React provides a variety of extensions for comprehensive application architectural support, including Flux and React Native, extending beyond mere UI development. In comparison to other technologies in the market, React is relatively new. Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook, founded the library in 2011, breathing life into it. React was influenced by frameworks like XHP, which provided a straightforward HTML component framework for PHP. React made its debut with Facebook's newsfeed application in 2011. Subsequently, Instagram adopted it and integrated it into their platform. React's popularity in contemporary times has surpassed that of all other front-end development frameworks.

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React 17 is a major release of the React JavaScript library. It was released on September 29, 2020. React 17 includes some new features and improvements, including:

You can find more information on how to get started with React 17 on the React website:- Here

• Stable React Events: This version brought improvements in the event system, ensuring that events behave consistently across different environments and making it easier to manage events in a predictable manner.
• Native Events System: React 17 enhanced the event delegation system, which streamlined event handling and improved performance.
• No New Features: Unlike previous major releases, React 17 didn’t introduce any new user-facing features. Instead, it laid the groundwork for future advancements.
• Strict Mode by Default: One notable change was the activation of strict mode by default, aiding in the detection of potential issues and encouraging best practices during development.
• Enhanced Error Messages: React 17 aimed to improve error handling and debugging by providing more informative and helpful error messages.

Installation Guide and Setup Steps

To install React 17 with npm, run:

npm install react@17.0.0 react-dom@17.0.0

To install React 17 with Yarn, run:

yarn add react@17.0.0 react-dom@17.0.0

React 18 is the latest version of React, a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. It was released on March 21, 2022. React 18 introduces a variety of new features and enhancements, such as:

• Concurrent rendering: React 18 introduces a new concurrent rendering engine that can improve the performance of applications by allowing multiple tasks to be rendered at the same time.
• Automatic batching: React 18 automatically batches state updates, which can improve the performance of applications by reducing the number of times the DOM is updated.
• New APIs and hooks: React 18 introduces a number of new APIs and hooks, including the useId hook, which can be used to generate unique IDs for elements, and the useDeferredValue hook, which can be used to defer the rendering of a value until it is needed.

If you are using React 17 or an older version, we recommend that you upgrade to React 18 as soon as possible to take advantage of the new features and improvements.

Here are some of the benefits of using React 18:

• Improved performance: React 18's concurrent rendering engine can significantly improve the performance of applications by allowing multiple tasks to be rendered at the same time.
• Reduced memory usage: React 18's automatic batching can reduce the number of times the DOM is updated, which can lead to reduced memory usage.
• New features and hooks: React 18 introduces a number of new APIs and hooks, such as the useId hook and the useDeferredValue hook, which can be used to write more efficient and effective code.

If you are new to React, we recommend that you start with React 18. It is the latest version of React and includes all of the latest features and improvements.

Installation Guide and Setup Steps

To install React 18 with npm, run:

npm install react@18 react-dom@18

To install React 18 with Yarn, run:

yarn add react react-dom

React 18 has introduced concurrent features (concurrent features refer to capabilities in software or systems that allow multiple tasks to be executed simultaneously, increasing efficiency and performance by managing tasks concurrently.) that fundamentally change the way React applications can be rendered. We'll delve into how these latest features impact and enhance your application's performance.

First, let's take a moment to revisit the fundamentals of long tasks and the associated performance metrics.

React 17 was released in April 2021. React 18 addresses certain issues introduced in React 17 while also introducing new features. The main changes from React 17 are:

• React 18 now includes support for dynamic imports, enabling code splitting using the [import()] syntax.
• React 17 included numerous bug fixes related to the JSX transform, the new low-level caching, and various other areas.
• React 18 introduces several new features, including a new context API, an experimental Suspense Hook, and enhancements to server-side rendering memory utilization.

Here is a comparison of React V17 and React V18:

In addition to these new features, React 18 also includes a number of bug fixes and performance improvements.

Here is a more detailed look at some of the key features of React 18:

• Concurrent Rendering: Concurrent rendering allows React to work on multiple tasks at the same time. This can improve performance by reducing the amount of time that React spends waiting for tasks to complete.
• Automatic Batching: Automatic batching automatically groups together state updates that occur within a short period of time. This can reduce the number of re-renders that React needs to perform, which can also improve performance.
• New Event Delegation Model: The new event delegation model reduces the number of event listeners that React needs to attach to the DOM. This can also improve performance.
• New Context API: The new context API provides a more efficient way to manage context in React applications.
• Experimental Suspense Hook: The experimental Suspense hook allows React to suspend rendering until certain conditions are met. This can be useful for improving the performance of applications that load data from a server.
• Improved Server-Side Rendering Memory Utilization: React 18 improves the memory utilization of server-rendered applications. This can be beneficial for applications that need to render a large number of pages on the server.

