Resources to get started with React
Tags: javascript, webdev, react, beginners
Published: 2021-01-28 08:43:48

I have been asked a lot lately about resources to start learning React - a widely used JavaScript library for building user interfaces.

So in this blog post I tried to collect as much as possible of useful resources, which a complete beginner might use in the learning process.

## First Step
The first step in the learning process is to get yourself a helpful and convenient **code editor**. For learning React you can use any code editor because its very easy to import React into the project, but my choice would be [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/). This code editor has everything you need - highlights, built-in git, debugging system and very helpful React extensions like this:

![React_comp_generator.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/tkow8voer414beekriz4.png)

## Second Step
The second step is to decide if you want to *create a React application* or just *use React* on your HTML page. Yes, you can use React for both, that's the beauty of it. 

if you decided to create React application,  here are some useful resources to help you with that:

### 1.[CodeSandbox](https://codesandbox.io/)

![codeSandbox_react.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/6lc1ln26wl86rcipuvyr.png)

This is an online code editor which helps to start a project quickly. it uses templates to kickstart new projects with no setup. You just create a React template and start coding there. Moreover, you can share the link to the project with others if you stuck on something or encountered a bug. This IDE really helped me in the beginning of learning. 

### 2.[Create-react-app](https://create-react-app.dev/docs/getting-started/)

![create_react_app.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1611736023977/HhuTno57a.png)

This is a very comfortable and easy environment for learning React and is the best way to start building a single-page application. The only thing you need to do is to install it with package manager from your terminal - and you get everything configured for your project together with a server. So easy! 

## Third Step

So, you are all set up with IDE and probably created a project already. The next step would be actually *start learning React*. And here there are tons of resources which will help you to get you started. I'll write down some of them.

### 1.[Official React documentation](https://reactjs.org/)

![reactjs_org.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/jf49l3oxxlhizx72r5np.png)
 
This a page with React documentation and related resources from React developers team.  It is very easy to read and understand. It has tutorial on how to get started with React and description of all React features etc. I always come back to this page if I need explanations with something. 

### 2.[freeCodeCamp](https://www.freecodecamp.org/)

![freeCodeCamp.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/sessc5dhm0b0okb7wfth.png)

This is an amazing learning platform for beginners and it's totally free! it has a course called Front End Libraries, which includes also React among the others. And the good thing is after completion of this course you will get a certification, which you can put on your LinkedIn profile for example. 

### 3.[Udemy](https://www.udemy.com/)

![udemy_react.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/6cf6vvnywev5vdhh2o0r.png)

Udemy platform has a wide and helpful collection of courses and tutorials on different subjects. Precisely for React there are a few beginner-friendly and easy-to-follow courses, which will guide you from learning the concepts to building a project with advanced features.  My suggestion would be to find a beginner course on React and stick to it until the end, even though you might want to buy them all :)

### 4.[egghead.io](https://egghead.io/q/react)

![egghead_react.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/d1a55ec0wxnzxful24gz.png)

This platform has a huge collection of React courses, blogposts, tutorials, articles for different level.
The one I can recommend for beginners is [The Beginner's Guide to React](https://egghead.io/courses/the-beginner-s-guide-to-react) by [Kent Dodds](https://kentcdodds.com/). You can find Kent's [webpage](https://kentcdodds.com/) a very useful as well, he writes a lot about advanced React features and testing. 

### 5.[FrontEnd Masters](https://frontendmasters.com/)

![FrontendMasters_react.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/yfncf49a7udno3u35ius.png)

Here you can find a huge amount of courses and tutorials for learning React. They have also a nice feature - you can choose your Path and they will offer you related courses to your Path. You can track your progress on the go as well.

### 6.[AlterClass](https://classroom.alterclass.io/)
![Alt Text](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/08g3v5gskcokbje1bo0v.png)

This learning platform is fully focused on learning React. Being a good mix of theory and practice, its aim is to prepare students for React Developer job. They have 40% off discount right now for their React course which you can [heck here]( https://alterclass.io?ref=60193a5ab375a4002c3f7df4)!

### 7.YouTube

![Youtube_react.png](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/5zkpqoabm2waf7ectm5c.png)

YouTube is a great source of learning for free when you are a beginner. It has tons of useful videos for beginners, I will list here some of videos which to my mind are beginners-friendly:

- [React JS Crash Course](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBws8MSXN7A&t=1s&ab_channel=TraversyMedia) by [Traversy Media](https://www.traversymedia.com/) 
This course gives a solid understanding of React concepts. I suggest to subscribe to Traversy Media channel because they are very active and always adjust their courses if something new is added to the library or framework. There is also a [React Projects playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLillGF-RfqbY3c2r0htQyVbDJJoBFE6Rb) with a bunch of projects you can learn how to implement. This is my favourite channel so far.

- [React Tutorial for beginners](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ke90Tje7VS0) by [Mosh](https://programmingwithmosh.com/)
Mosh is very good at explaining things in easy way. he has his [website](https://programmingwithmosh.com/) with courses or you can subscribe to his [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/user/programmingwithmosh) for more useful videos.

- [Full React course 2020](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UZrsTqkcW4&ab_channel=freeCodeCamp.org) by [freeCodeCamp.org](https://www.freecodecamp.org/)
This course is new and fresh and covers new features in React like Hooks as well as fundamentals. Highly recommend this [channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/Freecodecamp) as well since it has loads of useful videos.

- [Full Modern React tutorial](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4cUxeGkcC9gZD-Tvwfod2gaISzfRiP9d) by [The Net Ninja](https://www.thenetninja.co.uk/)
This is a new tutorial and I haven't seen it yet, but since it's from Net Ninja, it should be good. I have seen other Net Ninja tutorials on HTML and CSS and those were amazing. You can find those on his [channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/TheNetNinja)

### 7.Blogging platforms
There are many blogging platforms where you can ready useful blogposts connected with React:
- [Hashnode](https://hashnode.com/)
- [dev.to](https://dev.to/)
- [Medium](https://medium.com/) 

There are many many more beginner friendly, intermediate and advanced  courses and tutorials out there, I just named those good ones to get you started. Start learning today and good luck!

Thank you for reading my blog. Feel free to connect on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/olenadrugalya/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/OlenaDrugalya) :)

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