Hi Campers!
If you’ve been through the process of setting up React on your local machine you might feel like this guy.
To write React locally, it’s common to use a transpiler (Babel) to convert React syntax to plain (ES5) Javascript the browser can read and use a bundler (Webpack) to compile the converted code into a single script. An added benefit to using Babel is that you can write ES6 code without a worry since it will convert to ES5.
I came across this guide on Codecademy (no login required) that breaks down the installation and setup into easy steps. For me, it’s easy to get “tooling fatigue” so I like that the guide sticks to the basics so you can get up and running quickly and have a general understanding.
FYI this guide is most useful if you’re working on full-stack projects where you need a development environment with a front and back-end. If you’re working with the front-end only, you can write React directly in the browser on Codepen!
Hopefully you find this guide helpful. I know I did!