An Introduction to the create-react-app

What is the create-react-app?

The Create React App is a tool built by developers at Facebook to help you build React applications. It does not require any time-consuming setup and configuration. You simply run one command and the create react app sets up the tools you need to start your React project. The rest of the course will loosely follow the file structure followed in the create-react-app. You can learn how to set it up in our zero configuration lesson.

$$$$

A high-level explanation of the create-react-app

You can see the create-react-app below. I won’t explain the specifics of it yet, but you should be familiar with the directory structure below. Essentially, everything starts with the index.js file. It imports react, the react DOM (don’t worry if you don’t know what that is yet), the app’s code itself which is in App.js and index.css for styling. It then ‘renders’ (prints/displays) the app on lines 7-10. Notice the tag <App /> on line 8. This line actually renders the app. The app is defined as a class or ‘component’ (these will be explained in depth later) in the App.js file.