React from Scratch
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React from Scratch

A friendly guide for absolute beginners

About the Book

This book is my answer to the question: how to teach React to a complete beginner, in as little time as possible?

Need to learn the basics quickly? This is your book.

About the Author

Ajdin Imsirovic
Ajdin Imsirovic

Ajdin Imsirovic is a full-stack web developer who has published several courses (way back in 2015) on the subject of web design and web development. 

Before self-publishing books on Leanpub, he authored four books on front-end development for Packt Publishing:

  1. Vue CLI 3 Quick Start Guide (Build and maintain Vue.js applications quickly with the standard CLI), May 2019
  2. Vue.js Quick Start Guide (Learn how to build amazing and complex reactive web applications easily using Vue.js), October 2018
  3. Elm Web Development (An introductory guide to building functional web apps using Elm), March 2018
  4. Bootstrap 4 Cookbook (Over 75 recipes to help you build elegant and responsive web applications with Bootstrap 4), June 2017

Additionally, he's published a number of books on the Leanpub platform, specifically:

  1. A Better Way to Learn JavaScript - The Basics: https://bit.ly/abwtljs1
  2. A Better Way to Learn JavaScript - Built-in Objects: https://bit.ly/abwtljs2
  3. A Better Way to Learn JavaScript - Useful Snippets: https://bit.ly/abwtljs3
  4. A Better Way to Learn JavaScript - Mini Apps: https://bit.ly/abwtljs4
  5. A Better Way to Learn JavaScript - Advanced JavaScript: https://bit.ly/abwtljs5
  6. Angular From Scratch: https://bit.ly/ai-afs
  7. Vue.js From Scratch: https://bit.ly/ai-vfs
  8. React from Scratch: https://leanpub.com/react-from-scratch
  9. Building Amazing Layouts - Learn the Basics of HTML5, CSS3, and Bootstrap 5: https://bit.ly/bldamzlyts1
  10. Building Amazing Layouts - Bootstrap 5 Layouts in Depth: https://bit.ly/bldamzlyts2

