Mastering React Hooks: Tips for Effective Usage and When to Avoid Them
Tags: react, webdev, reacthooks, javascript
Published: 2023-04-17 12:28:31

With the help of React hooks, you may leverage state and other React capabilities in functional components, simplifying the writing and organisation of your code. Here are some guidelines for using them successfully.

**1. Recognise the fundamental hooks:** **UseState**, **useEffect**, **useContext**, and **useReducer** are just a few of React's built-in hooks. Make sure you comprehend each hook's function and the proper way to use it.

**2. Organise your code:** Hooks can make your code simpler to read and maintain, but it's crucial to maintain organisation. Avoid combining unrelated hooks in the same component and try to organise related hooks together.

**3. The use of too many hooks:** In a single component might make it harder to comprehend and debug the code, even while hooks can help make your code more modular. If you discover that a single component contains more than a few hooks, think about dividing it into smaller, more concentrated components.

**4. Reuse code by using custom hooks:** Using custom hooks enables you to share functionality between several components. If you frequently write the same code in several components, you might want to think about encapsulating that functionality in a custom hook.

## There are a few circumstances when class components may be a better fit when it comes to avoiding hooks

**1. Legacy code:** It could be simpler to continue with the class component style when working with old code than to convert everything to functional components with hooks.

**2. Performance factors:** Class components sometimes provide greater performance than functional components with hooks. This is especially true if you're dealing with large, intricate components that demand numerous state updates.

**3. Readability of the code:** Hooks can make your code more modular, but if you're not familiar with them, they can also make it more challenging to comprehend. It could be simpler to remain with class components for the time being if your team is new to React or doesn't have any expertise with hooks.


### Example:-

Here's an example of using the useState hook to manage state in a functional component.

```
import React, { useState } from 'react';

function Counter() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);

  function increment() {
    setCount(count + 1);
  }

  return (
    <div>
      <p>Count: {count}</p>
      <button onClick={increment}>Increment</button>
    </div>
  );
}

```

In this example, we have used the **useState** hook to declare a state variable **count** and a function **setCount** to update it. We initialized **count** to 0 and then use it in our **render** method to display the current count and rendered a button that calls the **increment** function when clicked.

**Here's an example of using a custom hook to encapsulate some reusable logic.**

```
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';

function useFetch(url) {
  const [data, setData] = useState(null);

  useEffect(() => {
    async function fetchData() {
      const response = await fetch(url);
      const json = await response.json();
      setData(json);
    }

    fetchData();
  }, [url]);

  return data;
}

function PostList() {
  const posts = useFetch('/api/posts');

  if (!posts) {
    return <p>Loading...</p>;
  }

  return (
    <ul>
      {posts.map(post => (
        <li key={post.id}>{post.title}</li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  );
}

```
In the above example, we defined a custom hook **useFetch** that takes a URL and fetches data from it using **useState** and **useEffect**. We then use that hook in our **PostList** component to fetch a list of posts and render them as a list. Because we're using a custom hook, we can easily reuse this logic in other components without duplicating code.

To draw a conclusion, React Hooks are a strong tool for creating effective and maintainable React apps. You may utilise React Hooks efficiently and increase the readability and maintainability of your code by comprehending the fundamental hooks, keeping your code organised, creating custom hooks to reuse code, and avoiding using too many hooks in one component. However, it's crucial to know when to use class components rather than hooks. You can master React Hooks and create remarkable applications with ease by paying attention to these pointers.