CST 438 Week 2

 React

First, when glancing through this week's materials, I know we are going to study front-end development. However, the name 'React' somehow catches me off guard. Later on, I find out it is meant the "UI reacts" or something closes to it.

Comparing 'React' to what I learned so far in Web Development, in Software Design, I find that 'React' is quite confusing. For example, in Web Development course, we learned to use html development first, before splitting into reusable codes and then developing the back end. For a moment, I thought 'React' was partially backend, until I realized I just determine the behaviors of the interaction, such as when we click a button. Moreover, 'React' seems far more complex than the methods I learned in previous courses.

Now, those weaknesses of React don't mean it is utterly a nuisance. Many might think about reusable codes, but I want to talk about something else. I did not realize until the end that I developed the whole frontend, using React, separately. This is independency that necessary for developers to work before merging and prevent bottleneck (one department has to wait for the other).

Another advantage from React is actually how everything (html, css, js) is stored in only one file - jsx. This might be debatable if the web's page is complex, making all the codes in one file hard to read. But otherwise, I did not have to walk all three pages to connect the functions and variables. From this perspective, we can see that React is good for long-term maintenance.