This looks like a nice but not enormous improvement to React. First, I really like how these hooks are optional. You can still use the current class-based mech

This looks like a nice but not enormous improvement to React. First, I really like how these hooks are optional. You can still use the current class-based mechanisms wherever you want. Existing code will keep working the exact same way. For the specific hooks they provide: `useState` seems like a slight improvement over using `this.state`, at least for simpler use cases. You save about 5 lines of object-oriented setup, which is nice. You also avoid scattering your code all over the place - you can now initialize your state variables in the same place you are using them. The only downside I can see is that if your initial state is constructed in a complicated way, `useState` doesn't seem to make it easy to do that only once. When you state is just initialized as 0 or null it's fine. `useEffect` looks a little confusing because it is passing a bunch of anonymous functions around. It seems like a slight improvement if you have a lot of side effects that need cleanup, because you can put the code in one place instead of several different functions. Hard to say how useful custom hooks will be. It might be easier now to put functionality that uses state in third-party libraries. For example, this `useDragGesture` hook: https://twitter.com/grabbou/status/1055521332031512576 https://twitter.com/grabbou/status/1055521332031512576 The last thing that seems clear is that React embracing more of a "functional programming" direction. I think some people will like this and some won't. The nice thing is that you don't have to go all one way or the other - this change seems like it is really about making all of React's features available if you do want a functional programming style, since all of these features continue to exist in an object-oriented style.