Mastering React Native

Eric Masiello, Jacob Friedmann

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781785885785
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Web Programming
• Index: Computer Science

Leverage frontend development skills to build impressive iOS and Android applications with React Native

About This Book

• Apply flexbox to get layout and build rich animations that bring your React Native application to life
• Integrate third-party libraries and develop customized components that run natively on iOS and Android platforms
• Combine React Native with Redux, Redux middleware, and a remote API to build scalable data-driven applications

Who This Book Is For

This book is for anyone who wants to build cross-platform native mobile applications using only JavaScript and the React Native framework. In particular, this book is especially useful for front-end developers who want to use their current skillset to build mobile applications. An existing working knowledge of JavaScript will help you get the most out of this book.

What You Will Learn

• Implement native React Native components and APIs
• Explore React's JSX syntax
• Manage data using Redux and Redux middleware
• Build applications with React Native on both iOS and Android platforms
• Perform animations in your applications using the animation APIs
• Understand routing and Navigator comparison
• Create your own Native module

In Detail

React Native has completely revolutionized mobile development by empowering JavaScript developers to build world-class mobile apps that run natively on mobile platforms. This book will show you how to apply JavaScript and other front-end skills to build cross-platform React Native applications for iOS and Android using a single codebase.

This book will provide you with all the React Native building blocks necessary to become an expert. We'll give you a brief explanation of the numerous native components and APIs that come bundled with React Native including Images, Views, ListViews, WebViews, and much more. You will learn to utilize form inputs in React Native. You'll get an overview of Facebook's Flux data architecture and then apply Redux to manage data with a remote API. You will also learn to animate different parts of your application, as well as routing using React Native's navigation APIs.

By the end of the book, you will be able to build cutting-edge applications using the React Native framework.

Style and approach

This comprehensive guide will take your React Native skills to the next level. It shows you how to develop a clear workflow to build scalable applications, and how to implement the architectural concepts covered to build applications that shine in the real world.

Mastering React Native

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Mastering React Native

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

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First published: January 2017

Production reference: 1060117

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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ISBN 978-1-78588-578-5

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Credits

Authors Eric Masiello Jacob Friedmann	Copy Editor Safis Editing
Reviewer Patrick Puritscher	Project Coordinator Sheejal Shah
Commissioning Editor Wilson Dsouza	Proofreader Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Denim Pinto	Indexer Rekha Nair
Content Development Editor Divij Kotian	Graphics Abhinash Sahu
Technical Editor Rutuja Vaze	Production Coordinator Aparna Bhagat

Disclaimer

We are using the New York Times' API for illustrative purposes only. We do not recommend you publish your application to the app store using this API without first reading the Terms of Use (https://developer.nytimes.com/tou). For more information please consult the NYT's terms and conditions.

About the Authors

Eric Masiello is a lead software engineer for Vistaprint Digital. Formerly, Eric worked as a principal frontend engineer for the Advisory Board Company and built mobile apps for the Education Advisory Board. Eric has worked primarily as a frontend/UI developer for over 10 years and freelances as a website designer/developer at http://www.synbydesign.com. He has taught frontend topics at General Assembly in Washington, D.C. and was a technical reviewer for Mastering ReactJS, a video by Packt Publishing.

You can follow him here:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericmasiello
• https://twitter.com/ericmasiello
• http://synbydesign.com

First and foremost, I must extend an enormous thank you to my beautiful, talented, and always-inspiring wife, Hyun. If not for her support, this book would honestly not exist. My deepest gratitude also goes out to my family: Mom, Dad, Brian, Juliana, Nicolas, Umma, and my sisters Hannah, Min, and Carroll. I’m truly blessed to have such a wonderful and supportive family. Shout out to all the inspiring people I’ve had the honor of working with over the years. I’ve learned so much from all of you. Thanks to Keith, Michael, Andrew, Scott, Shelley, Kelly, the inimitable Karthik, Jesse, Jaworski, Beth, Mat, Anbu, Ashwin, Kevin, Ann, all my PIC/RCS homies, the EAB dev/UI team, the entire ABC/EAB UX team, and finally my new Vistaprint Digital family. Thank you to all my close friends who have balanced me, challenged me, shared a drink, or just a laugh: Bryan, Alan, Chris, Kyril, Brandon, April, and the whole Expansion Broadcast + DC crew. Thank you to everyone at Packt for bringing me along on this amazing (and sleepless) journey. And finally, thanks to my coauthor Jacob for all the work he did in realizing this book and for agreeing to even write a book with someone he had known for all of two weeks.

Jacob Friedmann is a developer living in Seattle, WA. He has been working as a developer professionally for 5 years and is currently a principal software engineer at AddThis, an Oracle company. At AddThis, he works on large front and backend applications. He also builds mobile applications using React Native, including Audicy (http://audicy.io), which will soon be launched on the App Store. He has taught several classes, including frontend web development and JavaScript development through General Assembly in Washington D.C.

You can follow him here:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacob-friedmann
• https://twitter.com/JacobDFriedmann

Writing a book (my first!) is hard, and I don’t think I would have been able to do it without the support of my loving boyfriend, Matt. He weathered my frequent complaining in stride and kept me focused when I needed it most. For that, I am incredibly grateful. Huge thanks to all of my AddThis family who have always inspired me to keep learning and pushed me to do my best work. To all of my friends and family, who were patient with me when I became a recluse to finish this project, thank you. You are loved, and I promise not to do this again for a while! Finally, to Eric for pulling me along on this adventure. I definitely didn’t know what I was getting myself into when I agreed to this, but I can’t imagine having a more dedicated and capable partner.

About the Reviewer

Patrick Puritscher began developing websites at the age of 14 by teaching himself the necessary skills. Already using React.js, he started to develop with React Native, shortly after watching the initial presentation. He is also active in the community with his open source components and recently published an app for iOS, completely written with React Native. After graduating with his bachelor’s degree, Patrick worked as the lead developer for multiple internally used web apps and a website with several million visits each month. It is his personal ambition to create software for people that makes their life easier, rather than making it more difficult with poor UX. Patrick has just started with his master’s degree in Business Informatics.

You can follow him on:

https://twitter.com/whoispurii

http://patrickpuritscher.com

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Preface

React Native is a library for creating mobile applications using familiar web technologies without sacrificing performance or the look and feel typically associated with fully native applications. It is built on top of Facebook’s open source JavaScript library, React, and indeed, iOS and Android applications created using the library are primarily written in JavaScript. Because one does not need to ...