Differences Between ReactJS and React-Native

 

React-Native has been around for about 2 years and came to a really interesting framework since it can be used for Android and let us make cross-platform mobile apps. Many contributors also customized the framework to make desktop apps for Mac and Windows, which is quite cool.

React-Native is very similar to ReactJS in a way, but there are differences you need to know before you start your first native app. In this composition, I’m going through the main differences I've encountered as a ReactJS web developer who learned to use React-Native and built many native apps with this technology.

Setup and bundling

React-Native is a framework, where ReactJS is a javascript library you can use for your website. When you start a new design with ReactJS, you presumably will choose a bundler like Webpack and try to figure out which bundling modules you need for your design. Reply-Native comes with everything you need and you most likely wouldn’t need further. When you start a new design you'll notice how easy is it to set up it’s very fast and only takes you one command line to run in the terminal and you'll be ready to go. You can start coding your first native app incontinently using ES6, some ES7 features, and indeed many polyfills.

To run your app, you'll need to have Xcode (for iOS, on Mac only) or Android Studio (for Android) installed on your computer. You can either decide to run it on a simulator/ emulator of the platform you want to use or directly on your own devices.

DOM and Styling

React-Native doesn’t use HTML to render the app but provides alternative components that work similarly. Those React-Native components map the actual real native iOS or Android UI components that get rendered on the app.

Wrapping up

I enjoy using React-Native today. I’ve been using it for a bit lower than a year now and it’s damn presto to get an app up and ready! You can make complex UI as snappily as you would do with ReactJS and generally works enough well for both iOS and Android. The learning curve from ReactJS to React-Native is I think relatively easy, especially if you like to learn new Javascript frameworks; it’s just a different way to use React.