[hardwaresofton]

Just replied in the other spot -- I understand the similarities now, but I think this points to react still not being as simple as it could be -- if components were really as simple as being functions from state to UI, reacts API would be drastically smaller.

My point is that it's not that simple (for better or for worse, some of the added complexity in the API IS essential IMO), but people still say things like "components are just functions" like it really is that simple.

For example: https://reactjs.org/docs/react-component.html#static-getderi...

This note:

> Note that if a parent component causes your component to re-render, this method will be called even if props have not changed. You may want to compare new and previous values if you only want to handle changes.

Things like that are indications of hidden complexity, in my experience.

[danabramov]

To be fair if a function gets called, any functions called from it also... get called (whether arguments to them have changed or not).

So if anything, this particular example speaks more to React components being “just functions” (which is a statement I disagree with—but I don’t think this example is very relevant to that).

[sibeliuss]

It just seems like your misunderstandings are preventing you from understanding React properly, and that those misunderstandings could be rectified by more experience with the library. Learning is inherently difficult but sometimes its best to trust in the process and dive in :)