The React ecosystem has seen explosive growth over the last few years, and it seems like every week there's a new third-party library or new set of best practices on how to use existing tools effectively. If you’re just learning React, staying current with the best practices can be difficult and time-consuming as you have to constantly check on the latest and greatest hacks that promise to save time and effort in your development process. That’s where this React Best Practices guide will come in handy!

Here Are the Top React Best Practices To follow in 2023

Use TypeScript

TypeScript is quickly becoming a popular choice for developers. It's easy to type, supports static typing, and helps with code readability. TypeScript also has a few features that make it easier for developers who primarily use JavaScript. If you're still on the fence about using TypeScript in your next project, here are five reasons why you should consider it.

The first reason is that it offers type safety. The second reason is that it provides early error detection. Thirdly, if your team doesn't speak the same language (e.g., different countries), TypeScript can help ease communication issues. Fourthly, because you can easily convert code from JavaScript to TypeScript without changing any functionality, this may be a good option for legacy projects or apps where there isn't time to rewrite everything from scratch yet.

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Know your bundler

In order to effectively use React, you need to know your bundler. There are many different ways you can use React and there are many different tools that can help you build your app. We recommend using a bundler like Webpack or Browserify because it will allow you to create a virtual tree in memory for your project, which will make imports and exports much more organized. 

Once you're familiar with the basics of how your bundler works, we recommend exploring some less mainstream options. For example, Webpack has an experimental module called react-transform that lets you preprocess Javascript code before it's sent to the browser - this is very useful if you have lots of legacy code.

Keep your dependencies up to date

Keeping your dependencies up to date is a key factor to staying competitive in React. To do this, you should use a tool called npm-check-updates. This command will check the versions of all your dependencies and then print out any updates available for them. You can also use it to update all your installed dependencies with one command. It's important to note that you should never remove an installed dependency unless you're sure you don't need it anymore.

Write tests

A large part of what makes React so successful is its focus on creating reusable components. To create a reusable component, first think about how you would want to use it. If you're not sure, try building an example with a simple function and then play around with it until it's just right. Once your component is ready, the next step is to write tests for it before working on other components. 

Write these tests from the perspective of someone using your component. For instance, if you were testing the Social Connections component from this blog post, one test could be The input text field is correctly highlighted.

Use a linter

Linting your code is a process that runs static analysis on your code, finding any potential errors or issues. Linting is an important first step in making sure you have a well-written application. In the React ecosystem, we use ESLint as our linter. It's easy to get started with ESLint and there are many plugins available for it. When setting up ESLint, be mindful about which rules you choose to enable. The ones I find most useful are object-literal-spacing and no-console .

Stay consistent with coding conventions

It’s important to adhere as closely as possible with coding conventions. Stay consistent with indenting and spacing, use curly brackets  for conditional blocks, align all code vertically, and so on. You may think that these are just a bunch of trivial nit-picks but they can make your code easier to read and maintain. They also help identify bugs sooner because you're more likely to spot an inconsistent space or  missing when scanning through your code.

Use a style guide

There are many style guides that have been published for React. The most popular one is Airbnb’s JavaScript Style Guide, which offers a lot of good information about how to write your JavaScript code in a way that makes it both readable and maintainable. It includes guidelines for naming variables, formatting imports, indentation, and much more. This can be really helpful when you’re trying to decide which style guide to use or when you want examples from other developers on what they do.

Name your files and folders correctly

Naming your files and folders correctly can be difficult when you're starting out. It's important to use names that are clear, consistent and not too long. When naming folders, avoid using spaces and instead put dashes between words. This is best practice because it makes your folder more searchable and prevents files from being hidden in a way you might not expect. For example, if you had a folder called Updates, instead name it Updates - or Updates_.

Use version control

Version control should be considered from day one. Using version control will ensure that you're always backed up, and you can easily revert any changes that don't work out as expected. Github is a good option for version control, but you should use what's best for your team. GitLab also offers some great features like branching, which allow you to test new features on a separate branch before merging it back into the main codebase. GitLab also has an excellent UI which makes it easy for people who are not used to Git commands to get started with their project or manage issues with ease.

Automate your development workflow

Automating your development workflow can be done in a variety of ways, but there are three main components that all developers should automate as much as possible. The first is compiling code with Babel, then running tests and finally publishing builds. One way to automate these processes is with a build script like webpack or Grunt. Another is through a CI server like Travis or CircleCI which will run the same commands you would run if you were manually running them on your computer through terminal. 

With this automated approach, there’s no need for developers to constantly compile their code while they work. All they have to do is commit changes and the automation takes care of it for them. Developers also don’t have to keep switching back and forth between coding and testing their project, since everything happens automatically when they push new updates into GitHub or Bitbucket.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are a few best practices for React that will help you be ahead of the curve. Remember that you don't have to know everything about React or write a perfect app from scratch. Use this list as a guide and learn from your mistakes. React is continually being updated so keep an eye out for new features and best practices!

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