What this book covers
Chapter 1, What are React and React Native?, will start by going over a brief history of web development to achieve a better understanding of the ideas behind the creation of React and React Native. We will also talk about ReactJS concepts, and we will get acquainted with React Native code.
Chapter 2, Managing State in a Simple React App, will talk about some real-life problems that React developers face. We will concentrate on robust state management for medium-sized and large applications. Since React itself was not created with the tools to manage global states, we will look at modern React solutions and other state management strategies.
Chapter 3, Planning and Setting Up the Funbook App, will get into coding for real here! We will create our very own app, a social media clone app, called Funbook. We will learn about popular tools, especially Expo, and the React Native ecosystem.
Chapter 4, Styling and Populating the Funbook App, will be all about making the app we have on our hands look good. We will also populate it with some data so that we can work on a project that’s close to how a real production app may work.
Chapter 5, Implementing Redux in Our Funbook App, will explore the tumultuous history of Redux and then go over configuring Redux and Redux Toolkit in the app. Once the dependencies are set up, we will move on to implementing the like button and the list of liked images with the help of Redux. This chapter includes responses from a short conversation I had with the main Redux and Redux Toolkit maintainer – Mark Erikson, also known by his Twitter handle @acemarke.
Chapter 6, Using MobX as a State Manager in a React Native App, will return to the bare React Native app we created in Chapters 1 to 4, and this time, we will add MobX and MobX-State-Tree into the mix. We will start with how this library came to be, and then move on to configuring it in the Funbook app. Once we’re ready, we will use it for the liked images list and the like button. This chapter includes responses from an exchange I had with the MobX-State-Tree maintainer – Jamon Holmgren.
Chapter 7, Untangling Complex Flows in React Native Apps with XState, will go deeper into some advanced math problems, as XState is based on advanced mathematical concepts. When we have a handle on them, we will move on to configuring XState in the Funbook app and using it for the liked images functionality.
This chapter includes responses I received from the creator of XState – David Khourshid, better known on the internet as DavidKPiano.
Chapter 8, Integrating Jotai in a React Native App, will return to the bare Funbook app again, and this time, we will implement the youngest state management library in this book: Jotai. We will learn about its concepts, configure it, and use it for the liked button and liked images list functionality. This chapter includes responses from a conversation I had with the creator of Jotai, Daishi Kato.
Chapter 9, Using React Query for Server-Side - Driven State Management, will look at the problem of state management in a very new way: maybe we don’t need state management libraries at all. Maybe all we must do is effectively manage data fetching. In order to test this hypothesis, we will install, configure, and use React Query, also known as TanStack Query.
Chapter 10, Appendix, will take a bird’s eye view of everything that we have learned about in the book. I have also included a few common job interview questions that are pertinent to the topic of state management in React Native apps.
