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August 5th, 2020 × #react#state management#front-end

React State Round Up

Scott and Wes discuss and compare several React state management libraries including Context, Redux, XState, Apollo, and more. They talk about the pros and cons of each, when you might want to use them, and share their experiences.

Wes Bos

Wes Bos Host

Scott Tolinski

Scott Tolinski Host

or
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of Syntax, Scott and Wes talk about React State libraries, should you use them, pros, cons, and more!

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Show Notes

01:24 - Context

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: Yes
  • Pros
    • Built into React
    • As simple or complex as you want
  • Cons
    • Takes effort to optimize
    • Takes effort to plan and organize aka can get out of hand quickly

08:49 - Redux

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: Yes
  • Pros
    • Huge user base
    • Legacy of growth and improvements
    • Modern API
    • Even though it's hard to learn, it has a clear "how to build with it" path
    • Dev tools
  • Cons
    • Complex
    • Thing that calls a thing that calls a thing that calls a thing
    • Confusion around what additional packages are needed, e.g. ducks, saga, whatever

17:08 - XState

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: No
  • Pros
  • Cons
    • Knowledge overhead - having to understand state machines
    • Complex syntax

23:26 - Zustand

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: No
  • Pros
    • Fast, scalable, easy to use
    • Simpler
    • No context providers
  • Cons
    • Smaller community 2.6k stars on Github
    • Can inform components transiently (without causing render)

27:04 - Apollo Client

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: Yes
  • Pros
    • Fits in well with your GraphQL API
    • Dev tools
  • Cons
    • Complex, large syntax for simple operations
    • Dev tools
    • SSR story is really complex. It's hard because they aren't also the framework.

31:35 - RXJS

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: No
    • Wes: No
  • Observable based

33:02 - React Query

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: No
    • Wes:
  • Pros
    • Fast growing community
    • Awesome dev tools
  • Cons
    • Not sure if this can be used for application state or just data

35:37 - Recoil

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: No
  • Pros
    • Very good for complex, splintered state needs
  • Cons
    • Overly complex for most use cases

38:34 - MobX

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: No
    • Wes: No
  • Pros
    • Big community
    • Not just React
    • Powerful
    • Observable capabilities
  • Cons
    • Uses decorators, but doesn't have to?

43:15 - Easy Peasy

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: No
    • Wes: No
  • Pros
    • Simple API (easy peasy)
    • Redux dev tools supported

45:06 - Meteor ReactiveDict / ReactiveVar

  • Have we used?
    • Scott: Yes
    • Wes: No
  • Pros
    • Very simple
    • Get, set
    • Is Reactive
  • Cons
    • Lock-in to Meteor

46:19 - Final Thoughts On State

  • Wes: Go for simpler solutions
  • Scott: I think application state should be separate from application data, but maybe that's because there isn't a solution that does both how I want

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