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Prerequisites

Hey Developer!

Before you start learning React, you should have some basic understanding of the following:

caution

Don't spend too much time learning these things, just basics would work for now. Once you know the basics of these things, then dive into learning React JS. The sooner you start learning React, the better (of course after grasping the basics of these things).

Basics​

No matter, which framework or library you learn for web development, you must know the basics, and when I say basics, I mean HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, these three are three pillars of web development.

Basics of HTML​

It is one of the first pillars and the most important skill for web developers as it provides the structure for a web page.

tip

I would recommend you to read our HTML Documentation. It will help you to learn HTML in one go.

Basics of CSS​

It is the second pillar of web development and is used to style web pages so that they look good.

Basics of JavaScript​

This is the third pillar of web development and is used to make your web pages interactive.

It is also the reason behind the React framework, hence you should know JavaScript and know it well before attempting to learn React JS.

There are the minimum things you must know before you start learning React. If you know these things then you are good to go, and keep learning JavaScript along.

tip

We wrote a complete series of documentation on JavaScript, where we covered almost everything about JavaScript, and added more things to it, please have a look. My suggestion is to complete the basics section, then start learning React, and along with learning React, you can also learn advance part simultaneously.

Asynchronous JavaScript​

Asynchronous JavaScript is a fairly advanced topic. It's a code that does not execute immediately. It executes after some time for example in Frontend I want to get data from the backend using an API, and it will not return data right away, it will rather take some time depending upon many factors. The bottom line is the response from Backend will take some time. This is asynchronous code.

Async code is used to perform long-running tasks without blocking the main thread.

In React, you will be handling a lot of asynchronous programming and for that, the following concepts are recommended to learn:

General Development Skills​

It doesn't matter whether you are a frontend developer or a backend developer, or even a full-stack software engineer. You must know some general development skills to survive in the programming world, and here is a list of some of them

Learn GIT​

You must know Git. Try creating a few repositories on GitHub, share your code with other people, and learn how to download code from GitHub on your favorite IDE.

We have a separate documentation for Git, check it out.

Know HTTP(S) protocol​

If you want to become a web developer, then it's an absolute must-know HTTP and know it well.

I am not asking you to read the specification, but you should at least be familiar with common HTTP request methods like GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, OPTIONS, and how HTTP/HTTPS works in general.

Learn the terminal​

Though a frontend developer doesn't need to learn Linux or terminal, I strongly suggest you get familiar with the terminal, configure your shell (bash, zsh, csh), etc.

Algorithms and Data Structure​

Well, this is again one of the general programming skills that is not just necessarily needed for becoming a React developer but needed to become a programmer in the first place.

Learn Design Patterns​

Just like Algorithms and Data Structure, it's not imperative to learn design patterns to become a React Developer, but you will do a world of good to yourself by learning it.

What are design patterns?

Design patterns are tried and tested solutions of common problem occur in software development.

Knowing them will help you find a solution that can withstand the test of time.

Learn how to debug​

Debugging is an essential skill for any developer. You should know how to debug your code and find the root cause of the problem.

Node.js​

You need to install Node.js on your system to run React JS. Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. To download Node.js, visit the official website, and download the latest version of Node.js, and install it on your system.

Conclusion​

So, these are some prerequisites for learning React JS. I hope you will find this article helpful.