Ultimate Redux Course by Mosh

Jul 17, 2024

Ultimate Redux Course by Mosh

Introduction

  • Instructor: Mosh
  • Course Goal: Learn everything to build real complex applications with Redux.
  • Practical Project: Bug Tracking Application
  • Prerequisites: None (assuming no prior Redux knowledge)
  • Additional resources at: codewithmosh.com

What is Redux?

  • A state management library for JavaScript applications.
  • Can be used with React, Angular, Vue, or vanilla JavaScript.
  • Centralizes application state in a single JavaScript object called the store.

Why Use Redux?

  • Synchronize various parts of a complex UI application.
  • Prevent issues like infinite loops due to unpredictable data changes.
  • Inspired by Facebook's Flux architecture for making data flow predictable and transparent.
  • Popular alternative: MobX.
  • Stores application state centrally, solving synchronization issues across UI components.

Benefits of Redux

  • Predictability: Makes state changes predictable and transparent.
  • Debugging: Easier debugging with tools like Redux Dev Tools (e.g., time-travel debugging).
  • Optimization: Cache or persist state; efficient data synchronization across UI components.
  • Compatibility: Works with any library or framework (React, Angular, Ember, Vue, etc.).
  • Large Ecosystem: Rich and growing ecosystem of add-ons and tools.

Downsides of Redux

  • Complexity: Introduces additional complexity and boilerplate code.
  • Verbosity: Traditional Redux code is often verbose.
  • Not suitable for small to medium-sized apps with simple UIs.

Course Structure

  1. Functional Programming in JavaScript: Higher-order functions, composition, currying, immutability.
  2. Fundamentals of Redux: Reducers, actions, action creators.
  3. Building Redux from Scratch: Understand internal workings by coding out a Redux-like framework.
  4. Debugging Redux Applications: Tools and techniques for effective debugging.
  5. Modern Redux: Writing clean, concise Redux code with less boilerplate.
  6. Designing a Redux Store: Patterns and techniques for complex applications.
  7. Middleware: Simplifying complex operations within Redux (API calls, side effects).
  8. API Calls: Efficient techniques for managing API calls, loading indicators, and caching.
  9. Testing: Best practices for writing effective tests for Redux code.
  10. Integrating with React: Traditional and modern methods for connecting Redux with React components.

Functional Programming

  • Definition: Decomposing problems into small, reusable functions.
  • Benefits: Functions are more concise, easier to debug/test, and scalable.
  • Higher-Order Functions: Functions that take/return other functions (e.g., map, filter, setTimeout).
  • Function Composition: Combining simpler functions to build complex ones.
  • Currying: Transforming a function with multiple arguments into a sequence of functions with a single argument each.
  • Pure Functions: Functions that return the same result given the same inputs and have no side effects.
  • Immutability: Once data is created, it cannot be modified. Use methods like spread operator or libraries like Immutable.js and Immer to make data immutable.

Immutable.js

  • Facebook's library for immutable data structures.
  • Benefits: Provides immutable data structures like Map, List.
  • Downsides: Learning new API, integration issues with other libraries.

Immer

  • Developed by the creator of MobX.
  • Works with plain JavaScript objects; uses produce function to apply mutations without affecting original objects.

Redux Basics

  1. Store: Central repository for the state; singleton pattern.
  2. Actions: Describes what happened; plain JavaScript objects with a type field.
  3. Reducers: Pure functions that take the current state and an action, return the new state.
  4. Dispatch: Method to send actions to the store, triggering state changes via reducers.
  5. Subscribe: Method to listen for state updates and react accordingly.

Setting Up the Store

  1. Create a Reducer: Function to handle state transitions based on actions.
  2. Initial State: Define initial state within the reducer.
  3. Create Store: Use createStore from Redux, passing the reducer.
  4. Dispatching Actions: Use store.dispatch to send actions.
  5. Subscribing to Store: Use store.subscribe to update UI on state changes.

Enhancing Code with Action Creators and Action Types

  • Action Types: Constants representing action types to avoid typos and improve maintainability.
  • Action Creators: Functions that return action objects, simplifying action dispatching.

Practical Example: Bug Tracking Application

  1. Actions: Adding, removing, and resolving bugs.
  2. Reducer: Handle the state transformations based on actions.
  3. Dispatch Actions: Add, remove, and resolve bugs through dispatched actions.
  4. Subscribe to Store: Log state changes or update UI components.

Conclusion

  • Understanding of how Redux centralizes state and makes data flow predictable.
  • Awareness of actions, reducers, store, and middleware.
  • Key techniques in functional programming relevant to Redux.
  • Practical insights by building a bug tracking application.
  • For more in-depth learning, enroll in the complete course available at codewithmosh.com.