Using React with Rails: Things to consider

Frontend development has come a long way in the last decade. The domain is rapidly developing with new technologies to utilize modern infrastructure more efficiently. Of all the technologies, React remains a significant player. According to Statista, ReactJS is the second most widely used JavaScript library, with a market share of 42.62%.

Developers are using ReactJS to make their Ruby on Rails applications more powerful. This article will look at things you need to consider while using React with Rails.

When to use React and Rails?

Ruby on Rails and React are both standalone frameworks. You can build applications using either Rails or ReactJS, but there are scenarios where combining the two offers a technological edge. If you are not sure when to use React with Rails, here are some preferred applications:

  • Complex simple-page applications
  • Applications with a large volume of dynamic content
  • Mobile-first applications that need to be scaled rapidly
  • Applications handling larger database
  • Applications with higher performance speed

If you are working on any such application, then you can plan to use the two technologies in combination.

Now let’s look at the considerations to make.

1. Is fast development possible?

Ruby on Rails has many built-in modules and code libraries that developers can use to rapidly build enterprise applications. There are also options to strengthen communication with frontend libraries like ReactJS. However, to reduce cost and development time, you need to ensure that developers in your team understand how to build a Ruby on Rails app with a ReactJS frontend. Some prerequisites exist to fully utilize the combination for product development, like understanding protocols to transfer data between Rails backend and React frontend.

Also, there are tricks to clean up your React components that can make your apps much faster. It helps you scale the performance of the applications without increasing the resources.

2. What is your app speed requirements? 

Not every app benefits from using React and Ruby on Rails as the tech stack. If your app has to handle a high volume of dynamic data or too much traffic, you can build your app using any one of the frameworks.

However, it’s the best tech stack if your app needs to load lightning fast, even with dynamic content, and handle increasing traffic. When you use Ruby on Rails with React, you can reduce the server response time by up to 80%, making your apps much faster. The low speed of web apps is one of the main reasons businesses lose users.

If minimizing the server request time is your priority, you should consider Rails and ReactJS for your application.

3. Cut down memory usage 

It is a common issue for applications as they scale. If not managed correctly, increased memory usage can lead to poor performance and even timeouts. The solution lies in optimizing the memory utilization by the app. React with Rails API can be used to prevent unnecessary memory usage by optimizing processes to allocate and empty available space more efficiently. Egghead.io, an online learning platform for web developers, struggled with timeouts every hour before they decided to deploy a React with Ruby on Rails solution. It significantly improved their application’s performance and improved memory usage.

4. Development speed, quality & business model

App development is increasingly popular, driven by the increase in the use of smartphones. The ‘time to market’ is significant in a competitive domain. It simply determines how much time it will take to build and publish an application. When Rails is combined with React, you have a complete technology stack to develop and deploy apps in the least time possible. Also, if you aim to offer an app based on the freemium model, Rails works great because it’s a cheaper technology. Also, it provides additional features like scalability once your user base starts growing.

Another reason to try a combination of React with Ruby on Rails is that you can build a fully functional prototype fast. It helps you test the market and get feedback from the users to guide appropriate future decisions. However, if you aim to earn revenues from ads with a huge base of free users, you should not use Rails with React as it is not entirely a free option.

Conclusion 

Whether or not you should use React with Ruby on Rails depends on the project’s requirements. There is no straightforward answer, as the tech stack is not a universal solution but a potential combination for developing dynamic applications with innumerable micro-interactions. If you are building large scalable web applications, you need to consider the points mentioned above.

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AR technology in mobile app development: What you need to know

Augmented reality (AR), after years of application in healthcare and other domains, is finding its application in mobile app development. The success of the mobile AR game Pokemon Go encouraged interest in including AR technology in app development. But make no mistake, the applications of this technology are not just in the entertainment sector. Apps across various categories are using AR to create a seamless user experience. Brands utilize this technology to offer customers options to try a product virtually before buying, and companies use AR for interactive advertising.

The adoption of AR technology is growing and is expected to reach a market valuation of $280 billion by 2028. Unsurprisingly, companies are interested in implementing AR technology in mobile app development.

