Of all the frameworks and libraries to emerge from the recent JavaScript renaissance, React (not to be confused with ReactPHP) has seen an explosion in hype and popularity due to its novel approach to state, colocation of view templates with view logic, and lack of assumptions about the technology stack. Created by Facebook and used to power its web applications, React has often been called the "V" in MVC, which makes it an intriguing candidate for integration with decoupled Drupal. The Virtual DOM-based state system and JSX templating language are two of the most influential recent innovations in client-side frameworks.
What makes React so compelling for front-end developers and performance engineers as a view-based library? How does it compare to popular frameworks such as Angular and Ember? Why is React uniquely well-positioned for decoupled Drupal?
Here are just a few of the concepts we'll examine:
- Origins, motivations, and comparisons
- React is a library, not a framework
- View-based versus fully-fledged MVC
- React architecture and components
- State and the Virtual DOM
- Templates, rendering, and JSX
- Flux and data flow
- Drawbacks of React
- Why React for decoupled Drupal?
- React and REST in Drupal
- Working with Drupal data in React
- React in the Drupal ecosystem
- Epilogue: React within Drupal?
This session is geared toward front-end developers and engineers who are interested in decoupled architectures with Drupal and up-and-coming JavaScript frameworks. No prior knowledge of React is assumed, but strong familiarity JavaScript will be necessary.
