Introduction to React

React is not easy to grasp at first because there is no simple way to explain how React works without touching upon several interrelated topics. The video below, has done a pretty good job of explaining React and the tooling around it. We recommend watching it in its entirety even though it’s a bit verbose about Babel, Webpack, Node and NPM. If you skip anything make sure to watch the last two minutes to hear his explanation of the React virtual DOM.

Three important topics that this video covers is JSX, React elements and the Virtual DOM.