This article explores the use of augmented reality in the app development industry.

What is augmented reality?

Augmented reality is the link between virtual data and the real world. While the technical definition of AR technology varies, here are the three characteristics it must have:

  1. It should combine the real world and virtual data in real-time
  2. Must be interactive in real-time, that is, offers the ability to users to interact with their virtual environment
  3. Provide a view of the world around us in 3D

AR technology is already widely available for healthcare and engineering applications. Given the high hardware performance requirement, incorporating augmented reality in mobile applications was not easy.

However, with the advancement of smartphone technology, it is now possible to have AR in app development. With the help of VR headsets and glasses, users can experience virtual reality like never before. These kinds of innovations have encouraged mobile app developers to experiment with augmented reality.

Types of AR mobile apps 

It is necessary to define your business goals for augmented reality app development. There are several kinds of augmented reality apps, each with its unique set of features.

1. Marker-based augmented reality app

This mobile application uses augmented reality technology for image recognition or image marking. Once the app can identify an image or object, it further overlays digital information on the marker. The most common marker-based AR mobile apps are Google Lens and Snapchat.

2. Location-based augmented reality

Location-based AR mobile apps are also known as markerless applications. Instead of using image markers, these applications use GPS, accelerators, and compasses to create AR objects based on the user’s current location. Pokémon Go is an excellent example of how location-based augmented reality can be used in mobile app development.

3. Projection augmented reality apps

Such applications use complex algorithms and rely on visual odometry to identify an object’s precise location. Projection AR is part of car parking systems and uses built-in cameras in vehicles that collect data from multiple sensors to assist drivers. Architects and engineers also use this technology to better study construction sites.

4. Superimposition-based augmented reality apps

These applications are primarily used in healthcare and medicine. The superimposition-based augmented reality processes the actual image of the environment and then recognizes and overlays the created environment with the AR object.

How to choose an augmented reality SDK for app development?

You must choose the suitable development kit (SDK) to use augmented reality in app development. There are several tools available to choose from. VuforiaGoogle ARCore, and Apple ARKit are some of the most widely used software development kits for including augmented reality in mobile applications.

Here are the factors you must consider when choosing an augmented reality SDK:

1. Cost

Augmented reality technology implementation in the mobile app can be expensive. If you are not working on a production-level application, we recommend you choose a free, open-source tool like Google ARCore. And, if you plan to build a complex mobile app with large and dynamic content, you can use paid SDKs like Vuforia.

2. Platforms

Whether you’re building an AR mobile app for iOS or Android, there are enough software development toolkits available for both platforms. The choice depends on your familiarity with the programming languages for each platform. You can use the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) kit to build applications for Windows smart devices.

3. Image recognition

A non-negotiable feature for any AR app, the chosen SDK must provide image recognition to identify objects, places, and images. 3D recognition and tracking is also an important feature that enables mobile applications to use AR technology to identify the more prominent spaces around the user, such as shopping malls, bus stations, and airports.

4. Unity support

Unity is arguably the most powerful game engine for creating video games, but it can also be utilized to make your AR mobile applications powerful. By using the powerful effects of this platform, you can create a cutting-edge user experience.

Conclusion

Augmented reality is a powerful technology with innovative and exciting app development applications. We hope this article gives you a starting point to explore AR technology for your mobile applications.

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Cheat sheet for JavaScript interviews

JavaScript with HTML and CSS is the building block of the World Wide Web. Over 98% of websites use JavaScript as the dominant client-side programming language to control the behavior of web pages. Given its features and capabilities, JavaScript is one of web development’s most popular programming languages.

Any JavaScript interview can go from a preliminary evaluation of your fundamental skills to a comprehensive, in-depth benchmark of your programming skills.

This article includes the ultimate cheat sheet for JavaScript interviews and some commonly required quick, tested, and ready-to-use code snippets.

1. Explore the “this” keyword 

In JavaScript, the “this” is a reserved keyword we cannot use as an identifier. This keyword changes its behavior according to the use case. While the strict mode is set “this” as undefined, you can change its context by using call, apply, and bind functions.

