I had the opposite experience. I started with classes, and anytime I had to do anything even slightly complicated I had to go running for the docs. The lifecycl

I had the opposite experience. I started with classes, and anytime I had to do anything even slightly complicated I had to go running for the docs. The lifecycle methods are byzantine and frequently require not only overriding the method, but checking the values of parameters to determine the proper sequence of operations. In contrast, useEffect() is "exactly what I want" without having to figure out what combination of lifecycle methods to implement. I'll grant you that this could have been done differently - I'm not a fan of the "order of calls represents hidden state" mechanism for hooks. It's possible to imagine a different API for class components that provides ergonomics similar to useEffect() and useState(). But hooks are still an improvement over the old class component API.