If you’re a developer who uses Ubuntu, and you want to learn how to build React applications, this guide is for you! I recently set out on an adventure with my partner-in-crime (my laptop), in search of answers. The goal? To figure out how we could get started building our first application with the help of Facebook’s open source framework, React. This post will show you what was expected and what actually happened when we tried installing it on our system — so read on if you’re looking for some helpful tips about working with this powerful framework!
Expectation: What I expected to see happen.
I expected to see Install React On Ubuntu computer in a few minutes with no errors.
It didn’t take long at all, but it did require me to do some extra work that I hadn’t expected.
Reality: What actually happened.
When I imported the [React](https://react.cnpmjs.org/docs) library, I expected to see:
- import React from ‘react’;
- import PropTypes from ‘prop-types’;
What actually happened was:
- import __NPM_PATH__ from ‘../package.json’; // OOPS! Where is that?
I did not realize that `__NPM_PATH__` would be set to `../package.json`. When importing react and prop-types, the paths were incorrect and the imports failed. This meant that I had to go back and change the paths in my index file so they looked like this:
import ReactDOMServer from ‘/path/to/react-dom-server’;
This was not what I expected at all!
Expectation: First, I will download the React library from Facebook.
- First, I will download the React library from Facebook.
- Then, I will save it to my Ubuntu computer.
- Next, I will import the ASP library into my index.js file by adding these lines:
Reality: First, I downloaded the React library from Facebook and saved it to my Ubuntu computer.
First, I downloaded the React library from Facebook and saved it to my Ubuntu computer.
Next, I installed it by double-clicking on the file in Nautilus.
Then I opened up a terminal window and typed:
“`sudo npm install -g create-react-app“`
Expectation: Then, I will import the ASP library.
Importing the library is a good idea because it makes it easier to use React and Javascript. In fact, you don’t have to worry about anything else if you have this working in your project. This is because when you are supplied with a library, you will receive instructions on how to install it along with what needs to be done in order for them (the libraries) to work properly.
If your goal is to use React and Javascript together then importing these two libraries will definitely make things easier for yourself as well as anyone else who wants their help with developing something that uses these two technologies together or separately.
Reality: The next step was to import the ASP library so that JavaScript can be included in my HTML files.
The next step was to import the ASP library so that JavaScript can be included in my HTML files. This is how you do it:
“`
import ReactDOM, { Component } from ‘react’;
import { render } from ‘react-dom’;
`These two lines are necessary to use JSX and React components. Finally, I need to add an “ tag which will house all of my new code. After all that work and research, this component should look like this: “`html `
Expectation: Next, I will make sure that React is installed on my system by using NPM.
NPM is the Node Package Manager, and it’s used to install libraries and packages for your web project. It’s basically a command-line tool that you can use to install new tools, libraries and other things needed for your app. Yarn is basically a variant of NPM that offers better performance and more flexibility than the original package manager.
Reality: I made sure that React was installed on my computer by going into my home directory and running two commands — npm start and npm test.
This is a great way to test whether or not your React development environment is set up correctly. You can run these commands in the terminal by opening your home directory and typing them in.
# npm start
# npm test
Expectation: After that’s done, all I have to do is modify some of the existing code in my index.js file to add a couple buttons, a header and some text! Piece of cake!
You will create a file called header.js, which will contain the code for your header. The code for this is as follows:
import React from ‘react’;
class Header extends React.Component { render() { return ( Header ); } } export default Header;
You will create another file called button.js, which contains the buttons that you want to add to your site. The code for this is as follows:
import React from “react”;
class Button extends React.Component { render() { return ( Button ) } } export default Button;
Reality: I changed some of the existing code in my index.js file to add a couple buttons, a header and some text that didn’t look like gobbledygook! Hooray! It only took three hours!
- Open a terminal window and navigate to the folder where you have your code saved
- Run `npm install -g react-scripts`
- In index.js, change the first line of import statements from:
import React from ‘react’;
import ReactDOM from ‘react-dom’;
import ‘./App.css’;
- Import App component into index file:
- Replace all contents within with HTML elements like buttons, text inputs, etc…
Installing React onto your Ubuntu computer isn’t as straightforward as it could be, but with enough patience, it can be done!
In the world of software, it’s important to be patient and persistent. The installation process for React on Ubuntu is no exception to this rule. In fact, it’s one of the most difficult things I’ve ever tried to do with my computer!
After spending two hours trying to download from Git and another hour trying to install Node, I was ready for any kind of help I could find. Luckily for me, there are people out there who want your experience with React on Ubuntu as easy as possible so that you can focus on building applications instead of installing dependencies.
Conclusion
The process for getting React up and running on your Ubuntu computer isn’t as straightforward as it could be, but with enough patience, it can be done!
