React State Round Up

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
- Enforces solid design patterns
- Very safe
- Awesome tooling like UI to see state machines
- https://xstate.js.org/viz/
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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