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by sam0x17 2777 days ago
So you would advocate for, say, learning JSX and react before learning how to use vanilla JS, and maybe a little bit of JQuery to manipulate the DOM, or learning HAML before learning HTML? No wonder the current generation of junior devs is so damn confused.
1 comments

I think you should learn the foundations of JS before you use a JS library, but I see no value in teaching people JQuery before you teach them react.
I politely disagree. JQuery is (largely) syntactic sugar over the built in node selection engine and various CSS properties, animations, etc, that are built in and very much a part of normal everyday browser javascript. React is something else entirely, and creates a system parallel to the DOM rather than simply using the DOM the way it was intended. You have to understand the DOM and how it is typically used before you jump to something like React, and a great way to do that is vanilla js with a little JQuery sprinkled in. There is less friction this way, and it demonstrates the impetus for separating javascript from HTML and not using selectors for everything. Otherwise you miss the point of why React is good, and you run the risk of misusing (or in the very least under-appreciating) it. People with all this background still often make terrible React apps, so imagine how bad the people who don't even understand what or why React is will do.