Table of Contents

  • Chapter 0: Before we start
    • 0.1 Disclaimer
    • 0.2 Assumptions: Things to have before we start
  • Chapter 1: Building the simplest possible React app
    • 1.0 What is React?
    • 1.1 Install React Developer Tools in your Browser
    • 1.2 Let’s build the simplest possible React app
    • 1.3 Run our default React app and examine it in the browser
    • 1.4 Inspecting the app using React Developer Tools
    • 1.5 What happens when we run the npx create-react-app <appName>?
    • 1.6 Understanding our default React app’s folder and file structure
    • 1.7 Inspecting the contents of package.json
    • 1.8 Altering the default app
  • Chapter 2: Serving React from a CDN and running it without a build step
    • 2.1 Re-building the simplest app without a build step using Codepen.io
    • 2.2 Load another node into another div
    • 2.3 Challenge: Render three more h2 headings
    • 2.4 Adding HTML attributes using React.createElement
    • 2.5 What happened to the DOM?
    • 2.6 Some Conclusions
    • 2.7 Optimizing our simplest example’s code, the React way: introducing JSX
    • 2.9 Exercise: Find at least one interesting React Codepen
    • 2.10 Making our simplest app a bit more dynamic, using JSX
  • Chapter 3: Build React Apps Locally Without a Build Step
    • 3.1 Build React Apps Locally Without a Build Step, pt 1 (no HTML attributes)
    • 3.2 Build React Apps Locally Without a Build Step, pt 2 (with HTML attributes)
    • 3.3 Build React Apps Locally Without a Build Step, pt 3 (nested HTML elements)
    • 3.4 Build React Apps Locally Without a Build Step, pt 4 (improved nested HTML code)
  • Chapter 4: What is JSX?
    • 4.1 Adding HTML-like code as a parameter to the root.render() call
    • 4.2 Using the ternary operator in JSX
    • 4.3 Using variables in JSX
    • 4.4 Why does JSX look like HTML?
  • Chapter 5: Components and props
    • 5.1 The simplest possible app using a component
    • 5.1 Is it render or return?
    • 5.2 You must have a single wrapping element when returning JSX
    • 5.3 Props in React
    • 5.4 The hierarchy of React components
    • 5.5 Transpiling JSX using Babel to inspect the props object
    • 5.6 The list of completed learning objectives
  • Chapter 6: Assets in React
    • 6.1 Working with images
    • 6.2 Working with JSON
  • Chapter 7: JSX and styling
    • 7.1 How to include CSS in plain HTML?
    • 7.2 Some of the possible ways to style components in React
    • 7.3 Importing styles using the link element
    • 7.4 Inline styles using object literals
    • 7.5 Inline styles using variables
    • 7.6 Composable styles using the spread operator
    • 7.7 Third-party styling libraries
  • Chapter 8, Build a Static Bootstrap Layout
    • 8.1 Prototyping our website layout’s components
    • 8.2 Adding the Bootstrap navbar
    • 8.3 Adding Bootstrap’s CSS
    • 8.4 Extracting MainMenu component and importing it into App.js
    • 8.5 Adding another component (the Jumbotron)
    • 8.6 Adding the Card component and repeating it multiple times
    • 8.7 Working with the children prop
    • 8.8 Using the children prop in the CardsWrapper component
    • 8.9 Adding the footer component
  • Chapter 9: Looping over data (repeating cards)
    • 9.1 The starting app for Chapter 9 (with non-repeating cards)
    • 9.2 Extracting data to a separate object
    • 9.3 Looping over JSON data
    • 9.4 Improving readability of the passed-in data with props
    • 9.4.1 Bonus: Calling a single prop in the rendered Car component in App.js
    • 9.4.2 Bonus 2: Cleaning up code using object destructuring
    • 9.4.3 Bonus 3: Taking object destructuring one step further (destructuring nested objects)
  • Chapter 10: The very basics of data and events in React
    • 10.1 Data in React
    • 10.2 Working with state data in a React component
    • 10.3 Updating the state data in a React component using events
    • 10.4 Exercise
  • Chapter 11: Conditional rendering
    • 11.1 Product component example app
    • 11.2 Using if-else in a component to render it conditionally
    • 11.3 Rendering classNames conditionally using ternary operators
    • 11.4 Simplifying rendering classNames conditionally using ternary operators
    • 11.5 When rendering a list of items, skipping an item if a prop value is an empty string
    • 11.6 Conditionally returning a different string than the one passed in from a prop
    • 11.7 Conditionally rendering different components
    • 11.8 Extracting the return values as variables
    • 11.9 Extracting the return values as variables, and rendering them using the ternary operator
    • 11.10 Conditionally rendering components using the logical AND operator (the && operator)
  • Chapter 12: Understanding the useState hook
    • 12.1 Updating a component’s state using the useState hook
  • Chapter 13: Forms in React
    • 13.1 Forms in React
    • 13.2 Watch for input changes in React
    • 13.3 Detecting and handling the onChange event on an input
    • 13.4 Adding the built-in event object
    • 13.5 Adding state to the form input
    • 13.6 The proper way of updating the state object in React
    • 13.7 Controlled components in React
    • 13.8 Other form inputs: radio buttons, checkboxes, textareas, and selects
    • 13.9 The useRef hook, controlled and uncontrolled components
    • 13.10 The useRef hook, focus and blur
    • 13.11 The useRef hook, scrollIntoView
