Depending on your hardware and target platform, it may take quite a bit of time to set up your development environment for React Native. We really want to optimise the workshop time with as much content as possible, which is why we ask you to set up your development environment before the day to ensure you have the best possible experience!
Now you'll have to make some decisions on how you'd like to build your app:
- Expo or plain React Native
- run on physical device or on an emulator / simulator
- