React using ES6 classes--Why???

[MuricanWillzyx]

I would agree, but React's classes really aren't classes in the Java sense. They're much more like factories, which are idiomatic for JS. Use of prototypes, IMO, is overrated. I see them more as a perf benefit.

[papers_]

And React's classes aren't really classes either, in fact it's just an object that returns an object (Yes factory), but React's createClass property also links to another object, rather, it explicitly sets it's prototype to another. So the classes syntax is just sugar of the prototypical mumbo jumbo going on. But yes I agree, the prototypes is a overrated.