With the call, apply, and bind functions, you can change the behavior of “this” to create a more generic function. Here is an example:

const name = “Hey”function foo() {

   ‘use strict’

  console.log(this.name)

}const context = {

   name: “Hello World!”

}foo.call(context) // Hello World!

foo.apply(context) // Hello World!

foo() // Cannot read properties of undefined (reading ‘name’)

Closely look at the call and apply. While they might seem similar, the former accepts the parameters as individual arguments while the latter expects them as an array. The bind changes the context of “this” and returns a new function.

2. Prototypes

A JavaScript prototype is an object associated with every function and object by default. However, a function’s prototype property is accessible and adaptable in the code, but the object’s prototype property is not visible.

An essential use of the prototype object is to create an ienumerable object to which additional properties can be attached, and it can be shared across all the instances of its constructor function.

Here’s an example code:

// constructor function

function Person () {

   this.name = ‘John’,

   this.age = 23

}

// creating objects

const person1 = new Person();

const person2 = new Person();

// adding property to constructor function

Person.prototype.gender = ‘male’;

// prototype value of Person

console.log(Person.prototype);

// inheriting the property from prototype

console.log(person1.gender);

console.log(person2.gender);

Output:

{ gender: “male” }

male

male

3. Function currying and callbacks

Currying and callbacks are essential processes in JavaScript. We use currying to transform a function with multiple arguments into a sequence of nesting function calls. The outcome of currying is a new function that expects the following statement inline.

A callback is a function that is passed into another function as an argument. Callbacks are first-class action features invoked inside the outer function to complete a particular task.

Code example:

function simpleFunction(param1, param2, param3, …..) => function curriedFunction(param1)(param2)(param3)(….)function calculateVolume(length) {

   return function (breadth) {

     return function (height) {

       return length * breadth * height;

     }

   }

}

console.log(calculateVolume(4)(5)(6)); // 120

4. Higher-order function

JavaScript allows you to pass a series of functions as an argument to another function and return a function. It is achieved through higher-order functions. They are usually used in complex applications where the returned function can consist of multiple properties or constants for further computations.

The higher-order function can be of multiple types, such as:

//Assign a function to a variable originalFunc

const originalFunc = (num) => { return num + 2 };

//Return the function’s body as a string

newFunc.toString(); //'(num) => { return num + 2 }’

//Add our own isMathFunction property to the function

newFunc.isMathFunction = true;

//Re-assign the function to a new variable newFunc

const newFunc = originalFunc;

//access the function’s name property

newFunc.name; //’originalFunc’

//Pass the function as an argument

const functionNameLength = (func) => { return func.name.length };

functionNameLength(originalFunc); //12

//Return the function

const returnFunc = () => { return newFunc };

returnFunc(); //[Function: originalFunc]

5. Patterns

For any JavaScript developer, it is essential to master patterns to optimize their code. JavaScript offers many kinds of patterns, but the most important ones are:

Mixin: this script pattern is used to extend the functionality of an object using list methods.

Factory: a class type that can create one or many different objects. It is dominantly used in unit testing to generate mock data.

Facade: it is used for the abstraction of a complex logic by wrapping it in the class. An example of a facade is the service that stays between the component and API layer.

Singleton: it is a class that can call the method directly without creating any object.

MVC, MVVM: JavaScript also allows the two most commonly used architectural patterns, Model View Controller and Model View ViewModel.

Conclusion 

Given the versatility and scope of JavaScript, it is beneficial to have access to cheat sheets that can help you quickly familiarize yourself with some crucial programming language features. This JavaScript cheat sheet for interviews is just the beginning; many more JavaScript resources exist to explore.

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4 main reasons why React re-renders

React developers often build applications without ever giving the re-rendering process much thought. Most developers have enough understanding of React rendering to get by. To help you better understand re-rendering, our React experts created this article.  

What is a re-render in React?

