./understanding react from first principles

(n) the why and how behind the most popular frontend library

some context

i've heard of react since my sophomore year of college and started using it in my third year in a software engineering course. when it comes to frontend, everyone is talking about react. i've built a few projects using react and kinda got what it does. but deep down, i know that i still not fully understand it. so i decided to spend this short break just to sit down, take a deep breath, and go through the tedious task of reading react's original documentation and also source code. this post is my personal synthesis of how we can learn react from first principles and some examples of how we can use it to build complex projects.

what exactly is react?

react from first principles

component-based architecture

declarative programming

virtual DOM

unidirectional data flow

state management

examples of react in practice

mood tracker with emojis

ai-powered flashcard

multi-user collaborative whiteboard

build my own component library

resources