React Native is a framework for building native mobile applications, using JavaScript, while React.js is a JavaScript library, and it refers to UI components and their creation. So what’s better to use for react native developers? Since React Native is similar to React.js in some way, there are differences between them. In this article, we are going through them and which one of the frameworks you should choose for building your app.
What is React Native?
The main benefit of this framework is that with React Native, programmers can compile the native mobile app to create native mobile products. Also, it builds a hierarchy of UI components, implying a JavaScript code. If you know how to use iOS and Android, you can produce native mobile applications easily. Why knowledge of React Native framework is important, you may wonder? The answer to this question is the next: it has an open platform, which corresponds with Windows and tvOS. Additionally, programmers can reuse the code for creating mobile applications for Android and iOS platforms. If you work with React Native, you should bear in mind that using Cordova as a cross-platform framework, your app has to contain Ionic code. Such a disadvantage explains why React Native is somehow complicated to build a mobile product.
What is React.js?
React.js is an open JavaScript library, and developers use it to create user interfaces for single page applications. Jordan Walke, a software engineer, was a founder of React.js in 2011, and it worked well for Facebook’s newsfeed in the next year. Such innovation made a technological nudge in mobile app development. The advantage of this platform is that programmers can create and reuse UI components several times. For programmers, React.js is a good option for building applications fast. Among the main pitfalls of this library, developers name the one UI library and its small size in comparison with large platforms as Angular.
Similarities between React Native and React.js
Even though there are more differences than similarities between these two frameworks, here are some of them that we’ve discovered for you! First off, React Native and React.js were both created by Facebook, and similar traits could be the lack of documentation and the use of JavaScript library for app creation. The other feature is the implementation of React syntax for cross-platform apps. In general, developers can use React Native and React.js for building mobile products, but which of them they’ll choose depends on their needs and goals.
Differences between React Native and React.js
The differences between React Native and React.js are bundling, setup, DOM, publishing gestures, styling, animations, special platform code, and navigation. As a bundler, you may select Webpack if you work with React.js because it’s a library in contrast to React Native, which is a framework. When you start to work with it, you’ll notice how is it easy to set up your project. With the features of ES6 and ES7, you’ll create your native app without any problems. In React Native, you won’t use HTML in comparison with React.js. The other difference between them is styling because, in React Native, this element isn’t the same as in React.js. Moreover, animation creation is more effective, using React Native than React.js. The same function concerns gestures as well. If you want to create an app with better navigation, you should use React Native rather than React.js. Also, React Native has the same code and publishing recommendations for the app. So what tool to choose to build a mobile app is up to you, but if you’d like to create your mobile app fast, React Native is a suitable solution for you.
