What is state in react (frontend development).

Web development is a very interesting field and there's so much to handle like design, effects, data, http requests and the UI state.

# What is state?

We can't define state without first defining the parts of web development it depends on.

State has to do with the UI and data, in detail it is the data or variables that determine a component's behavior for rendering information to the user. 

More squarely state can be represented by a mathematical notation below.

state is a function of data and UI. when data changes state changes and the part of the UI is re-rendered.

Well we soon see an example.

In React, state refers to a JavaScript object that stores a component's dynamic information. This information can change over time, and the component will re-render to reflect those changes.

# State in React Example

Using an example explain State in react

For example, let's say we have a simple "like" button component in React. Initially, the button displays "0 likes", and when the button is clicked, the number of likes should increment by 1. We can achieve this by using state to store the number of likes and updating that state when the button is clicked.

 class LikeButton extends React.Component {

constructor(props) { 

super(props);

this.state = { likes: 0 }; }

handleClick = () => {

this.setState({ 
likes: this.state.likes + 1 
}); } 

render() { 

return ( 
<button onClick={this.handleClick}>
{this.state.likes} likes 
</button> 
); } }

In this example, the likes property of the component's state is initially set to 0 in the constructor. The handleClick method updates the state by incrementing the likes count, and the component re-renders to display the updated number of likes.

An interactive example from code pen.

# what is state management.

State management refers to the process of managing the state of an application, including how the state is stored, accessed, and updated.

State management is used for the manipulation of a component's state in a way that ensures the component behaves as expected and updates the user interface (UI) correctly. This can include tasks such as updating state, passing state between components, and handling state changes.

In a small application, it's possible to manage state using props (properties) and the component state. Props allow you to pass data from a parent component to a child component, and the component state is an object that is specific to a particular component.

While this approach works well for small applications, it can become unwieldy as the size and complexity of the application grows. In these cases, it's often useful to use a state management library such as Redux or MobX to manage the state of the application when using react library.

These libraries provide a centralized store for the application state, and allow you to manage the state in a more organized and predictable way. They also provide tools for updating the state in a consistent and predictable way, making it easier to write and maintain complex applications.

Overall, effective state management is an important aspect of building React applications, and can help you to write more efficient, maintainable, and scalable code.

# Where to go from here.

Building a simple game in react will give you a lot of problems to solve and forcing you to learn hard and have a great idea of how state works.

Hope you find this useful.