Element & Component in React

When developing with React, it is important to understand the concept of elements and components. These are the building blocks of a React application and allow developers to create dynamic and reusable UI components.

Elements

In React, elements are the smallest building blocks of a React application. They are essentially objects that describe what you want to see on the screen. For example, you can create a simple element like this:

<div>Hello, world!</div>

This creates a basic element that represents a div with the text “Hello, world!” inside it. Elements are immutable and are not meant to be modified. They are like the ingredients you use to create a dish.

Components

Components are a way to make elements reusable and manageable. They allow developers to split the UI into independent and reusable pieces, which can then be composed to create complex UIs. Components can be function components or class components depending on how they are defined.

Here’s an example of a simple functional component:


function Greeting(props) {
return <h1>Hello, {props.name}!</h1>;
}


This component takes in a prop called “name” and displays a greeting message. This component can be used multiple times throughout the application, making it easy to reuse the same UI logic wherever needed.

Conclusion

Understanding elements and components is crucial for building efficient and maintainable React applications. Elements represent the UI, while components encapsulate the UI logic and can be reused throughout the application. By mastering these concepts, developers can create scalable and maintainable UIs with React.