    • 13.12 The useRef hook, setInterval and clearInterval
    • 13.13 The useRef hook, requestAnimationFrame and cancelAnimationFrame
    • 13.14 The useRef hook, file input use case
    • 13.15 Using the useRef hook to create custom hooks
  • Chapter 14: Build a todo app
    • 14.1 Render a list of pre-defined todos in a state variable
    • 14.2 A form to add new todos
    • 14.2.1 Adding the form
    • 14.3 Handling the submission of a new todo
    • 14.4 Improvements to the app
    • 14.5 Exercise and recap
    • 14.6 Conclusion
  • Chapter 15: Testing your todo app
    • 15.1 Planning for testing: a general outline of steps
    • 15.2 Implementing our tests
    • 15.3 Run the tests
    • 15.4 The updated app with passing tests
    • 15.4 Red-green-refactor: Conquering your todo app with confidence
    • 15.5 Red-Green-Refactor Cycle example in TodoList.test.js
    • 15.6 Continuing testing: Refine and Expand
    • 15.7 Conclusion
  • Chapter 16: Test-Driven Development (TDD) with React: Building a Todo App
    • Step 1: Setting up the project
    • Step 2: Writing the first test
    • Step 3.1: Declare state for todos using the useState hook
    • Step 3.2: Intermission: Tracking it with git
    • Step 3.3: Implement the addTodo function
    • Step 3.4: Render the TodoForm and TodoList components
    • Step 4: Write a failing test for the TodoForm component
    • Step 5: Make the test pass
    • Step 6: Commit your changes
    • Step 7: Write a failing test for the TodoList component
    • Step 8: Make the test pass
    • Step 9: Commit your changes
    • Step 10: Continue with the rest of the app
  • Chapter 17: Popular form libraries
    • 17.1 Formik
    • 17.2 React Hook Form
    • 17.3 React-hook-form vs Formik
    • 17.4 Yup
    • 17.5 Conclusion
    • 17.6 One more point
  • Chapter 18: Components and keys
    • 18.1 Rendering components: a revision
    • 18.2 The usage of keys in React
    • 18.3 Why keys?
    • 18.4 An example of the problem with keys
    • 18.5 Fixing the problem with keys
    • 18.6 Conclusion
  • Chapter 19: Popular component libraries
    • 19.1 React Bootstrap
    • 19.2 Chakra UI
    • 19.3 Material-UI
    • 19.4 Conclusion
  • Chapter 20: The useEffect hook
    • 20.1 Side effects
    • 20.2 Pure and impure functions in React
    • 20.3 How to deal with side effects in React
    • 20.4 Understanding the dependency array
    • 20.5 Using the useEffect hook
  • Chapter 21: Comparing hooks: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.1 Scroll to top of page: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.2 Log to console: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.3 Update the document’s title: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.4 Updating the DOM in React: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.5 Fetching data from the web in React: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.6 Trigger animation: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.7 Toggle visibility: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.8 Capture user input: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.9 Validate form: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.10 Timer countdown: useRef vs useEffect
    • 21.11 Conclusions
  • Chapter 22: Build an improved todo app
    • 22.1 The app’s requirements
    • 22.2 Implementing the app
    • 22.3 The app’s code explained
    • 22.4 Coding a new Todo app from scratch
    • 22.5 Todo App, v3
    • 22.6 Summary
  • Chapter 23: Working with custom hooks
    • 23.1 What are custom hooks?
    • 23.2 Creating a custom hook
    • 23.3 Using a custom hook
    • 23.4 Using state in a custom hook
    • 23.5 Using effects in a custom hook
    • 23.6 Using multiple hooks in a custom hook
    • 23.7 Using a custom hook in a component
    • 23.8 Using multiple custom hooks in a component
    • 23.9 A practical example
    • 23.10 Why even bother with a custom useFetch hook?
    • 23.11 Conclusion
  • Chapter 24: Working with the useReducer Hook
    • 24.1 Understanding useReducer
    • 24.2 Basic Example: Using useReducer
    • 24.3 Comparing useState and useReducer
    • 24.4 Managing Multiple State Variables with useReducer
    • 24.5 Handling Lists with useReducer
    • 24.6 Best Practices with useReducer
    • 24.7 Conclusion
  • Chapter 25: React Context
    • 25.1 What is React context?
    • 25.2 Why use React context?
    • 25.3 How to use React context?
    • 25.4 The simplest possible app that uses React context
    • 25.5 Revising things learned about React context
    • 25.6 Exercise: Build your own React context app
    • 25.7 Passing multiple state variables using a single React context
    • 25.8 Passing multiple state variables to multiple components using React context
    • 25.9 Using multiple React contexts
    • 25.10 Practice makes perfect
    • 25.11 Solutions and conclusion
  • Chapter 26: React Router
    • 26.1 What is React Router?
    • 26.2 Installing React Router
    • 26.3 The simplest possible React Router application
    • 26.4 Adding React Router to an existing app
    • 26.4.1 Creating the Home component and the About component
    • 26.4.2 Adding routes
  • Chapter 27: Build a multi-page site in React and deploy it to Netlify
    • 3.1 The design
    • 3.2 The code
    • 3.3 Improving the app
    • 3.4 Final touches
    • 4. Deploying to Netlify
    • 5. Conclusion

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