React (also React.js or ReactJS) is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces developed by Facebook & Instagram. It is not a full blown framework like Angular or Ember or even Backbone.js. It is a very simple View library which can replace the V in any other client-side MVC framework, i.e., you can use Backbone and React together for instance. In fact a lot of people are already doing that. Although when combined with a design pattern like Flux, you can totally give up on an MVC framework for your client-side architecture and happily develop apps with just React in conjunction with the Flux application architecture. React encompasses some interesting concepts too like Virtual DOM, uni-directional reactive data flow, etc. but don’t worry we’ll discuss all those much later when you’re already comfortable with the library and hacking your way through it.
Continue reading “Getting Started with React – Setting up the Development Environment”