I am not understanding React at all. I understand the basics. When it comes to “this” and “conditional rendering” confuses me. Can anyone direct me to some resources to better understand? I have only passed a few challenges without the get help and seeing the solution.
Did you work through the entire JavaScript Algorithms and Data Structures certification before trying to go through the React sections? If not, I would suggest going through them first as React is still just JavaScript.
I have worked through JavaScript. I have been away from the curriculum for a while. I just recently came back to free code camp. I may need to start over to grasp things better.
“this” is not unique to React - it is a basic JS concept. Yes, it is confusing at first.
And React is confusing at first. That is normal.
I would look up some YT videos or some web articles about “this” and JS classes. Also, there are good videos on React. It can take a while - don’t get frustrated.
I should also mention that the React documentation is very good.
Thank you for the encouragement, advice and just taking the time to respond. I have been very discouraged and on the verge of just giving up. I have been on this journey for far too long.
At this point, I’m almost of the opinion that you should just skip the freeCodeCamp React curriculum and learn how modern React is written today. Using functional components and hooks. After you have learned it you can circle back and learn about class components and the old way of writing React.
I’m not convinced starting with class components only to run into articles, tutorials, component libraries/helper libraries that all use hooks is going to be a fun experience.
This won’t change the need to understand conditional rendering as that is just plain JS inside JSX. If you understand conditional JS code, short circuiting logic and the ternary operator you know how to do conditional rendering. The value returned is just JSX instead of a plain JS data structure or a primitive value.
this in and of itself isn’t super complicated. The issue is that what this is changes depending on how/where it is used (context).
Yeah, I mean I think it’s still important to learn the basics of classes, but it shouldn’t be all you learn. We really should redo that.
As a professional React developer, sure. I mean what are you going to do if you get dropped into an old code base.
As a beginner learning React, I’m not so sure. I don’t think knowing about class components does all that much to help you learn modern React.
If you already know React and class components then yes you can transition into hooks without learning everything again.
Right, but a lot of jobs will involve touching old code. And I’ve used a few libraries that needed class components to use. I think an introduction to class components is good.
I didn’t say to never learn it.
I’m just not sure it is a good starting point anymore when first starting out learning React.
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I have same question as you, though I just finished all React classes. And I find that React Doc might can help…