Tooling isn't unique to React. Every project has its own set of tools that handle tasks related to the core technology so that you don't have to. With frameworks, tooling is baked into the project for the most part. With libraries like React, you get to choose the tools you need versus those that don't play a role in your project.
Now that you know what the React core is, what makes up the rest of the React ecosystem?
Framework bloat is a major turn-off for a lot of people. The reason it feels like bloat is because they have a lot of features that you'll likely never use. React handles this well because it has a clear distinction between the core library and anything else, including things that are essential for React development.
There are two observations I've made about React and the way it's positioned within its surrounding ecosystem:
- It's easier to deploy apps that depend on a simple library instead of a framework where all batteries are included
- It's easier to think about application development when you have tools that stay out of the way for the most part
In other words, you don't have to use the majority of React tools, but some of them are incredibly helpful.
Any given tool is external to the library you're working with; it's essential to remember this. Tools exist to automate something that would otherwise suck more development time out of our lives. Life is too short to manually do things that can be done for us. I repeat, life is too short for tasks that software can perform better than us. If you're a React developer, take comfort in the fact that there are tools out there for all of the important things that you need to do but don't have time to do.
Perhaps, the ultimate motivator for taking tooling seriously is thinking about what life would be like without the tools that we depend on as professionals. The construction industry is more mature than software and serves as a great example.
Imagine that you are part of a team that's responsible for building a house—an immensely complex undertaking with many moving parts. Now, think about everything that you have to work with. Let's start with the materials themselves. Anything that doesn't have to be assembled on site, isn't. When you're building a house, many components show up partially assembled. For example, sections of roof framing or mixed cement shows up when it's needed.
Then there are actual tools that builders use when putting the house together—simple screwdrivers, hammers, and measuring tapes are taken for granted. What would construction life be like without the ability to create components offsite or the availability of tools to work with everyday construction materials? Would it make the construction of a house impossible? No. Would the process of building it become some unbearably expensive and slow that it'd likely be cancelled before completed? Yes.
Unfortunately, in the software world, we're only beginning to understand how important tooling is. It doesn't matter that we have all the materials and knowledge to build the house of the future. If we don't have the right tooling, it might never be built.