React 17 included several bug fixes related to the JSX transform, the new low-level caching system, and various other areas.

React 18 introduces several new features, including a new context API, an experimental Suspense Hook, and enhancements to server-side rendering memory utilization.

There are a few differences between React 17 server-side rendering and React 18 server-side rendering.

One of the biggest differences is the introduction of the new JSX transform in React 18. This new transform delivers enhanced performance and improved support for the latest ECMAScript syntax. It also enables React to integrate more seamlessly with other libraries and tools, such as TypeScript and the Babel compiler.

Another difference is the new APIs that have been redesigned to render on the client and server sides. These new APIs allow users to continue utilizing the old React 17 APIs while upgrading to the new React 18 APIs.

Finally, React 18 has improved server-side rendering memory utilization. This is because React now yields to the browser during concurrent rendering, giving it a chance to recalculate the layout. This can lead to significant performance improvements for large applications.

Overall, React 18 is a major upgrade over React 17 and offers a number of new features and improvements. If you are planning on upgrading from React 17, be sure to check out the React 18 documentation to learn more about the new features and how to use them.

React Router is a library that helps you create routes in your React application. It allows you to navigate between different pages in your application, making it easier to organize and present information to your users.

In React 18, the way routes are configured has changed. The Route component has been replaced with the Routes component, and the Link component has been replaced with the Link function.

To upgrade to React Router v6, you'll need to start by uninstalling v5 and then installing v6:

npm uninstall react-router-dom@5
    npm install react-router-dom@6

Or, if you're using yarn:

yarn remove react-router-dom@5
    yarn add react-router-dom@6

Once you've upgraded, you can start configuring your routes. Here's an example of a simple routes configuration:

import { Routes, Route } from "react-router-dom";
    
    const App = () => {
      return (
        <Routes>
          <Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
          <Route path="/about" element={<About />} />
        </Routes>
      );
    };

This configuration will create two routes: one for the home page and one for the About page. When a user clicks on a link to the home page, the Home component will be rendered. When a user clicks on a link to the About page, the About the component will be rendered.

You can also use React Router to create more complex routes. For example, you can create routes that are dynamic or that are nested.

For more information on React Router, please see the React Router documentation.

Navigation in React 18: Choosing Between <Link> and <a>

The <Link> component and the <a> tag are both used to create links in React. Nevertheless, there exist numerous notable distinctions between the two versions.

The <Link> component is a React Router component that is used to create links between different routes in an application. When a user clicks on a <Link> component, the router will navigate to the corresponding route.

The <a> tag is a standard HTML anchor tag that can be used to create links to any URL, both internal and external. When a user clicks on an <a> tag, the browser will navigate to the corresponding URL.

Here is a table that summarizes the key differences between the <Link> component and the <a> tag:

The <Link> component in React Router is used to create links between routes. It is a declarative way to navigate between pages, and it provides some benefits, including:

• Automatic navigation: When a user clicks on a Link, React Router will automatically navigate to the corresponding route. This makes it easy to create user interfaces that are easy to use and navigate.
• SEO benefits: Links are important for SEO, as they help search engines understand the structure of your website and how different pages are related to each other.
• Accessibility: Links are also important for accessibility, as they allow users with disabilities to navigate your website using a keyboard or screen reader.

In this example, the Link components will render two links, one to the /about route and one to the /contact  route. When a user clicks on one of the links, React Router will automatically navigate to the corresponding route.

The Link component is a powerful tool for creating user interfaces that are easy to use, navigate, and accessible. It is a core component of React Router, and it is used in many popular React applications.

React 17 and React 18 represent significant milestones in the evolution of the React library, each bringing distinct improvements and developments. React 17 laid the groundwork by prioritizing internal enhancements, focusing on the upgrade experience, and aligning closer with modern browser behavior. It didn't introduce overtly visible changes but rather prioritized stability and preparation for future advancements.

On the other hand, React 18 builds upon this foundation, aiming to introduce more user-facing features and advancements. It might encompass new capabilities like concurrent rendering, automatic batching, and enhanced server-side rendering. React 18 seems poised to offer developers tools for building more dynamic and responsive applications while maintaining backward compatibility and smoother upgrade paths, thanks to the groundwork laid by React 17.

Where React 17 set the stage, emphasizing stability and developer experience, React 18 appears geared toward delivering innovative functionalities and enhanced performance, potentially revolutionizing how developers build web applications with React. Together, these versions showcase a balance between stability and innovation, with React 17 paving the way for React 18's promising features and advancements.