Complete React JS Roadmap in 2024

React is a popular frontend library used for making single-page applications (SPAs). With the goal of creating faster loading user interfaces (UI) using a virtual DOM (JavaScript object), React is a powerful tool for web development. This roadmap has been instrumental in guiding my learning journey.

Prerequisites

• HTML
• CSS
• JavaScript – You must know ES6 concepts such as Destructuring, Spread Operator, Arrow functions and Template Literals.

Beginner Concepts

• Creating React Apps – You can create a React app using Create React App (CRA) and Vite. For a beginner you can start with CRA and understand the folder structure. Once you get used to it you can switch to Vite. I recommend using Vite because the build process is much faster.
• Understand core concepts such as Components, States and Props. You will interact with your first hook – useState early to manage states.
• Focus on functional components. With the introduction to React 16, writing functional components is the standard way of creating components in modern React applications.
• Get familiar with JSX – This is a syntax extension for JavaScript that lets you write HTML-like markup inside a JavaScript file.
• Conditional Rendering – Conditional rendering in React refers to the process of delivering elements and components based on certain conditions.
• Lifting state up – This is a technique used in React to share state between multiple components.
• Practice the concepts you have learnt daily through building small projects as this will reinforce the new concepts and help you get comfortable quickly.

Intermediate Concepts

• React hooks such as useEffect, useRef and useContext. Hooks allow function components to have access to state and other React features. Because of this, class components are generally no longer needed.
• Form handling – You can initialize variables to manage form states and use handler functions such as handleChange() and handleSubmit(). Additionally, you should explore form libraries, such as React Hook Form, Formik, or Final Form for form validation and customization.
• API Calls in React – Learn how to fetch data from APIs using tools like fetch or libraries like Axios. In React, we perform API requests within the useEffect() hook. It either renders immediately when the app mounts or after a specific state is reached.
• Error handling and debugging
  In React JS, Error Boundaries are used to catch errors that occur during rendering so you can explore this. The React Dev Tools can also help with error handling.

Advanced Topics

• Context API – Context API allows data to be passed through a component tree without passing props manually at every level.
• Testing In React – Learn how to make unit tests, integration tests and popular testing frameworks such as Jest.
• Performance Optimization – You can explore react performance optimization techniques like lazy loading, and memoization – here you will use the useMemo hook. There are plenty of other optimization methods to explore.

Recommended Libraries and Tools

• React Router Dom – This is a framework that lets us handle client-side routing in React applications. It enables the creation of single-page web or mobile apps that allow navigating without refreshing the page.
• Redux – This is the most powerful state management tool in React and it’s frequently used to build complex applications. With the help of Redux, we can easily manage the state of our React applications, which helps us to develop and maintain complex applications.
• React Developer Tools – React Developer Tools is a Chrome extension tailored for React developers. It allows you to inspect the React component hierarchies in the Chrome Developer Tools. This tool is important for examining the current props and state of your components and understanding the structure of your application.
• React Official Documentation – At the beginning stages of your learning be comfortable with the docs and read through them. You can strategize and cover specific portions at a time. It contains answers to a lot of the questions you are thinking about.

Styling In react

You can use Tailwind CSS to rapidly create modern and responsive user interfaces. Other excellent styling options include Material UI, Chakra UI, Ant Design, and Shadcdn UI.

Conclusion.

Learning React takes a lot of effort and time. Be patient with yourself and remember to show up when you are ready. I highly recommend coding along with projects on YouTube. Set weekly goals for how many projects you will do and make sure to do them. Good luck on this learning journey! 🙌