Have you ever come across the term homonyms? Well, these are the words that might be spelled the same but have way different meanings. No kidding, for example, bat – a bat is an animal as well as baseball gear. Fair – a fair can be a local event, or it shows no favoritism towards things. Lie – one can either lay down or tell a fib to others, and now we have one in the tech industry ReactJS and React Native. The following post focuses on these tech-based homonyms. What is ReactJS and React Native, how are they beneficial and where the difference lies between React.js and React Native. So, let’s get started!

Introducing ReactJS and React Native

Today if I ask you to live without your smartphone and internet for a day, will you be able to do it? Most likely, no. Not just for a day but even half an hour without your smartphone can be difficult. Since the increase in digitization, conducting bank transactions, conversing with your boss, or planning vacations, nearly everything can be done using different websites and mobile applications. Every day more developers are being hired to create various types of apps.

So what is ReactJS? Well, it’s a renowned JavaScript-based UI development library created by Facebook. Many people have this misconception that React is a framework used to conduct different web development projects. Actually it’s neither a framework nor a language, it’s a library!  Jordan Walke was the mastermind behind the inception of ReactJS. And today not only Facebook but Instagram picks it up to incorporate it into its platform.

The JavaScript library is mainly used to create reusable UI-based components. The ultimate objective of React was to handle the view layer much like the MVC model. It was meant to offer the best rendering execution. Making the most of the speed and efficiency of the JavaScript realm to develop a dynamic and responsive web applications.

Above all, ReactJS is an open-source, component-based framework highly known for creating the app’s view layer. ReactJS is famous for developing single-page applications and mobile apps.

So now you know what ReactJS is but have you wondered what’s the core reason behind its insane popularity? Further I would like to mention some of the common yet crucial advantages of ReactJS.

1. High Speed

In comparison to Vue, Ember and Angular, ReactJS turns out to be the best in regard to speed and agility. Developers are able to use different parts of their app, be it client-side or server-side. And this leads to an increase in the speed of the development process. In addition to speed, another advantage offered by ReactJS is high-end flexibility. The code is easy to write and maintain. So it’s a major time and budget saver.

2. Performance

The next benefit of using ReactJS is that the technology turns out to be the best in regards to performance. JavaScript is a simple extension that enables developers to add more dynamic content and layout webpage using HTML-style code.  This is how web pages display interactive elements that ensures users experiences are more engaging than the pages would be without the usage of dynamic content. In addition, developers can use the Virtual Document Object Model (VDOM) to refresh only new components and not the entire web page.

3. SEO-Friendly

Another significant advantage of using ReactJS is that it’s SEO-friendly and ensures that any website or web app developed using the technology will also be SEO-friendly and loved by Google. In fact, if you want the website your developing to gain popularity in a short-span of time then the lightweight framework is worth considering. React ensures that the render is performed in a fanatic way especially in comparison to other frameworks. As a result, the loading times are significantly decreased.

4. Community Support

Another advantage of using ReactJS is an active and large community for support. Yes, having a huge community that stays at your beck and call is extremely important. One of the best advantages of considering ReactJS is that here you get exceptional community support. In fact, if a developer gets stuck they can receive immediate help and seek advice from veterans.

5. Mobile Friendliness

Another factor to consider is mobile friendliness. Yes, using the framework means you can seamlessly develop and release effective and efficient cross-platform applications without taking any significant restrictions into account. In fact, developing a website that is mobile friendly is the biggest advantage for a well-rounded business React project.

I can go on and on when it comes to advantages of ReactJS. It’s easy to learn, server side rendering, SEO-friendly, high-end community, reusable UI components, scalable tool, offers easy debugging, support and easy to maintain, cost effective … But. Now it’s time to shift the focus on React Native.

What is React Native?

React Native on the other hand is a JavaScript-based framework that is used for writing real, natively rendering mobile applications for both iOS and Android. Both ReactJS and React Native are developed by Facebook but the difference is that one targets the web browsers and the other one targets different mobile platforms such as Android and iOS.

Most web developers will write mobile applications so they offer a similar look and feel to a native app. They only need to write a single piece of code to share it among different platforms, such as iOS and Android.

Now much like ReactJS, React Native-based web applications are mostly written using a rare mix of JavaScript and a XML-esque markup or JSX. What happens is mobile apps are being rendered using real mobile UI components instead of web views. No wonder, the framework today powers some of the world’s leading mobile apps featuring Instagram, Skype, Facebook and so more.

Further, I would like to focus on how React Native is beneficial or why businesses must consider React Native for their upcoming mobile app development project.

Benefits of Using React Native

Now it’s time to unveil why React Native is being widely adopted by developers and organizations around the globe.  And how in such a short time, React Native managed to overtake the entire Android and iOS development realm.

1. Code Reusability

One of the obvious, yet intimidating, benefits of using React Native is code reusability. Yes, as the title implies here developers aren’t required to create separate codes for different platforms. In fact, almost 90% of the code can be reused which certainly leads to increases in the overall development speed and reduction in time to launch. Also, it requires less maintenance efforts.

2. Great Performance

Another significant advantage of considering React Native is when it comes to performance, high-scalability, and flexibility. The performance of apps developed in React Native is pretty much the same as the one built on specific iOS and Android platforms. In addition, speed of the development procedure increases to a great extent since it’s already well-optimized for mobile devices. By making the most of the central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU), they tend to go beyond cross-platform hybrid technologies.

3. Large Community

Another crucial aspect to consider is the large and active community of developers available for assistance. No kidding, ReactJS comprises a wide community of programmers who can offer help at any point of time in need.  If a programmer gets stuck while coding, a large team of enthusiastic JS and Native developers is right here to help. Moreover, you should consider attending their webinars where experts share their skills, knowledge, and.

Conclusion

Now you know that ReactJS is basically a JavaScript library used to conduct front-end development. Meanwhile, React Native – which is also powered by ReactJS is used to compile and launch iOS and Android apps.

Both ReactJS and React Native tend to use a mixture of JavaScript and a special markup language, JSX. However, the syntax used specially to conduct the process of rendering elements in JSX components differs. In ReactJS you will find more focus on HTML and CSS; whereas React Native focuses on the mobile user interface elements. I hope you found the following post helpful. If so, please share among your peers and help us reach more people.