Forget About Memoization!

One of the reasons for transitioning from class components to function components and Hooks in React was the lack of primitives. Classes did not provide the necessary level of composition. In class components, sharing logic and state management was difficult. Honestly, class components were terrible. They increased the learning curve.

When React introduced Hooks in 2018, most of these issues were resolved. All code could be consolidated into a single function, providing better composition. However, this was a trade-off.
Let’s demonstrate this with code:

Every time the App component renders, the following line executes:

In this scenario, the Computation function runs every time. If this function performs a simple operation (for example, return num * 2;), it might not pose a significant performance issue. However, if your function involves intensive calculations or handles large data processing, this can negatively impact your application’s performance.

To optimize, you can use useMemo and React.memo as shown below:

Hooks and Render Props simplified the mental model that developers envisioned for React but introduced a pain point. Forgetting to memoize or implementing it incorrectly is easy, which can lead to inefficient updates.

React Forget (Compiler) addresses this by automatically applying the equivalent of manual memoization. It ensures that only the relevant parts of an application re-render when their state changes, a concept sometimes referred to as fine-grained reactivity.

In conclusion, while Hooks have significantly improved the developer experience by simplifying state management and component logic, they also require careful handling to maintain optimal performance. Tools like React Forget (Compiler) are essential advancements that help mitigate these challenges, paving the way for more efficient and maintainable React applications.