Hello welcome to my first ever blog post. My name is Chris I’m passionate web developer and wanted to create a blog to have a place to take notes, document my studies, learn, and help others that can relate to the topics.

Anyways,

Lets get started

brief review of ReactJS as it’s my favorite library I thought why not?

I only mention the topics that are the main topics. The rest is probably redundant for the most part. I will continue to expand this blog post as I dive into other historical I research more about some of the older legacy features. Such as class components

Introduction

What is React?

React is a front-end Javascript library used for building UI components. Created by facebook ( or Meta ). React is only concerned with the user interface and rendering components to the Document Object Model (DOM).

• Some features of React that make it really popular
  • Virtual DOM
  • JSX
  • Server Side Rendering
  • Components
  • Data Binding

Why learn the history of React? Who cares?

1. Will enable you to use React more effectively
   1. the history provides insights into the rationale behind its design decisions and core concepts. This knowledge helps develoeprs grasp the underlying principles. 
2. True web developers would appreciate the problems React solved.
   1. By understanding the challenges faced by developers in the past, and the solution React offered. This historical context can be particularly useful in making informed decisions when choosing technologies for specific projects.
3. It can inspire you to do more
   1. By studying the success story of React and understanding how it was transformed from FaxJS to what it is today. Let this motivate you.
4.  Understanding Reacts evolution aids in understanding its reasoning for new features

2010 – The concept of React

React was created by Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Meta/Facebook. He released an early prototype of React called “FaxJS”. He was influenced by XHF, which is an HTML component library in PHP.

After doing a quick Google search I found the old legacy repository for FaxJS. 

• Seamless Client Server Rendering
  • Write once, render anywhere – client or server
• Reactive
  • Views are automatically updated on state changes – no bindings necessary
• Performant
  • Fast rendering using string concatenation, small code size
• Structural
  • High-level components, functionally defined, declarative views

As you can see core concepts of React were created during this time.

2011 – First deployment on Facebook News Feed

Facebook updated the News feed to show top stories and most recent stories in one feed, and the option to highlight stories to make them top stories

2012 – Deployed on Instagram

Before Facebook acquired Instagram. Instagram was not a web application. Instead, it used native mobile code.

2013 – Open-sourced at a Javascript Conference in May.

This move fostered innovation and led to the rapid evolution of the library. Check out the JSConfUS 2013 Video here

2014 – React v0.11.0

Released, introducing support for server-side rendering, and proptypes.

2015 – React Native

Announced at the Facebook React Conference in February, and open-sourced in March 2015. React native allowed for React Development across mobile devices.

React Context Featured included in v0.140

2016

• Introduced a new way of handling component state and lifecycle methods with the introduction of React.Component class. React was mainstream at this time.

2017 – React Fiber

• Facebook announced React Fiber, a new set of internal algorithms for rendering, as opposed to React’s old rendering algorithm, Stack
• React Fragments were also added ( really useful till this day)

2018

• new Context API
• forwardRef
• createRef
• Memo
• Paradigm shift to Hooks v16.7.0
  • A new way to use state and other react features without writing a class.
  • A significant paradigm shift in react development

2019

• React v16.8.0 – Introduced Hooks to the public, allowing developers to use State and other react features without writing classes
• React v16.10.0 introduced the ‘useEffect’ clean up function allowing developers to manage side effects in functional components more effectively.

2020

• useState syntax
• Concurrent mode and Suspense

2021 – React 17 (May 2021)

• React Server Components
• Improve Concurrent mode
• New hooks
  • useReducer,
  • usememo
  • useCallback

2021 – React 17 (November 2021)

• Concurrent Rendering
• Portals
• Lazy loading
• custom error boundaries

2023 – React 19 (Feb 2023)

• Smaller bundles
• Improved performance

Summary

React’s journey from its inception in 2010 to the latest version in 2023 showcased its resilience, adaptability, and continuous growth. Its ability to evolve in response to the changing needs of the web development landscape solidified its position as the go-to library for front-end development.

I hope you enjoyed this overview

To learn more about the history of react you can dive more into the 

https://github.com/facebook/react/