Determining which languages and frameworks are worth the investment of time and money is a daunting task. The ever-changing nature of the tech industry demands that we are intentional when examining our options and there’s rarely time to dally. Criteria for choosing a new platform fall roughly in three categories: 1) What works best for the client? 2) How quickly and happily will a developer adapt to the new platform? and, 3) What are the overall trends that are driving adoption of this platform?
Over 5 years ago, when Earthling began looking into emerging JavaScript frameworks, React stood out to us as meeting standards in all three of those buckets. While React isn’t a true framework (Facebook, the creator, calls it a “library”) it competes in the same space as other more traditional frameworks. While our relationship with React has had its growing pains, it continues to be a technology that we love. Here are some of the reasons why.
React is open source
This may sound kind of obvious, but I can’t overstate the importance of having familiarity with the licensing around the technologies you are using. React uses the MIT license, which is regarded as one of the best open-source licenses out there. For those unfamiliar with the term, “open source” means that source code for a technology is openly available and can be modified and redistributed. At Earthling Interactive, we are firm believers in open-source technologies. Being open source means that the community can make changes and improvements to the technology and share those changes with everyone else. Now it may sound like that means that anything written using the framework is open source and that may be scary, but the good news is that is not the case, it is only the framework that is modifiable.
React has a huge community
React is currently the most used JavaScript framework on the internet. There are immeasurable benefits to having such a large community, the two most important are community and capacity. First, when you run into questions, there are many places and people to look to for answers. With smaller or newer languages, it’s often hard to find answers to questions online, but for React that is rarely the case. Second, the framework is constantly being worked on with new versions that include new features and better security being released on a regular basis.
React is flexible
Whether your project is small, or you want to scale up to enterprise size, React works. The basis behind React is to write small reusable UI components. You can write an entire application using React or you can use it within other webpages or apps.
React has a moderate learning curve
Research has shown that React is relatively straightforward to learn compared to similar technologies. While it can take quite a while to get to know all the ins and outs and best practices, developers new to React can still get their first app running in an hour. Plus, there are tons of resources available to aid learning. The React website provides ample tutorials and documentation to get developers started.
Developers love React
Surveys show year after year that developers love React, with users reporting a high rate of satisfaction with React. Developers are the heart of any technology and if they don’t believe in and love the product, they won’t contribute and they won’t recommend it.
As a product delivery agency and as technical consultants we love React because at its heart it is a great fit for how we work: a smart tool that is flexible enough to get the job done.
Curious about how we use React or just want to learn more about how Earthlings work?
Contact us and we’d love to hear what your thoughts are!
