React doesn't change frequently though, that's the point. And it has always had excellent backwards compatibility. Class components are still fully supported, for example.

React changing best practices every few years is a good thing! It means it keeps getting better.

That would be a bad thing if it meant that earlier best practices were no longer maintained. But that’s not true. Class components are still around. All official documentation continues to have class component examples and explanations (where it makes sense obviously…there isn’t any class component documentation under hooks, of course). And class components will likely still be around 5 years from now.

React changes best practices every few years prompting many rewrites.

One has to question the sanity of a rewrite launched for the sake of notional orthodoxy. If it ain't broke...

Right but you dont actually have to rewrite it, correct? The updates dont break the old code. It's just not best practice anymore.

All the class components people wrote still work and can be maintained. React doesn't overhaul everything like Angular did. You can have function components with hooks and also have your old class components in the same app.

No ones learning class components for react anymore, and I'm not implying that class components are bad or ancient.