React is known for its impressive performance, and it is made possible by the rendering of the objects on the screen. It happens in two major stages:

  • Initial render: This happens when a component or object first appears on the screen.
  • Re-render: Second or any consecutive render of the element already on screen.

Re-rendering occurs when React updates the app with some new data, often resulting from user interaction with the app. This is why non-interactive apps with no asynchronous data to handle never need re-render and the associated optimizations.

What is a necessary and unnecessary re-render?

Not every React re-rendering is necessary, and even not advised.

Necessary re-render is when you need to re-render a component that is the source of the changes in an app. Re-rendering is also helpful for parts that directly use any new information. For instance, a part that manages the user input’s state needs to update or re-render at every keystroke.

Unnecessary re-renders are propagated through an app due to several re-render mechanisms. It can be due to React coding mistakes or inefficient app architecture. For example, if instead of a part, the entire application page re-renders on every keystroke when a user types in an input field, the page re-rendering is unnecessary.

Fortunately, unnecessary re-renders are not an issue. React is very fast, and there is no noticeable difference in performance if some components re-render unnecessarily. However, too often, unnecessary re-rendering of weighty components can lead to poor user experience.

When does the React component re-render itself?

There are four main reasons why a React component would re-render itself:

  • State changes
  • Parent (or child) re-renders
  • Context changes
  • Hook changes

For some developers, this might not be the complete list, as React developers tend to believe that re-rendering happens when a component’s props change. That’s not entirely true, as you will know in a short while.

1. Re-renders due to state changes

A component’s state change triggers re-render. Usually, in a React code when a component either uses a callback or in useEffect hook, the state changes which is the source of re-renders in most cases.

Consider the following code:

import { useState } from “react”;

import “./styles.css”;

const App = () => {

  const [state, setState] = useState(1);

  const onClick = () => {

   setState(state + 1);

  };

console.log(“Re-render number: “, state);

  return (

   <>

    <h2>Open console, click a button</h2>

<p>Re-render because of state change should be logged on every click</p>

    <button onClick={onClick}>click here</button>

   </>

  );

};

export default App;

Here re-render happens as highlighted here:

https://www.developerway.com/assets/react-re-renders-guide/part2-state-changes-example.png

2. Re-render due to parent re-renders

A component will re-render itself if its parent re-renders and vice versa. It can also be stated that when a component re-renders, it re-renders all its children. The re-render of the components is always down the tree, i.e., if a child re-renders, it will not re-render the parent. However, there are some caveats here, and you must check out this post on React Element, children, parents, and re-renders.

3. Re-renders due to context changes

When the value of a Context Provider changes, all the components that use that Context Provider will re-render. This will happen even if the components do not use the changed value directly. These kinds of re-renders cannot be prevented with memoization directly, and React developers need to find different approaches depending on their code to stop them.

Here’s an example:

  const value = useMemo(

   () => ({

    value: state

   }),

   [state]

  );

  return (

<Context.Provider value={value}>

    <button onClick={onClick}>click here</button>

    {children}

</Context.Provider>

  );

};

const useValue = () => useContext(Context);

const Child1 = () => {

  const { value } = useValue();

console.log(“Child1 re-renders: “, value);

  return <></>;

};

const Child2 = () => {

  const { value } = useValue();

console.log(“Child2 re-renders”, value);

  return <></>;

};

const App = () => {

  return (

   <Provider>

    <h2>Open console, click a button</h2>

    <p>Both children will re-render because of context</p>

    <Child1 />

    <Child2 />

   </Provider>

  );

};

export default App;

When you run this code in the console and click the button, both children will re-render because of the Context.

4. Re-renders due to hook changes

Whatever happens within a hook is directly associated with its component. As with Context and State changes, any change within a hook triggers component re-render. Whenever the state inside the hook changes, it will trigger an unpreventable re-render of the “host” component. Also, if the hook uses Context and its value changes, the host component will be re-rendered.

Conclusion 

React re-render is an essential concept to understand for React developers. Preventing unnecessary re-renders is necessary for React app performance and efficiently utilizing resources. The listed four scenarios are how React re-renders components.

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