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c/coding-for-beginners•nathan901nathan901•20d ago

The "just use a framework" advice that set me back 3 months

My buddy who's been a dev for years told me to skip vanilla JavaScript and jump straight into React as a beginner. I spent like 3 months banging my head against JSX, state management, and build tools without actually understanding how loops or fetch work. Now I'm going back to basics with plain JS and it finally clicks. Has anyone else been steered wrong by advice that was technically correct but terrible for a beginner?
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3 Comments
rowan_thomas84
Haha yeah I tried React once and spent a week just trying to get my coffee maker to render.
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milarodriguez
@rowan_thomas84 wait a coffee maker that actually renders? That's wild. I barely trust mine to not burn my morning pour-over.
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mia700
mia70020d ago
Actually React is a library, not a framework. It's just for building user interfaces, not full apps. You'd need something like Next.js or Remix if you want routing and other stuff built in.
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