Developer Guide to React 19 and Other September News

Welcome to this month's edition of Community Orbitals, your go-to newsletter for community insights and updates.

The Complete Developer Guide to React 19

We're excited to announce a new guide on the blog, packed into three in-depth parts: The Complete Developer Guide to React 19. Here's a taste of what's in store:

Part 1: Async Handling

The first part talks about React's new async hooks like useTransition and useActionState, designed to streamline async operations, improve form management, and enhance user experience.

Part 2: New Enhancements

The second part delves into new features like ref as a default prop for function components and improved error handling, simplifying workflows, and debugging.

Part 3: Upgraded Support

The third part explores React 19's native support for metadata, optimized stylesheet management, and APIs for better script handling, improving performance, and SEO.

Together, this guide offers everything you need to confidently implement React 19's newest features and make the most of your development efforts. Dive in today to bring your React apps to the next level!

Read the guide

React Universe Conf News

React Universe Conf 2024 is now in the books, and what an amazing experience it was! A huge thank you to everyone who attended, shared insights, and made it such a memorable event 🙌

We loved seeing the community come together to learn, connect, and push the boundaries of React and React Native development.

We're already gearing up for next year's event, and tickets are now on sale! Be sure to grab yours.

Save your spot

And for those who want to relive the best moments, we've compiled a gallery of highlights from this year's edition. Check out the photos here and see if you can spot yourself!

What's Up in the Community?

The tech landscape is changing fast. To help you stay on top of the game, our Technology Team has picked top news, releases, and stories from the world of React and React Native.

New Tools & Releases

• React Native 0.76 is now in the Release Candidate phase. With new architecture turned on by default in new projects, React Native DevTools, CSS filter and boxShadow properties, and more.
• Nitro Modules are finally here and they're open-source! 🔥 Teased for a few months by Marc, it's a new way of bridging JS to native platforms utilizing JSI HostObjects and NativeState through a convenient C++, Swift, or Kotlin interface. Nitro Modules ensure typesafe JS bindings and ditch the event handling layer to rely on callbacks.
• Rspack is now stable with v1.0 release. It's a next-gen JavaScript bundler written in Rust that's up to 10x faster than Webpack. After 18 months of open-source collaboration, with over 170 contributors and 5000+ pull requests, Rspack is now production-ready. Major companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and ByteDance have already embraced Rspack for faster build times and smoother migrations!
• Re.Pack 5 Alpha is here! 🚀 It brings major performance boosts with 5x faster builds and 5x faster HMR, powered by Rspack under the hood. Don't worry-Webpack support remains intact. Try it out today and help us push towards a stable release!
• The latest update for React Native Testing Library v12.7 is now available. This version brings exciting new features like simulated native TextInput state and support for Switch checked state. Developers can also take advantage of the newly supported Image with alt prop as a label.
• The react-native-mmkv v3 is now stable. The release introduces a complete rewrite of the codebase using C++ TurboModule for faster startup times and improved consistency across both iOS and Android platforms. This also means it only works with new architecture enabled and you'll need to use React Native 0.75 or later.
• Tired of setting up a CI/CD pipeline for yet another React Native app you build? RN CI CLI is a new tool you can use to spare yourself some effort. It features setting up Github Action pipelines for ESLint, Prettier, Jest, Detox (Maestro coming soon), and EAS support.
• If you use Storybook with React Native, you (or your QA team) may want to run visual regression tests on multiple devices. Sherlo is a new cloud-based service that integrates easily with Storybook, takes snapshots on all devices you care about in parallel, and allows your team to review the changes in a web app. We haven't tested it yet, but it looks promising. Let us know if you've tried it already!

Other Tech News

• Exciting announcements from React Universe Conf: React Native DevTools, next-gen + rewritten debugger stack for React Native, are coming soon in React Native 0.76.
• As of September 2024, Atlas Device SDKs are officially deprecated and will be removed by September 30, 2025. The SDKs consist of the on-device database and Atlas Device Sync.
• Low-level memory control with JSI: Tomasz is diving into JSI's 'setExternalMemoryPressure' method, which allows developers to manually notify the JS engine about external memory pressure. This experimentation aims to optimize memory usage and reduce the footprint of expo-image, promising more efficient performance.
• If you'd like to see React Native WebGPU explained in less than two minutes, watch this video by Kacper Kapuściak. Also, check react-native-wgpu repository, and TypeGPU for type-safe bindings for WebGPU.
• Have you used v0 dev from Vercel already? If not, you should give it a try to see what's possible with AI-generated React UI today. Recently they've introduced Blocks feature, allowing users to share fully-fledged React apps, HTML, Markdown, or runnable code. Watch out Repl.it, Vercel is coming for you!
• In case you missed it, we cover the latest advancements in building super apps with React Native on our blog. Read the article to learn how to take your development to the next level with Rspack, Module Federation 2, and Zephyr Cloud.

Tech Leadership Insights

As a tech leader, you already have too much on your plate. That's why we've curated a digestible portion of recent insights at the intersection of business and tech.

• Taking on an underperforming team offers a chance for growth but comes with risks. As this read explains, prepare by identifying challenges, setting clear expectations, and maintaining regular check-ins to track progress.
• Generative AI is transforming small businesses, from smarter chatbots to tools like Microsoft's Copilot. To fully leverage its potential, expert guidance is key. Here you can explore how AI can give your business a competitive edge.
• In this article, Abi Noda and Tim Cochran advocate for a human-centered approach to measuring developer productivity. Rather than relying solely on traditional metrics like cycle time or pull requests, they highlight the value of qualitative metrics, derived directly from developers, to provide deeper insights.
• This blog post covers strategies for managing smaller, underfunded platforms within a large tech portfolio. The focus is on making decisive choices about platform support, leveraging automation or cross-platform tools, and ensuring talented individuals oversee these efforts.