Ask HN: Why was React Native recommended to me? Not seeing benefits
It sounds like you&#x27;re new to both React Native and the JavaScript ecosystem. I can imagine this being very frustrating for someone regardless of their general programming chops. I happen to be on a React Native project at work right now. Hopefully I can provide a viewpoint that is helpful and give direct answers to some of your questions.<p>One thing that would be helpful to understand that&#x27;s missing from the OP, what are you building?<p>&gt; However, seeing the differences between react and react native, this seems overstated.<p>I&#x27;m actually not sure which specific differences you&#x27;re referring to. Perhaps you can clarify?<p>&gt; It was recommended to use javascript and react&#x2F;react native so I only needed to program once.<p>It&#x27;s possible to use RN to build an application which runs on both Android and iOS from a single code base. This is possible with a few other environments but none are (IMO) quite as good at affording for a truly native look and feel including dropping down into native code when necessary.<p>Building a really great app is still a grind on execution and perfecting small details is a chore. The standards of quality in the mobile app world are high which leads to average users having higher standards than they might with desktop or web applications.<p>&gt; What were the other benefits?<p>For people who enjoy working in JavaScript, the fact that you can write native applications using mostly JS is a benefit.<p>Some products benefit from being able to share code between a web product and a RN application is a big boost in productivity. I&#x27;ve personally saved hundreds of hours leveraging this. It&#x27;s not a 1:1 swap but it&#x27;s close enough to lower the mental burden compared to creating something from scratch.<p>&gt; I thought there was already built components&#x2F;libraries I could drop in for data management.<p>There are lots of data management libraries for React. Most can be used in a RN app. Maybe the community resources section of the React documentation will be helpful: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;reactjs.org&#x2F;community&#x2F;model-management.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;reactjs.org&#x2F;community&#x2F;model-management.html</a><p>I can provide specific recommendations if you can describe specific needs. Like most ecosystems deciding which tool to use in which situation is a skill which builds up with experience.