Published on August 27th, 2020 | by Bibhuranjan

Pros and Cons of ReactJS and React Native

Hello, my dear readers! I think you know that ReactJS is one of the best tools for frontend development. It is one of the most popular and widely used libraries. Its creators define React as a “declarative, efficient, and flexible JavaScript library for building user interfaces”. Today I would like to tell you more information about this tool or rather some pros and cons of ReactJS and React Native.

**Let’s start with the advantages of ReactsJS**

Easy to learn and understand

One of the best pros of using React JS development is that the library is easy to learn and understand. React JS syntax is easier to understand compared to other JavaScript frameworks and libraries. If you have an understanding of HTML writing skills, then you don’t need to worry – just make a decision. You don’t need to worry about major complications like TypeScript JS in Angular.

Virtual DOM

You can use the virtual DOM, which is known to be able to organize documents in XML, HTML or XHTML formats as needed in a tree. It is the most preferred format by web browsers when parsing the various components of any web application.

Continuous evolvement

A lot of new and cutting-edge features are permanently added to ReactJS. That’s why if you don’t want to use outdated technologies while you are developing a new project, you can use this library without fear. With this tool, you can be sure that your application absolutely corresponds to the latest trends.

SEO Friendly

Usually, frameworks and libraries have a problem in dealing with Search Engine Optimization (SEO). But, ReactJS, in contrast, overcomes this problem that helps developers to be easily navigated on various search engines.

Despite such compelling advantages, ReactJS has some disadvantages

Problems with JSX

JSX, or as we call it, the JavaScript extension syntax, sometimes does not seem to be a great idea for web application development because it involves many complexities.

Poor documentation

Integrating new features can become a headache for some JavaScript developers. A thing that causes many difficulties is the creation of documentation and instructions for this new functionality. To make the situation a little better, some JavaScript developers write their own instructions for particular tools used in projects.

The high rate of development

The high pace of development has both pros and cons. As to cons, it is uncomfortable to relearn the new ways of doing things regularly every time when new changes are made. It may be difficult for developers to adopt all the changes with all the nonstop updates.

View Part

React JS Covers only the UI Layers of an app and nothing else. Therefore, you still need to select other technologies to get a full tooling set for development in the project.

The next is React Native. So, let’s look at its pros

Shared codebase

In fact, you are developing 2 separate versions of an application (for iOS and Android). Yes, there are two versions of the application, but the code in them is 65-70% the same. Shared code will minimize the number of bugs during development (the amount of code will be almost half as much) and it will greatly facilitate product support in the future. This translates into additional days and weeks that can be spent on developing new functionality.

Fast initialization

A few years ago, Airbnb claimed that RN inhibited the first launch of the application a lot – this was due to the need to load absolutely all screens. Products with a lot of screens were particularly affected by this. Now there is no such problem. You can optimize the launch speed by using RAM-bundles + inline requires — the application opens quickly by loading only the required screens. Hermes JS Engine helps to close this problem for Android applications.

Large community

If you have a bug and cannot find a solution in Google, colleagues can help you. I mean that the developer can open Github or Stackoverflow and find a ready-made solution from someone who has already studied this problem.

And as everything has its own cons, React Native also has some

Limited API

Although React Native supports a huge number of APIs, there is still a need to use other APIs through built-in modules. These modules are mostly part of the code written in the native language and then integrated into the existing code. This is undoubtedly a great way to solve the problem, but you need to have sufficient experience with the native language and be proficient in its tools. Perhaps because of these limitations, you will still need professional programmers who specialize in the native language you need in order to make bridges with React Native components.

Platform differences

Android and iOS use different design principles. This means that with React Native, you have to include a lot of if-statements along with some separate code to fit within the graphical layout. In addition to this, creating a high-quality user interface also excludes the React paradigm, and we were forced to write Swift libraries when developing this application. And we are not talking about the need to maintain several configuration groups at once.

Relatively poor performance

If you are planning to develop a complex application such as an image or video editor, React Native is not for you.

In the end, I want to say that I have mentioned only the main pros and cons of ReactJS and React Native. But this is enough to understand the nature of these technologies. I hope this post has given the answer to your questions. Be healthy! Bye!

Photo by Joshua Aragon on Unsplash

Tags: app development, mobile development, React Native, reactjs, SEO

About the Author

Bibhuranjan Editorial Officer, technofaq.org I'm an avid tech enthusiast at heart. I like to mug up on new and exciting developments on science and tech and have a deep love for PC gaming. Other hobbies include writing blog posts, music and DIY projects.