What Is React Redux?

Sandeep ModiSandeep Modi
7 min read

Described as a JavaScript library used in web development, Redux is a tool for managing the application state. It is commonly used with React, Angular, and Facebook's Flux architecture. State management

Whether you're just starting with React or have been using the framework for years, you've likely heard of Redux. Redux is a JavaScript library that allows Reactjs developers to store and update their application's state. It's widely used with React but works with any JavaScript framework. The benefits of using Redux are numerous, and there are also tradeoffs. For example, you may need to write middleware to handle state flow across your components. Typically, this occurs when your app has grown too large to handle state management alone. Using Redux is a good solution to these challenges. Redux stores the application state in a single place, making it easier to manage. It also makes it easier to track changes. This makes it easier to identify coding errors. Using Redux can also help debug your app. One of the key features of Redux is that it's lightweight. It only takes up about 2KB. This makes it easy to use and works with any UI layer. Its simplicity has led to its popularity. Redux triggers actions, which are simple JavaScript functions that return an object. The actions are triggered when a component changes state. The actions are passed to reducers, which then update the store. The reducers then return part of the updated state to the store. The Redux store is a central repository for all the dynamic states in an application. It contains fields for each type of data. It's used for managing requests, monitoring changes, and tracking dynamic states.

It also makes state management more predictable. Redux makes it easy to understand how things change and allows you to see hidden states. This helps you make decisions when updating your app.

In addition, Redux makes it easy to debug your application. You can use its devtools to log changes and detect network errors. This makes it easy to see what's going on with your application and makes it easier to figure out what went wrong. Redux is a useful tool for larger, more complex applications. It's only suitable for some applications, however. It's important to wait until your app scales before implementing Redux.

Pure functions

Using pure functions is an important component in Redux, but it is not mandatory. Pure functions are functions determined by the inputs but do not mutate external state. It is important to remember that these functions should return the same output each time. React Redux uses pure functions to manage the state. These functions are easy to write and understand and help avoid unintended side effects. They also help you avoid common pitfalls, like accidentally mutating the state.

Pure functions can be helpful in Redux because they are predictable and easily tested. This makes it easy to determine if a function is working. It also allows you to get an accurate return value.

In Redux, a reducer is a pure function that accepts an app's state and returns a new one. This function can then be called in several different ways. It can return a new object based on the previous object's state or pass in additional data to alter the state. Using pure functions is important because it is the only way to make state changes in Redux. When using a reducer, you must pass a value to the function as an initial value and then pass the new state to it.

Redux stores the application state as an object tree in a store. The store acts as a single source of truth for the entire app. It is also very easy to test and maintain. It is the best way to store and manipulate your app's state and is easy to extend.

Redux has many dedicated reducers in the store. These reducers are pure functions that are easy to use and maintain. They can also be reordered in any order you want. Reducers can also be used to manage specific parts of the state tree. For example, you can use reducers to handle actions and objects describing what happened to the app. These actions can be stored and replayed for testing. Writing a pure function is easy, but it may take some time to get used to it. Luckily, there are libraries to help you with this. For example, the Immer library converts mutable code to pure functions.

Server-side rendering

Using Server-side rendering in React Redux is a powerful way to increase the speed of your application. Aside from the increased speed, Server-side rendering also improves the overall user experience. The JS scripts that make up your page are rendered on the server and then sent to your visitor's browser. You may also choose to pre-render pages at the requested time. This can also increase performance by showing content as soon as possible. Server-side rendering allows you to optimize your assets, reducing the number of requests your server receives and increasing the speed of your application. In addition, you can also improve the performance of your application by utilizing static exports. This means you can upload a JS file to the server whenever you want to render a page.

Server-side rendering is also helpful when it comes to SEO. Server-side rendering gives you the proper representation of the title and thumbnail, which helps search engine crawlers to index your web page properly. This helps to improve the speed of your search results.

Server-side rendering also eliminates the need for spinners and loaders. This is important for speed and ease of maintenance. You can also use it for single-page applications (SPAs). Server-side rendering can help your application perform faster and easier than it would on the client. Server-side rendering also helps to solve issues with initial loading times. With client-side rendering, the initial load time of a page can be significantly higher. It can also make it difficult for search engines to index your web page. Some search engines cannot index sites rendered on the client side.

Server-side React apps also take a higher level of expertise. While some apps do not require server-side rendering, SPAs, dashboard apps, and authentication apps can benefit from server-side rendering. Consider using static exports in your application if you want to optimize SEO. While Server-side rendering is not a silver bullet, it does provide the best of both worlds. It is a popular technique used to improve the speed of your page.

Time travel debugging

A time travel debugging tool can help developers learn more about their applications. It can also help reduce the time required to debug the application. For instance, if a developer wants to find out why an item was added to the UI, the tool will allow them to jump to a previous statement and see what happened.

Time travel debugging is generally achieved by replaying user actions with a debugger attached. It can also be accomplished with a plugin. For instance, Flux and Reactome can perform time travel debugging. However, Redux DevTools is the most popular tool for time travel debugging. The Dev Tools are a set of buttons that allow you to monitor changes in your application. There are buttons for Trace, Lock, and Pause. These buttons allow you to commit your state, reload a page, and replay a browser event. These features reduce the time it takes to restart your application. You can also set your browser to automatically reload a page after committing your state. These features can be very helpful to large applications.

Another feature of Redux DevTools is the persistence feature. You can use the persistState() store enhancer to persist debug sessions across page reloads. This feature is especially useful for applications with large codebases. You need to add a debug session to your URL to persist the state. For example, adding the query string "debug_session=redux" to your page will persist the state.

Aside from time travel debugging, Redux DevTools also offers value dispatching. This feature allows you to commit to the state of your application without causing side effects. You can also use React-Hooks to inspect the state of your application visually. In addition, it is possible to replay a browser event without reproducing it in production.

For developers, time travel debugging can help them quickly understand the behavior of their application and make faster, more effective changes. It also reduces the time and effort required to debug an application. It can save developers valuable hours and allow them to enjoy their work.

0
Subscribe to my newsletter

Read articles from Sandeep Modi directly inside your inbox. Subscribe to the newsletter, and don't miss out.

Written by

Sandeep Modi
Sandeep Modi

I am a Full-stack Developer at ultroNeous Technologies.