React Native – Introduction

React Native is an efficient way to develop apps with optimum performance and multiple platforms compatibility.

What is React Native?

React Native lets you build mobile apps using only JavaScript. It uses the same design as React, letting you compose a rich mobile UI from declarative components. With React Native, you don’t build a mobile web app, an HTML5 app, or a hybrid app; you build a real mobile app that’s indistinguishable from an app built using Objective-C or Java. React Native uses the same fundamental UI building blocks as regular iOS and Android apps. You just put those building blocks together using JavaScript and React.

import React from 'react';
import { Text, View } from 'react-native';

export default function YourApp() {
  return (
    <View style={{ flex: 1, justifyContent: "center", alignItems: "center" }}>
      <Text>
        Hello World
      </Text>
    </View>
  );
}

React Native runs on React, a popular open source library for building user interfaces with JavaScript. To make the most of React Native, it helps to understand React itself. This section can get you started or can serve as a refresher course.

We’re going to cover the core concepts behind React:

• components
• JSX
• props
• state

Advantages of React Native

There are several advantages of React Native for building mobile applications. Some of them are given below:

• Cross-Platform Usage: Provide facility of “Learn once write everywhere”, it works for both platform Android as well iOS devices.
• Class Performance: The code written in React Native are compiled into native code, which enables it for both operating systems as well as it functions in the same way on both the platforms.
• JavaScript: The JavaScript knowledge is used to build native mobile apps.
• Community: The large community of React and React Native around helps us to find any answer we require.
• Hot Reloading: Making a few changes in the code of your app will be immediately visible during development. If business logic is changed, its reflection is live reloaded on screen.
• Improving with Time: Some features of iOS and Android are still not supported, and the community is always inventing the best practices.
• Native Components: We will need to write some platform specific code if we want to create native functionality which is not designed yet.
• Existence is Uncertain: As the Facebook develop this framework, its presence is uncertain since it keeps all the rights to kill off the project anytime. As the popularity of React Native rises, it is unlikely to happen.