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

Links

• Svelte
• Meteor
• Syntax 206: State Machines, CSS and Animations with David K Piano
• Syntax 268: Potluck - Beating Procrastination × Rollup vs Webpack × Leadership × Code Planning × Styled Components × More!
• Zustand CodeSandbox
• swr

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• Wes: IRWIN VISE-GRIP GrooveLock Pliers Set

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