React and React Native: Build cross-platform JavaScript applications with native power for the web, desktop, and mobile

PUBLISHER'S NOTE: An updated 2024 edition of this book, with new emphasis on TypeScript, is now available.

Key Features

• Discover React’s latest features including automatic state update batching and prioritizing state updates
• Get to grips with React architecture to write cross-platform apps using libraries such as NativeBase
• Understand GraphQL and Apollo for building a scalable backend for your applications

Book Description

Over the years, React and React Native has proven itself among JavaScript developers as a popular choice for a complete and practical guide to the React ecosystem. This fourth edition comes with the latest features, enhancements, and fixes to align with React 18, while also being compatible with React Native. It includes new chapters covering critical features and concepts in modern cross-platform app development with React.

From the basics of React to popular components such as Hooks, GraphQL, and NativeBase, this definitive guide will help you become a professional React developer in a step-by-step manner. You'll begin by learning about the essential building blocks of React components. As you advance through the chapters, you'll work with higher-level functionalities in application development and then put your knowledge to work by developing user interface components for the web and native platforms. In the concluding chapters, you'll learn how to bring your application together with robust data architecture.

By the end of this book, you'll be able to build React applications for the web and React Native applications for multiple mobile platforms.

What you will learn

• Explore React architecture, component properties, state, and context
• Work with React Hooks for handling functions and components
• Implement code splitting using lazy components and Suspense
• Build robust user interfaces for mobile and desktop apps using Material-UI
• Write shared components for Android and iOS apps using React Native
• Simplify layout design for React Native apps using NativeBase
• Write GraphQL schemas to power web and mobile apps
• Implement Apollo-driven components

Who this book is for

This book is for any JavaScript developer who wants to start learning how to use React and React Native for mobile and web application development. No prior knowledge of React is required, however working knowledge of JavaScript is necessary to be able to follow along the content covered.

Table of Contents

1. Why React?
2. Rendering with JSX
3. Component Properties, State, and Context
4. Getting Started with Hooks
5. Event Handling, the React Way
6. Crafting Reusable Components
7. The React Component Life Cycle
8. Validating Component Properties
9. Handling Navigation with Routes
10. Code Splitting Using Lazy Components and Suspense
11. Server-Side React Components
12. User Interface Framework Components
13. High-Performance State Updates
14. Why React Native?
15. React Native Under the Hood
16. Kick-Starting React Native Projects
17. Building Responsive Layouts with Flexbox
18. Navigating Between Screens
19. Rendering Item Lists
20. Showing Progress
21. Geolocation and Maps
22. Collecting User Input
23. Displaying Modal Screens
24. Responding to User Gestures
25. Using Animations
26. Controlling Image Display
27. Going Offline
28. Selecting Native UI Components Using NativeBase
29. Handling Application State
30. Why GraphQL?
31. Building a GraphQL React App

Adam Boduch has been involved in large-scale JavaScript development for nearly 15 years. Before moving to the frontend, he worked on several large-scale cloud computing products using Python and Linux. No stranger to complexity, Adam has practical experience with real-world software systems and the scaling challenges they pose.

Roy Derks is a serial start-up CTO, international speaker, and author from the Netherlands. He has been working with React, React Native, and GraphQL since 2016. You might know him from the book “React Projects – Second Edition”, which was released by Packt earlier this year. Over the last few years, he has inspired tens of thousands of developers worldwide through his talks, books, workshops, and courses.

Mikhail Sakhniuk is Software Engineer with high proficiency in JavaScript, React and React Native. He has more than 5 years of experience in developing web and mobile applications. He has worked for startups, fintech companies, and product companies with more than 20 million users. Currently, Mikhail is working at Miro as a Frontend Engineer. In addition, he owns and maintains a few open-source projects. He also shares his experience and knowledge through books and articles.