Hacking with React

Want to learn React? Of course you do, which is why this book is for you: I'll teach you React programming from scratch, with no time wasted on pointless history lessons or random tangents. You'll learn how to make a real web app using React 0.14, React Router, JSX, Jest, Webpack, Babel, ES6 and more, and you'll do it at a pace you never thought possible. This book uses all the latest and greatest web technologies to help you work on the cutting edge of web development with no nonsense.


It's impossible to work on the web without having heard about React. Facebook developed it, but Airbnb are using it, as are Netflix, Uber and many more. And with good reason: React is a whole new way of developing complex web applications in a way that allows you to spend more time writing great code and less time fighting with the DOM.


I wrote Hacking with React with one goal in mind: to teach React coding in the fastest, most efficient way possible. After setting up your computer so that it's ready for development, you start coding with React immediately – there's no boring "History of web" chapter that rants on about how the internet was created. Instead, it's all code, all the time.


"What code is it?" I hear you ask. Well, let me tell you: it's React 0.14, the incredible new user interface toolkit. It's React Router, the smartest way to load and unload components as users change URL. It's JSX, the incredible new JavaScript syntax extension that lets you write inline XML. It's ES6, Webpack and Babel so you get to use powerful new features like string interpolation and classes along with hot reloading for faster development. It's Jest and ESLint, so you can write tests that prove your code works and has consistent syntax.


In short, it uses the very latest technology the web has to offer so that you learn quickly and easily.


Here are just some of the topics covered:


- How to install Webpack, Babel and React for development with ES6.

- How to create a React component and import it into an application.

- How to write JSX to render content.

- How to use props to give a component values.

- How to handle events such as onClick.

- How to use React state, and how it differs from props.

- How to fetch data from GitHub using SuperAgent and Ajax.

- How to use string interpolation and computed property names.

- How to create routes using React Router.

- How to create links between pages using <Link>.

- How to render default content using <IndexRoute>.

- How to use Jest to test React component rendering.

- How to use Jest to simulate user interface with controls.

- How to create asynchronous tests using waitFor() and runs().

- How to lint your React code using ESLint and Babel.


In short, this book is the fastest way to get up to speed with React development, and is guaranteed to jump start your learning.