React Native, a popular framework for building cross-platform mobile applications, is on the brink of a major milestone—its first stable release. After nearly a decade of continuous development and numerous updates, the React Native community is eagerly anticipating version 1.0, which promises to bring stability, performance improvements, and enhanced developer experience (DX). While Northcoders' Software Development Bootcamp in JavaScript doesn’t specifically teach React Native, this powerful tool is frequently used during the project phase by students who want to leverage their JavaScript skills to build mobile apps.

A Decade in the Making

React Native was introduced by Facebook (now Meta) in 2015 as a solution to the challenges of mobile app development. The framework allows developers to write a single codebase in JavaScript and deploy it across both iOS and Android platforms, offering a significant reduction in development time and costs. Despite its success, React Native has remained in a pre-1.0 state for years, with developers often joking about how it might turn a decade old before reaching a stable version.

However, that long wait may soon be over. With the recent release of version 0.75, React Native’s development team has signalled that the stable 1.0 release is just around the corner. This update is particularly exciting because it brings us closer to the new architecture that React Native has been promising for years.

The New Architecture: A Game-Changer

The new architecture of React Native represents a complete overhaul of the framework’s internals. This refactoring aims to address some of the long-standing issues that developers have faced, such as interoperability with synchronous native APIs and performance bottlenecks. The New Architecture will also enable developers to take full advantage of concurrent features in React, resulting in a smoother and more modern development experience.

Version 0.75 of React Native introduced several important updates to this New Architecture, including:

1. Improved Stability: Critical bug fixes and stability improvements make the framework more reliable, even as it moves closer to a stable release.

2. Faster Auto-Linking: For those using Expo, the auto-linking step is now 6.5x faster on Android and 1.5x faster on iOS, significantly speeding up the development process.

3. Deprecation of `react-native init`: The traditional way of initialising a React Native project, `react-native init`, is being phased out. Developers are encouraged to use Expo, which offers a more streamlined setup and better integration with the latest React Native features.

4. Yoga v3.1 Update: The update to Yoga, React Native’s layout engine, brings percentage support for `gap` properties, allowing for more flexible and responsive design layouts.

Why This Matters

The upcoming stable release of React Native is more than just a version number—it’s a testament to the framework’s maturity and readiness for large-scale production use. For years, developers have had to work around certain quirks and limitations in React Native, but the new architecture promises to eliminate many of these pain points. This makes React Native an even more compelling choice for companies looking to build high-quality, cross-platform mobile applications without maintaining separate codebases for iOS and Android.

React Native in the Northcoders Community

At Northcoders, we understand the importance of staying up-to-date with the latest technologies in software development. While React Native isn’t part of our core curriculum, it is a framework that many of our students choose to explore during the project phase of our Software Development Bootcamp. With a solid foundation in JavaScript, which is a major focus of our bootcamp, students find it relatively easy to pick up React Native and apply it to their mobile app projects.

This flexibility is one of the key benefits of learning to code at Northcoders. Our bootcamp doesn’t just teach you the basics; it equips you with the skills and confidence to explore new technologies and frameworks, whether it’s React Native, MySQL AWS, or something else entirely.

Looking Forward

As React Native approaches its stable release, the excitement in the developer community is palpable. The improvements and new features introduced in the recent updates are setting the stage for a 1.0 release that will make cross-platform mobile development even more accessible and efficient.

For aspiring developers considering a career in tech, now is an excellent time to learn JavaScript and React. By joining Northcoders, you’ll gain the skills you need to build powerful applications, whether for the web, mobile, or beyond. Our comprehensive bootcamp provides a solid foundation in software development, ensuring you’re well-prepared to tackle whatever challenges the industry throws your way.

React Native’s journey to stability has been a long one, but the wait is almost over. And with the right training and mindset, you can be part of the exciting future of mobile development.