5 ms·

The numbers are high because they jumped directly from 0.14 to 15.0, but the cadence is not particularly high: 18.0 was released early 2022, 17.0 late 2020 and

The numbers are high because they jumped directly from 0.14 to 15.0, but the cadence is not particularly high: 18.0 was released early 2022, 17.0 late 2020 and 16.0 late 2017. That’s three major releases in seven years. React is stable, upgrading it is painless as long as you don’t ignore deprecation warnings. What can be annoying is other (abandoned) dependencies holding you back from upgrading.

nox101 2y ago
upgrading is far from painless. If you're using any 3rd party solutions and they aren't compatible with the latest React you're going to have a bad time.
- alexanderchr 2y ago
  Yeah, as I said above I don't disagree. The ecosystem has lots of issues but React gets all the hate, unfairly in my opinion. It's a pretty well maintained piece of software.
- esperent 2y ago
  That's a problem any popular library will have. What's the solution?
veidelis 2y ago
I cant imagine saying upgrading is painless considering the way how React deprecated class components.
- acemarke 2y ago
  What specifically are you referring to? The original `createClass` API was indeed deprecated and removed all the way back in 2017 [0]. You can still use them today with the separated `create-react-class` package. ES6 class components still work as-is even in React 19 - it's just the legacy context feature that's been removed. They're generally discouraged, in that function components are now the standard way to use React, but they're still not "deprecated" in the sense of a warning or removal. [0] https://legacy.reactjs.org/blog/2017/09/26/react-v16.0.html#packaging https://legacy.reactjs.org/blog/2017/09/26/react-v16.0.html#...
  - veidelis 2y ago
    They deprecated AFAIR 3 methods on class components and the docs about class components under "Legacy React APIs" say that it's a pitfall to use class components.
    - alexanderchr 2y ago
      Yeah they deprecated those three methods a long time around (sometime around 16.3 I think) yet they are still around in 19.0 (with an UNSAFE_ prefix). Regarding class components in general, what is the problem with maintainers choosing to encourage devs to use their new APIs while keeping the old APIs working?
- aidos 2y ago
  The react team have done an incredible job maintaining backwards compatibility across versions over the years. They’ve even fought for bug parity when doing major internal rewrites.
- robertoandred 2y ago
  Good thing class components are not deprecated. Where’d you get that from?
wordofx 2y ago
> upgrading it is painless as long as you don’t ignore deprecation warnings Maybe if you have a small app. React is as bad as going from angular to angular 2
- alexanderchr 2y ago
  Yeah I'm just going to choose to not take you seriously if you claim that any React version bump is as bad as moving to a completely new framework (which is effectively what angular 1->2 was).
  - meiraleal 2y ago
    You just can't migrate with React too. The dependencies are always in the middle of a major refactoring that is released for the new react version so you need to change all code. This happens too often for too many packages
- Hrun0 2y ago
  > Maybe if you have a small app. React is as bad as going from angular to angular 2 You have no idea what you are talking about.
  - wordofx 2y ago
    lol having worked through 3 large projects going from 0.14 to 15 - pain. 15 to 16 - pain. 16 to 17 - pain. If you disagree you haven’t worked on anything even slightly complex. Thankfully I’m on my 2nd project of ripping react out for htmx. The last one was a huge success. No doubt this one will be too.

nox101 2y ago

upgrading is far from painless. If you're using any 3rd party solutions and they aren't compatible with the latest React you're going to have a bad time.

alexanderchr 2y ago
Yeah, as I said above I don't disagree. The ecosystem has lots of issues but React gets all the hate, unfairly in my opinion. It's a pretty well maintained piece of software.
esperent 2y ago
That's a problem any popular library will have. What's the solution?

veidelis 2y ago

I cant imagine saying upgrading is painless considering the way how React deprecated class components.

acemarke 2y ago
What specifically are you referring to? The original `createClass` API was indeed deprecated and removed all the way back in 2017 [0]. You can still use them today with the separated `create-react-class` package. ES6 class components still work as-is even in React 19 - it's just the legacy context feature that's been removed. They're generally discouraged, in that function components are now the standard way to use React, but they're still not "deprecated" in the sense of a warning or removal. [0] https://legacy.reactjs.org/blog/2017/09/26/react-v16.0.html#packaging https://legacy.reactjs.org/blog/2017/09/26/react-v16.0.html#...
- veidelis 2y ago
  They deprecated AFAIR 3 methods on class components and the docs about class components under "Legacy React APIs" say that it's a pitfall to use class components.
  - alexanderchr 2y ago
    Yeah they deprecated those three methods a long time around (sometime around 16.3 I think) yet they are still around in 19.0 (with an UNSAFE_ prefix). Regarding class components in general, what is the problem with maintainers choosing to encourage devs to use their new APIs while keeping the old APIs working?
aidos 2y ago
The react team have done an incredible job maintaining backwards compatibility across versions over the years. They’ve even fought for bug parity when doing major internal rewrites.
robertoandred 2y ago
Good thing class components are not deprecated. Where’d you get that from?

wordofx 2y ago

> upgrading it is painless as long as you don’t ignore deprecation warnings Maybe if you have a small app. React is as bad as going from angular to angular 2

alexanderchr 2y ago
Yeah I'm just going to choose to not take you seriously if you claim that any React version bump is as bad as moving to a completely new framework (which is effectively what angular 1->2 was).
- meiraleal 2y ago
  You just can't migrate with React too. The dependencies are always in the middle of a major refactoring that is released for the new react version so you need to change all code. This happens too often for too many packages
Hrun0 2y ago
> Maybe if you have a small app. React is as bad as going from angular to angular 2 You have no idea what you are talking about.
- wordofx 2y ago
  lol having worked through 3 large projects going from 0.14 to 15 - pain. 15 to 16 - pain. 16 to 17 - pain. If you disagree you haven’t worked on anything even slightly complex. Thankfully I’m on my 2nd project of ripping react out for htmx. The last one was a huge success. No doubt this one will be too.