key={name}>{name}</li>)}
</ul>
);
}
Except this, ES6 spread functions are used to transfer a full list of parameters in an object by using object.keys().
render () {
let cartoons = {
“Pika”: {
type: “Electric”,
level: 10
},
“Squi”: {
type: “Water”,
level: 10
},
“Bulb”: {
type: “Grass”,
level: 10
},
“Char”: {
type: “Fire”,
level: 10
}
};
return (
<ul>
{Object.keys(cartoons).map(name => <Cartoons key={name} {… cartoon[name]} />)}
</ul>
Following is an another example of mapping:
import React, { Component } from “react”;
class Item extends Component {
state = {
listitems: [
{
id: 0,
context: “Primary”,
modifier: “list-group-item list-group-item-primary”
},
{
id: 1,
context: “Secondary”,
modifier: “list-group-item list-group-item-secondary”
},
{
id: 2,
context: “Success”,
modifier: “list-group-item list-group-item-success”
},
{
id: 3,
context: “Danger”,
modifier: “list-group-item list-group-item-danger”
},
{
id: 4,
context: “Warning”,
modifier: “list-group-item list-group-item-warning”
}
]
};
render() {
return (
<React.Fragment>
<ul className=”list-group”>
{this.state.listitems.map(listitem => (
<li key={listitem.id} className={listitem.modifier}>
{listitem.context}
</li>
))}
</ul>
</React.Fragment>
);
}
}
export default Item;
Summing Up
This was all about ReactJS practices to write superior code quality. We hope that you will implement these best practices in your upcoming React project. Just in case, if you are looking for an expert React developer to hire, then do visit our website.
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