As I began this project, with the finish line to my Flatiron Experience so close in sight, I had initially intended to do a small project that I might finish up and then explore Node.js to replace the Rails backend and further expand the app.
As I typically learn the content best in the context of building something of my own (I have difficulty learning from isolated examples) I made the mistake of building the project FULLY using State and Props. I had been super excited to build it that way, having used Semantic-UI’s CDN to craft a “panda looking face”. However, when I attempted to refactor to redux, I was in for a sorry surprise. Not only is Redux not a 1:1 replacement of State and Props, having made the dive in that direction and then having completed the project created a mental barrier where I was reluctant to break stuff.
In short, I finished the State and Props version in about 1 week to 10 days. Unfortunately after that, I spent about 2 weeks trying to wrap my head around the Redux flow before I was able to fully appreciate it. And somewhere in between, I deleted the entire front end of the finished project so I wouldn’t have the mental baggage while pursuing the newer approach.
In the end, I’m grateful for having built it with State and Props because I feel it gave me a better understanding of the general picture, but also a greater appreciation of what Redux is good for. While I still find myself trying to wrap my head around Redux Flow in contexts much larger than my own project, I’m excited for the next chapter.