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A Complete Guide to the React Component Lifecycle
Introduction
Understanding the React component lifecycle is crucial for writing efficient and scalable applications in React. The component lifecycle defines the different stages a component goes through during its existence, from its creation to its removal from the DOM. React provides lifecycle methods to manage these stages, giving developers the ability to execute code at specific points in a component’s life.
In this post, we will explore the lifecycle of a React component in both class components and functional components (with hooks), highlighting when and why to use each lifecycle method.
What is the React Component Lifecycle?
The React component lifecycle is divided into three main phases:
- Mounting: When a component is created and inserted into the DOM.
- Updating: When the component’s state or props change and it re-renders.
- Unmounting: When the component is removed from the DOM.
Each of these phases has specific lifecycle methods (in-class components) or hooks (in functional components) that are triggered at various points.
