React Native and ReactJS both are technologies for mobile
and web development which were introduced by Facebook. Jordan Walke, in 2011,
started the project who is a software engineer at Facebook. He wanted to
simplify the process of development and provide users with a more comfortable
experience so he created a library that supports the development of a web
interface with JavaScript.
Apart from owing to Facebook for their existence, both of
them have JavaScript in common. They both have pride attached to their name as
the famous progressive technology that is able to drive web and mobile
respectively.
Reactjs is originally a JavaScript Library that helps in
simplifying the process of development, building web applications with
high-performance, and delivering flawless UIs. On the other hand, React Native
is a well-known mobile application development framework that is used by mobile
application developers in order to build cross-platform and Android
applications. There is so much about React JS vs React Native that you will learn in this article.
Let’s understand the
key differences between React JS and React Native and about React Native vs React JS
performance:
React Native Vs ReactJS: Feasibility
ReactJS combines technologies. This is where JavaScript and
HTML come together. It is mainly done to include CSS that rejects a number of
issues that are identified with CSS development such as scope/variable
isolation and worldwide namespace.
If you are looking to add something more to your existing
application but you are not in favor of changing the code of your entire
application, React Native is what you need. You can add the components of React
Native to your already-in-use application’s code. If your existing application
was built with Cordova and Iconic, it is easy to reuse your Cordova-based code
just with the help of a plugin.
React Native Vs ReactJS: Prowess and Capability
React JS helps to boost SEO for web applications
React JS was designed with keeping Search Engine Optimization
(SEO) in mind, in which Node is used for rendering on the user’s server. Though
there are many similar tools to provide this viewpoint of the server to
rendering they are vulnerable to unstable hacks. Along with this, a great
amount of developer support is required for maintenance.
React Native helps to build responsive UI
React Native, on the contrary, is dedicated to developing
mobile UI. It means that apart from being entirely focused on UI, React Native
serves more like a JavaScript library and not as a framework. Therefore the UI
built is extraordinarily responsive and adds a smooth feel to your mobile
application along with faster load times.
While react Native is known for making use of native APIs
for rendering UI parts that can be used again and again on both Android and iOS
platforms, React JS is known to harness the power of the virtual document
object model (DOM) for creating better UX.
React Native Vs ReactJS: How does it work?
Virtual DOM for ReactJS
The document object model (DOM) is about the documents’ logical
structure and the way it is manipulated and accessed. It actually takes time
for building one and DOM trees are usually large nowadays. But React JS manages
to complete this procedure in a short time and smoothly by using a virtual DOM
that aids in making updates quicker while it creates dynamic UIs. It is simply
done by using an abstract copy of DOM, making all the necessary changes to
‘one-component’ and influencing the overall UI.
Native APIs for React Native
On the contrary, React Native makes use of Objective-C APIs
for writing iOS components and Java APIs for rendering android components.
After that, JavaScript is used for composing whatever is remained of the code
and for customizing the application for every platform in order to ensure
maximum level or shareability of codes and reusability of the components.
While React JS makes use of CSS and HTML, React Native does
not follow this pattern. You will be required to create stylesheets in
JavaScript in order to style React Native components which might appear similar
to CSS but are not the same in any way. Likewise, React JS uses ‘p’ against
‘text’ in React Native, and ‘div’ in React JS is used in place of ‘view’ for
React Native.
Bundling and Setup
React Native is basically a framework whereas ReactJS is a
JavaScript library that can be used for a website. When starting a new project
using ReactJS, you might have to select a bundler such as Webpack and try to
find the bundling modules that you will need for your project.
React Native provides you a complete package of things that
you will require. When starting a new project, you will observe how easier it
is to set up. It works faster and only requires your one-line command in order
to run and you are ready to go. You can easily start coding your very first
native application as soon as you want by using ES6, some features of ES7, and
a few polyfills.
You will require the Xcode in order to run your application
(for iOS) or you will need Android Studio (for Android) to be installed on your
system. You can decide to run it directly on your own devices or on an
emulator/simulator of the platform that you want to use.
