This is exactly why I love it because it's not opinionated. I've been doing frontend interfaces for 30 years and it's one of the few times I've felt that I can write things the way I want and not be forced down some preconstructed path.
I get why some wouldn't like this but for me it's a breath of fresh air and why I continue to love working with it.
Agreed. On re-read, my prior comment sounds almost negative towards React's lack of opinions.
That couldn't be further from the truth! While I appreciated having a path laid out for me when I stated out, 10 years end I much prefer forging a path myself.
Mastering these tools, and leveraging my own creativity in how I use them, is much more enjoyable.
Coming from a Rails background, it's pretty jarring. It's like the difference between being told, "Here's how you build a house" and "Here's how you use the tools in this toolkit".
React offers more freedom at the expense of guidance, and you get much less standardization as a result.