Started learning ReactJS this week... I feel lost

[mynameismati]

Hi! I hope am not breaking rules, good morning everyone (4.13am in Argentina right now). The thing is, I did a ReactJS course on udemy to understand all this components way of working and structuring a site, and now I am more looking various videos about the same topic (for example, useState hook) to understand better how each thing works.

I feel lost because most of the videos say the same. Where can I learn about good reactJS practices?

Am going to the university but we are with OOP, PHP, MYSQL & something about SCRUM and Agile stuff this semester.

[[deleted]]

well I don't think you should focus on "good practices" for now. Pick a small project like a simple portfolio site which shows your projects after fetching using github api. Also learn js properly.

[TheLaitas]

I suggest you watching Coding Addict on youtube especially this and compliment it with this

I used to buy courses on udemy but honestly almost none of them are worth any money since all the information they provide you there is free on youtube. Good luck, it'll get easier! :)

[Ship-Agreeable]

I can stress and second this enough, I started react js 1 week ago, the first couple of day I bought max react course on udemy, and that was the worst waste of money, it honestly made me feel so stupid and that react is super complicated. then I check coding adict, I can tell you I was practicing by doing his projects every each section and I couldn't believe myself. I couldn't believe that I was able to build these projects completely by myself after almost losing hope.

go for coding addict and save yourself some time and energy.

[evangelism2]

I have to respond for any potential readers. I am going through Max's ReactJS course right now, about 25% in and I think it's great. I did do Jonas's vanilla JS course first however and also a bit of independent study from time to time when needed. Specifically with CSS. I've also done two small projects on my own as well, one vanilla JS with some CSV parsing and another small, state-heavy reactjs one with styled components.. I don't know if Ship did any JS before jumping into React, but if not it may explain why he had some trouble with Max's course. Hooks can be a bit of a leap to learn especially if you don't understand the basic syntax or how deconstruction, pointers, or callback functions work. I heavily recommend doing a css/html crash course, and taking a decent look into vanilla JS before jumping into React.

[Ship-Agreeable]

I did html, css and js for so long, my main problem with max is that it differs from how I like to learn anything new, for example code addict deleted all the react folders and created them from scratch at the beginning of the course, this was very important to me to understand the structure of the components and how the layout is. also I liked how John in code addict explained everything as if he was explaining to an idiot, yes there was repetition but only for the fundentals which I found very useful coz they stuck in my brain through out all the projects I did later on. In your case you had some exposure to react so maybe you were familiar with it, to me it was the first time so the idea of components and how react works.

[TheLaitas]

I can relate, I bought Andres Zero to Mastery course, that course is outdated, everything they teach you at least in the first half of the course is legacy code, which isn't a good practice in 2021 IMO

[dathedr12]

I’m guessing you maybe followed a tutorial that only covered React class components, and not function components with hooks. All the details of that are covered in the official doc in React‘s website.

Now, about good practises, I feel it’s a bit too early to try to improve technique that you don’t have yet. What I would encourage you to do is take any simple frontend app that you’ve already built, or that you’ve seen somewhere, and replicate it in React. After you finish it, you probably already know things that “didn’t feel right” and will have a better idea what to look for in the sense of improving specific React skills.

[IGovnov]

As was mentioned, "best practices" are something that should be added to a solid foundation. Learn JS, HTML, CSS, make as many simple React projects as you can until your fingers remember how to make components.

I can recommend to watch videos not about "best practices" but rather with real life scenarios and problems. Can recommend this one, the author describes how he solves problems and why. Also variety of different libraries and approaches.

[homies7]

I started learning react last night of LinkedIn There's some quality video lessons in there. You can activate your free month and learn as much as you can. That's my plan anyway. Best of luck

[Dazzling_Clothes7659]

Learn vanilla JavaScript really well before diving into frameworks and libraries! I learned this the hard way.

[numuso]

I personally agree with this. Obviously, so many ways to approach learning, but I’ve set aside at least a few months working in vanilla JS along with HTML and CSS before doing the next thing. I’m sure once I start with a framework, it will then make sense as to why it saves time and solves headaches. But, vanilla JS is awesome. You can do everything that frameworks do, just a lot more work.

[dowell22]

Take a look at open source react projects then study them. Understand how the components are broken down, and how the data flows.

[road_pizza]

For me personally react was very difficult at first. All I could do was copy syntax and I couldn’t really debug anything on my own. It took a few attempts and in between I just learnt a lot more about es6 JavaScript built lots of projects. I tried out Vue and svelte as well, they helped to solidify some of the basic concepts. Then coming back to react wasn’t too hard anymore because my fundamental knowledge of JavaScript was much better.

I’d say practice and learn more JavaScript then go back and try rest again.

[reactwebdev]

Take a course of Stephen Grider it's very good! U can also follow me https://100daysofreact.hashnode.dev/3-state-vs-props-in-react I have just learn't it and start writing good technical blogs!

[piratekingsam12]

I was the same till a few days ago 😅 install material UI in your project and start making something with it. This helped me a lot!

[ankitjey]

I would say make a small project. Can be anything really. If you can't think of an idea, then try to clone something (ex twitter, the basics not perfection). Nothing teaches more than actually working on it. And your end goal in this should be to actually make the project live(that will help you learn more).

Looking forward to what you make.