A Tale of Two Codebases

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Anybody can write code that “works.” But what makes the best engineers stand out is their ability to create solutions that are clear, concise, testable and easy to understand and maintain. Join us as we explore two of React’s most powerful tools for well-architected solutions by starting with a suboptimal game codebase and refactoring it using industry best practices such as custom hooks, higher-order components (HOCs) and contexts.

- Introduction of the initial implementation and description of its issues.

- Presentation of the tools available to improve the code base.

- The mindset behind architecting clean solutions and refactoring.

- Highlevel passthrough of the code and creation of the plan.

- Extraction of code into utility functions.

- Extraction of state and effects into custom hooks.

- Grouping behavior into HOC.

- Creation of root level context and child components cleanup.

- Result overview and discussion of possible future improvements.

- How to keep your code clean, rules to follow and limitations to impose.


Prerequisites

A computer with git installed and a GitHub account.

This workshop has been presented at React Advanced Conference 2022, check out the latest edition of this React Conference.

FAQ

The presenter of the React-Based Courses workshop is Michael Tintouk, a Principal Consultant at Modus Create.

The main topic of the React-Based Courses workshop is how to fix existing code, improve good code, and keep it clean throughout its lifecycle.

Participants need to clone the GitHub repository shared by the presenter and ensure they have access to it via Discord.

A common issue caused by bad code is missed deadlines and developer fatigue, as it creates parts of the code that developers dread to touch.

Some tools mentioned for cleaning up messy code in React applications include custom hooks, refs, context, utility functions, and constants.

Custom hooks are useful in React development because they allow the grouping of behavior and state effects, making it easier to reuse across components and ensuring cleaner, more maintainable code.

Developers should approach refactoring large codebases by taking small, incremental steps, creating reusable systems, and focusing on single responsibility principles to avoid over-engineering and maintain clarity.

The suggestion given for managing tech debt in a project is to fix issues as soon as they come up and avoid postponing them, as this prevents the accumulation of more bugs and problems in the future.

Michael Tintouk emphasizes that writing good code and being a great developer requires understanding the key concepts, thinking ahead, avoiding over-engineering, and planning how to test functionalities.

Some on-your-own challenges suggested for the workshop participants include using events to control the player's health, improving asset loading, refactoring the NPC character, adding a start menu, and implementing a retry button on the game over screen.

Michael Tintiuc
Michael Tintiuc
139 min
13 Oct, 2022

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Video Summary and Transcription

The Workshop focused on fixing and improving existing code, using tools like custom hooks and context. Refactoring was emphasized, with an emphasis on mindset and small steps. Utility functions, custom hooks, refs, constants, custom types, and context were highlighted as powerful tools for code quality. The implementation of an events system using React's standard library was discussed. The Workshop also touched on improving code reusability, simplifying collision logic, and enforcing clean code practices.
Available in Español: Un cuento de dos bases de código
Video transcription and chapters available for users with access.

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