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I think the stuff React is doing is impressively simple and non-magical. Although I haven't used React yet, I wouldn't be surprised if these ideas make for cod

I think the stuff React is doing is impressively simple and non-magical. Although I haven't used React yet, I wouldn't be surprised if these ideas make for code that's relatively easy to reuse and reason about. The format of the post is also quite nice; a few short points with illustrations and a clear takeaway.

Touche 13y ago
I use React and like it a lot. The biggest issue it has right now is there is no good way for a component on one branch of the tree to get information to a component in another branch. You have to talk to your parent components by having them attach a function as a property, and this simply doesn't scale to large or even medium sized applications.
- peterhunt 13y ago
  This model usually works pretty well for smaller components (see http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2013/11/05/thinking-in-react.html http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2013/11/05/thinking-in-...) For larger ones, we provide lifecycle hooks so you can set up these subscriptions manually. In componentDidMount() and componentWillUnmount() you can subscribe/unsubscribe to some sort of messaging system, and when you receive the message call setState(). Usually you only need to do this in a few places and the regular React dataflow will carry you the rest of the way. Does that make sense? We should probably write up this technique.
- skybrian 13y ago
  This isn't specific to React; in large GWT apps we use an event bus. Perhaps you could do the same thing? Or, instead of an event-based approach, you could could pass in an object and use Object.observe() to observe state changes. It looks like React just implements the view in MVC, so you still need a separate way to observe the model.
tomhallett 13y ago
I've been using React for a few months - it definitely does make for code which is easy to reuse and reason about. The part of the architecture which has had the biggest impact on my code: the relationship between a component and it's subcomponents. A parent component can only pass "props" to it's subcomponents (ie it can't pass state, which is easily mutable). And a child component can only call a function on it's parent if that function is provided to it via props (ie a callback). This design has forced me to reason about the interface between components (open/closed principle, law of demeter, etc) and has really improved my code. Also, the team is very active/helpful in their irc room.

Touche 13y ago

I use React and like it a lot. The biggest issue it has right now is there is no good way for a component on one branch of the tree to get information to a component in another branch. You have to talk to your parent components by having them attach a function as a property, and this simply doesn't scale to large or even medium sized applications.

peterhunt 13y ago
This model usually works pretty well for smaller components (see http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2013/11/05/thinking-in-react.html http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2013/11/05/thinking-in-...) For larger ones, we provide lifecycle hooks so you can set up these subscriptions manually. In componentDidMount() and componentWillUnmount() you can subscribe/unsubscribe to some sort of messaging system, and when you receive the message call setState(). Usually you only need to do this in a few places and the regular React dataflow will carry you the rest of the way. Does that make sense? We should probably write up this technique.
skybrian 13y ago
This isn't specific to React; in large GWT apps we use an event bus. Perhaps you could do the same thing? Or, instead of an event-based approach, you could could pass in an object and use Object.observe() to observe state changes. It looks like React just implements the view in MVC, so you still need a separate way to observe the model.

tomhallett 13y ago

I've been using React for a few months - it definitely does make for code which is easy to reuse and reason about. The part of the architecture which has had the biggest impact on my code: the relationship between a component and it's subcomponents. A parent component can only pass "props" to it's subcomponents (ie it can't pass state, which is easily mutable). And a child component can only call a function on it's parent if that function is provided to it via props (ie a callback). This design has forced me to reason about the interface between components (open/closed principle, law of demeter, etc) and has really improved my code. Also, the team is very active/helpful in their irc room.