React is the JavaScript library used for creating adaptive, component-based UIs for web applications. It is flexible and very efficient and therefore highly preferred among React developers.
If you are a developer or planning to hire dedicated React JS developers, here are some best practices that must be followed in React development. Follow the below practices and develop highly interactive responsive web applications using React.
Best Practices in React Development
- Organize Your Project Structure
It is important for big applications to have a project structure. During development, group files by features, components, concerns, etc.
This practice helps in dealing with complexity and organization as developers can realize where their code sits regarding the big picture. While working with teams, consistent folder organization can give the advantage during cooperation and exclude the possibility of some mistakes.
- Use Functional Components
Always prefer functional components over class components as functional components are easy to test and offer better performance. React Hooks manages state and lifecycle methods and eliminates the need for class components.
Using functional components promotes easy code readability and is concise compared to class components. You get better code organization and promote an easy understanding of application flow.
- Hooks for State Management
There are hooks like useState, useEffect, and useReducer that give an approach to managing states and side effects in React applications. Unlike the lifecycle methods used in class components, hooks let you optimize state, effects, and other capabilities right within functional components.
When using useEffect, ensure to correctly handle dependencies to avoid repeated re-renders or unwanted side effects.
- Implement PropTypes or TypeScript
Prop type checking is important for eradicating bugs caused by incorrect prop types. React’s PropTypes library helps you define the data type each component should accept in its props, thus minimizing the risk of passing wrong data and making your app less reliable.
Otherwise, TypeScript has a more effective approach based on static typing throughout the application. The integration is also stronger, auto-completion is improved and the errors during the development are more complete with TypeScript.
- Optimize Rendering with React.memo
Optimizing performance is always important in large applications, and React helps with such issues using tools like React.memo to prevent unnecessary re-renders. It’s called React.memo, a higher-order component for a component that will not re-render if the passed props have not changed, thereby increasing performance and avoiding unnecessary updates.
- Keep Components Small and Focused
Another best practice to follow is to keep the components small and focused. When there are too many things to handle in a component, it becomes harder to maintain and test. Handling small components ensures easy management and makes the testing effortless.
- Use Error Boundaries
Using error boundaries in React allows you to catch and handle errors in the component tree. It ensures that your application doesn’t break with any minor issues. Moreover, error boundaries are used to display fallback UI and find out errors for logging.
- Lazy Load Components
Lazy loading is a practice in React that enables you to load the components when necessary. It improves the initial load time of the application. React provides built-in support for lazy loading with React.lazy and Suspense.
- Write Unit Tests
Testing is extremely important to validate the functionality of React components. It ensures that the application works according to the initial intentions. Test your React components using Jest or React Testing Library. Both these catch bugs at the early stages of the development.
Moreover, unit tests can help verify the rendering of the components. It helps in handling state changes properly and responds to user interactions effectively.
Conclusion
Follow the above-given best practices in React development to create efficient, maintainable, and scalable React applications. These practices are not only good for the web application but for your personal growth as well.
