Learn React Hooks

Confusing classes

In the past, we had to use class components with special functions called life cycle methods, such as componentDidUpdate, and special state-handling methods, such as this.setState, in order to deal with state changes. React classes, and especially the this context, which is a JavaScript object, are hard to read and understand for both humans and machines.

this is a special keyword in JavaScript that always refers to the object that it belongs to:

• In a method, this refers to the class object (instance of the class).
• In an event handler, this refers to the element that received the event.
• In a function or when standing alone, this refers to the global object. For example, in a browser, the global object is the Window object. ...