Advantages of ReactJS
- Easy to use and learn: React JS is very much
easier to use and learn. For a developer who has a JavaScript background, React
JS can be easy to use and handle. He can begin creating web apps by using React
in a short time. - Easy creation of dynamic web applications:
Creation of dynamic web apps was difficult specifically by using HTML as it
requires coding that is complex but with React JS, this issue is solved and
developing web applications has become a lot easier. It requires less amount of
coding and offers an extra amount of functionality. - Components that are reuseable: An application
that is made by using React JS is made up of multiple components. Every
component has its controls and logic. These components are reusable according
to the need. The reusable code allows easy development and maintenance of your
application. - Enhanced Performance: React JS allows for the
improvement of performance due to the virtual document object model. The
virtual DOM exists in memory and represents the web browser’s DOM. Because of
this, when you write a React component, you do not directly write to the DOM
but you write a virtual component that will be turned into the DOM by React
which will result in faster and smoother performance. - Support of Tools: React JS offers support of a
handy set of tools that helps developers to make their tasks understandable and
easier. It enables them to select specific components and edit and examine
their existing State and Props.
Disadvantages of ReactJS
- High-paced development: It is clear to all of us
that the framework keeps changing rapidly. The developers are not comfortable
with learning new ways of performing tasks every day. It gets hards for them to
get used to all these changes with all these regular updates. - Poor documentation: The React technologies are
accelerating and updating at a rapid pace so it is difficult to keep proper
documentation. In order to resolve this, developers write instructions on their
own. - View part: ReactJS only covers the application’s
UI layers and nothing else. There is still a need to select some other
technologies to achieve a complete set of tools for making developments.
Advantages of React Native
There are various advantages of React Native. Some of them
are:
- Cross-platform usage: It offers the facility of
‘learn once and write everywhere’. It works for iOS devices as well as Android
platforms. - Class performance: The code that is written in
React Native gets compiled into native code. Due to which it gets enabled for
both operating systems. Also, it functions for both platforms in a similar way. - JavaScript: React Native uses JavaScript
knowledge to build native mobile applications. - Community: The huge community of React Native
developers is always available to help with any questions and issues. - Hot reloading: If you make a little number of
changes to your code, they will be visible during the development process. If the
logic of business is changed, its reflection gets live reloaded on screen. - Improving every day: Some features of android
and iOS are not supported still, the community is persistent to bring best
possible improvements.
Disadvantages of React Native
- New and immature: React Native is still immature
in iOS and Android programming languages. It is still in its improvement stage
and it can negatively affect applications. - Difficult to learn: It is not easier to learn.
Especially for those who are new to the development field. - Lacks strong security: It is an open-source
framework and a Javascript library which makes it less robust in terms of
security. Financial and banking apps involve data that is very confidential and
due to the lack of strong security experts suggest not to use React Native. - Takes time to initialize: React Native requires
a good amount of time to initialize the runtime even for hight technology
devices and gadgets.
React Native and React JS Apps
There are many companies that have adopted React Native and
React JS besides Facebook and they all had different reasons. Some of these
adopters are:
- Instagram:
The team of Instagram was eager to develop a website, specifically a one-page
application, in order to enable web visitors to also have access to the social
platform. And for this, React JS appeared to be a perfect choice. The web
application was developed and it appeared to be comfortable for its users and
quick in performance. Both web and mobile Instagram applications are built by
using React. - Netflix:
Netflix adopted React JS in the year 2015 and it is now using it along with
Gibbon which is a rendering layer. Netflix selected React because of its
declarative approach toward programming and the one-way ticket model of the
flow of data. - Airbnb:
The company made its decision to switch to React JS because of its component
reusability and simpler code refactoring. Now the company uses it in its
internal webpage and mobile application. - Bloomberg:
When the online magazine was in the process of developing its mobile
application, it adopted React Native. According to one of their post on the
Tech at the blog of Bloomberg, React Native is the first tool that truly
delivers what it promises i.e. cross-platform native application development.
In React vs React Native equation, React JS is progressive and amazing and it can
be seen from a large number of companies that have adopted it. While the focus of other frameworks is on improving UI in terms of performance of software, the new and immature React Native is dedicated to change the way in which application s communicate with hardware and software. React JS, on the contrary, from a simple idea has been made into a great solution that can apparently optimize all the efforts of web development and maximizes its efficiency.
