Re:React Won by Default – and It's Killing Front End Innovation
by slmjkdbtl on Monday September 15, 2025 @09:20PM
(#45256925)
Based on how they are run they are completely not just ordinary JavaScript functions, hook era components are also not just JavaScript functions, it's a very complicated system. React calling them "just functions" is untrue, just marketing buzz words, and it leads developers into traps.
[ Parent
| on HN ]
Re:React Won by Default – and It's Killing Front End Innovation
by b_e_n_t_o_n on Monday September 15, 2025 @10:13PM
(#45257274)
Many functions can only be called in a certain context. Calling them "not functions" is misleading imo because it implies those functions are compiled out or something, like `$state()` in Svelte.
Re:React Won by Default – and It's Killing Front End Innovation
by slmjkdbtl on Monday September 15, 2025 @10:23PM
(#45257348)
Yeah they themselves are functions but how they're called are managed by a complicated system, I think treating them as a separate new concept is less misleading than calling them plain functions
Re:React Won by Default – and It's Killing Front End Innovation
by b_e_n_t_o_n on Monday September 15, 2025 @11:46PM
(#45257835)
Well they aren't plain functions, they're like lifecycle methods for the component with an implicit `this`. Perhaps that's how they should be described.
Re:React Won by Default – and It's Killing Front End Innovation
by Izkata on Tuesday September 16, 2025 @07:59AM
(#45261051)
> React calling them "just functions" is untrue
I'm pretty sure this is also untrue. AFAIK React has never used that phrase (and at the very least, I can't find it anywhere official right now), it came from other people convincing newcomers that hooks aren't something more complicated like objects (comparing to class-based components). React has always treated them as special functions, hence always prefixing them with the word "use".