People should stop complaining about how "hard" it is to get started or how "complicated" React is.
React is simple. Its core abstraction is trivial (making views into pure functions).
If you want to, you can get started with React today without installing any software at all. Just include it from the CDN: https://cdnjs.com/libraries/react/
The rest is there because things like live-reloading are genuinely helpful. But you don't need to roll them yourself. There are dozens of great boilerplates you can base a new project off of.
Also, I've never had as much difficulty setting up a React environment as the constant struggle it is to get even a basic Java app to build from source.
The React ecosystem for developing non-trivial apps is not at all easy and rather complex. Both for new developers and experienced web folks to relearn "the React way".
React is simple. Its core abstraction is trivial (making views into pure functions).
If you want to, you can get started with React today without installing any software at all. Just include it from the CDN: https://cdnjs.com/libraries/react/
The rest is there because things like live-reloading are genuinely helpful. But you don't need to roll them yourself. There are dozens of great boilerplates you can base a new project off of.
Also, I've never had as much difficulty setting up a React environment as the constant struggle it is to get even a basic Java app to build from source.