Business Benefits of React JS
- The Document Object Model (DOM) of React which
is responsible for data output and input is faster as compared to the
conventional model. Since it can only partially refresh specific parts of a
page, Facebook was never aware of the fact that refreshing can be improved and
made faster. By affecting the time of re-build positively, the partial DOM
enhanced the speed and performance while writing programs. - Reusable code components in React JS enables
allows you to save more time. - React JS enhanced the speed of debugging that
positively affects a developer’s work. - It allows you to render pages from the server to
the browser and that helps with SEO. - React is easier to deal with. It is readable and
unlike many other frameworks, React does not require you to be armed with a
long list of concepts. - Because it is based on JavaScript, developers
can freely get the maximum amount of benefits of all the updates and progress
in the Java ecosystem.
Business Benefits of React Native
- React Native allows developers to reuse the code
and a common logic layer across both Android and iOS platforms which eliminated
the need for building separate apps for both. - React Native also delivers a UI that is
user-friendly and all other benefits that React JS has to offer. - The development model of React Native, that is
component-based, allows the developer to build an application without relying
on the web. - If you are familiar with JavaScript, React
Native is easy to learn. It can help a front end developer to transform into a
mobile app developer if he knows enough about JavaScript, native UI elements, and
some other essentials of design. - It boosts the speed by its ability to add UI
components directly into the code of the existing application.
Final Remarks
React is basically a framework that allows developers to build applications using Javascript. Whereas, React Native is a complete
platform that enables developers to build native and cross-platform mobile applications, and React JS is basically a Javascript library that developers
use in order to construct a UI layer that is high-performance. This explains the React vs React JS
equation.
React JS serves as the heart of React Native and it carries all the syntax and principles of React, so the learning curve is easier.
The platform is the reason for their technical differences. For example, in React the browser code is rendered through a virtual DOM whereas React Native makes use of Native APIs to render components on mobile.
React is truly ideal if you want to build high performing, dynamic, responsive user interface for your web interfaces, whereas React Native is made for giving your mobile applications a pure native feel.
FAQs
Which is better react native or react JS?
React serves as the UI library for viewing your web
application bu using JSX and Javascript while React Native serves as an extra library
(an additional layer) over React in order to build native applications for
android and iOS devices.
If you want to build an interactive web interface, it is
better to choose React JS but if you want to build a cross-platform native
application, React Native is what you need.
What is react native?
It is a mobile application framework that is open source and it is created by Facebook. It helps to develop applications for iOS and Android, UWP and Web, by allowing developers to make use of React along with capabilities of the native platform.
Do I need to use ReactJS to use React Native?
When you are writing React Native, you make use of React to manage your application’s state, but you make use of UI elements that co-relate with the native UI elements that you probably have on a phone.
What are the similarities (not differences!) between ReactJS and React
Native?
Although there are more differences than similarities between the two of them. But according to many people, one similarity in both is the lack of documentation. Whereas, since the React 16 has been released, the documentation has become great and it is available on the official website.
Is react native or react JS better than angularJS?
Angular and React both offer entirely diversed approaches to web apps development. Both of these technologies are flexible and powerful but
none of them is better or worse than the other. It all depends on the requirement of the app that needs to be built. Developers can run from React to
angular, and back.
Is there a bright future for React JS and React Native?
Yes. React Native and React JS are the future of hybrid app development. As developers can build declarative and flexible UIs and develop hybrid and native apps for both Android and iOS platforms.
Which is the best platform to find React JS developers and React Native developers for a startup?
AngelList is the most popular platform for all things
startups with a large number of job opportunities for ReactJS and React Native developers.
Is there any way to convert the React Native project to React JS?
There is no way that can quickly convert ReactJS to React Native. But using Cordova is a possible alternative that can help you run your react app on a mobile and also save you from rewriting the codebase.
What does Facebook use ReactJS and React Native for?
Facebook uses ReactJS in many places. Facebook is said to be always running on latest version of React. However, there is no solid proof of this.
React Native is used in three places:
Facebook Ads Manager, Facebook Group App, and Instagram.
