React Next IL Conference 2022 Summary
Overall, I had a blast at the conference! But also, the day before was pretty sweet. How many of you can say you bought Kent C Dodds a Schwarma and showed David K where he can get some good grub in TLV?
Let’s get down to it:
⭐️ “Stream Away the wait” — Kent C. Dodds
[I’m a bit biased about anything that Kent does, as I am a big fan of his work, and we (FedBites Podcast) kind of capitalized on his visit to have him on as a guest.
Kent’s talk title was supposed to be “The power of <Form />”, he changed it in the last minute, and we were all the more lucky for it.
He blew our mind with how easy it is to do optimistic UI with RemixVery little code changes to get things to work, A-class DX that result in an A-class UX. Remix is most definitely a force to reckon with.
Kent is starting to make me a believer, and this is a lot coming from a Next.js fanatic.
⭐️ “Build it Beautiful with React” — Netta B.
Netta talked about the 5 principles she holds high when looking at code and trying to decide if it’s pretty. In the end it boiled down to requirements and needs of the product you’re working on. Strive to be an excellent craftswoman, but be realistic about what is expected of you.
⭐️ “React is 18 now” — Liad Yosef
I don’t know how he does it, but Liad certainly has the “je ne sais quoi” when it comes to tech talks. He never ceases to amaze me with his energy, storytelling and presentation skills. Plus, his slides are just always top notch.
The talk went over a lot of what’s here with #react 18, all the new hooks, and the general sense of confusion around the ecosystem for beginners. You might have to use a framework like #Nextjs or #Remix just to have most of the complexities abstracted away.
⭐️ “Goodbye, useEffect” — David Khourshid
Yes, David loves state machines. I think everyone knows this. If you say “state machines” 3 times, he pops up like Beetlejuice. With that being said, for me this talk was one THE highlight of the conference.
He went on a deep dive into some of the latest documentation updates for useEffect, broke them down, and clarified what exactly the hook is for, and why the new useSyncExternalStore hook might be right for more use cases. Also, it allows to move out most state out of react. Two thumbs up on this one.
⭐️ “How to ‘Live’ in Other Websites — Chrome Extensions as Text Manipulation Tools” — Michal Shuvi
This talk went into how you would build a chrome extension using React. What are the pieces, and how to deal with some gotchas. Enjoyed this talk immensely, it has made me want to build an extension myself. Hopefully, it will be work related 😅
⭐️ “Kiss my App! — How to keep it simple and avoid BDD with React” — Nir Kaufman
Another highlight of the conference IMO. Nir always has great presentations and a commanding stage presence — we even got to see him play the flute… Through his nostrils! 😂
But on a more serious note, this talk was about the never ending circle of BDD — Buzz Driven Development. We’re going full circle again — the past is repeating itself…
This hit home for me as it’s similar to what I’ve talked about on a JS Jabber episode I was on
and a conversation Roman Sandler and I had on our latest FedBites episode.
⭐️ “A component that renders nothing: React headless components and inversion of control” — Nir Ben Yair
This topic is close to my heart, as I’ve struggled many times before with component libraries. Every time there is a change requested to a system UI component by a designer or product, it leads to a cascade of problems, dilemmas, and many many many more props…:
Nir told some stories about how components “evolved” (or devolved, depending how you look at it…) in the project he’s working on. He showcased the different “headless” APIs of hook based libs (ReachUI, HeadlessUI, etc.) and component based libs (RadixUI) when you’re looking for an alternatives for something like MUI.
Bottom line, when trying to answer “why” or “when” to use these tools like always, it boils down to “it depends”.
In my book, headless is the way I choose to go as well. I’m a Radix user and I’m pretty happy with it.
Let’s hope lots of more of these great conferences keep coming!
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