Practice is the key to mastery in any skill or field of knowledge. You don't learn things in a day. You need weeks, months, and sometimes even years of consistent practice to be good at something.
React, in general, is also vast and it takes time to learn it well. So instead of weeping in front of the mirror when you forget concepts or syntax, look out for the solutions.
I am assuming here that you have at least a basic familiarity with React, because if you don't, I have another gift for you, open it here.
OK, so looks like you already have some experience with React, but the concepts and syntax are escaping your memory. In that case, the following are the 9 great cheatsheets that could potentially help you in your journey:
Note: Cheatsheets are helpful not only to beginner devs but also to experienced ones. Programming is about finding solutions not memorising syntax, so the more familiar you are with the basics, the more it helps.
1. Developer Cheatsheet's React Cheatsheet
Developer Cheatsheets is a web development cheatsheet website by Leon Gilyadov. This minimally designed website contains cheatsheets on-
History of web dev
React
React Router
Redux
ES6
This React cheatsheet doesn't have much depth but it does provide surface-level content good enough to skim the snippets and syntax. Come up here to quickly catch up with the syntax when in hurry.
As of April 2022, this cheatsheet has syntax for (counting only functional components) -
Create React App
Stateless component
Props in stateless component
Children
useRef Hook
useState Hook
Higher-Order Component
Render Props
The 9 Bad React Habits to Kick from Your Life
React.js: The Documentary, watch the founders of React talk about the first struggles.
2. DevHints' React Cheatsheet
Devhint.io is also another website full of cheatsheets of various technologies. The React cheatsheet of the DevHints contains greater content than Developer Cheatsheets.
However, most of its content is based on class components which you don't probably need unless working on a legacy codebase.
Still, this cheatsheet contains some useful snippets from the world of functional components. These are the declaration of functional component, declaration and examples of useState hook, useEffect hook, and most importantly how to create a custom hook.
3. Reed Barger's Cheatsheet
This cheatsheet is a freecodecamp article by Reed Barger. It's one of my favourite and the best React cheatsheet for beginners. It has been published in February 2022. So, it's also the most recent among other cheatsheets mentioned in this article.
The good part of this cheatsheet is that it's not a syntax-only cheatsheet but it also gives you the context behind the syntax and teaches you a little about those concepts. So if you are at the beginner level, this will be useful. Check the below screenshot for reference.
This cheatsheet contains content from the very basics like React Elements, attributes, styles, fragments, components, props, etc to various hooks like useState, useEffect, useRef, useContext, useCallback, and useMemo.
The content is well written, beginner-friendly, and has enough depth to hold you here for most of the problems.
Personally, I don't think any reason is enough for this website to not to be in your bookmarks.
4. Eric The Coder's Cheatsheet
This cheatsheet is a dev.to article by Eric The Coder. He wrote this article in June 2021 as a memory aid to look up to when he forgets React concepts and syntax.
The content in this cheatsheet is not very deep but it does contain a lot of very basic things which other cheatsheets might have missed. This includes basic JSX rules, JavaScript in JSX, List with key, various click events details, etc.
When it comes to hook, this cheatsheet includes useState, useEffect, and useRef.
Eric created this cheatsheet whenever he was a beginner in React. So even the very basic things are properly documented and emphasised which other cheatsheets miss up to some extent.
5. SheCodes' React Cheatsheet
Shecodes' React Cheatsheet is a syntax-only, fully functional component-based cheatsheet.
You can check out all the snippets at once or filter them category-wise. There is no explanation given with the snippets so you can use it to only have a quick look at the various syntax.
The content is similar to other websites and is easily and quickly accessible at once, making it a great cheatsheet for quick reference of syntax.
6. React TypeScript Cheatsheet
Finally, we have something amazing for our TypeScript developers.
React Typescript is an MIT licensed open source cheatsheet project with more than 33K stars on GitHub and lots of awesome contributors to keep the project alive and quality high.
If you love working in React and TypeScript, you'll surely love this cheatsheet too. You can access the content on their website or GitHub README.
The whole cheatsheet is divided into 4 parts-
Basic - Focused on helping React devs just start using TS in React apps. (Source: React TypeScript Cheatsheets)
Advanced - Show and explain advanced usage of generic types for people writing reusable type utilities/functions/render prop/higher order components and TS+React libraries. (Source: React TypeScript Cheatsheets)
Migrating - Helps collate advice for incrementally migrating large codebases from JS or Flow, from people who have done it. (Source: React Developer Cheatsheets)
HOC - Compiles all available knowledge for writing Higher Order Components with React and TypeScript. (Source: React TypeScript Cheatsheets)
The quality of the whole project is top notch, necessary explanations are given wherever necessary and above all this cheatsheet is active maintained and updated by the community.
Are you a React developer open to a new challenge? Sign up with Honeypot and find your ideal role.
7. Codingcheats.io's React Cheatsheet
This is another only functional component-based great React cheatsheet. Although not excellent in design, this cheatsheet does have excellent content.
All the snippets are available on the homepage with a little explanation of each.
Content includes basic component syntax, shorthands, event handling, and 6 different hooks - useState, useEffect, useRef, useMemo, useReducer. useCallback.
Proper examples are given in each snippet with a short explanation of each. You should definitely check out this cheatsheet at least once.
8. Ohans Emmanuel's Cheatsheet
This cheatsheet is LogRocket's article by Ohans Emmanuel. Unlike other cheatsheets in our list, this one doesn't focus on the basics of React.
It's a React Hooks cheatsheet that only deals with explaining React Hooks. It contains syntax, how hooks work, and the best practices to keep in mind when working with Hooks in React. Everything is explained with examples and the content is very well written.
Following Hooks are included in the cheatsheet-
useState
useEffect
useContext
useLayoutEffect
useReducer
useCallback
useMemo
useRef
As a modern React developer, knowledge of Hooks is essential and this cheatsheet will help you deeply understand the core working of these Hooks and how to use them in your daily life as a React developer.
Conclusion
Learning React is not a one-day task. It will take time but being consistent, investing in your knowledge, and being smart by using cheatsheets will help you stay in the game for the long run.
I wish you good luck on your journey. If you have any questions in your mind, ping me on Twitter.
Check out my blog for more.
Happy Coding!
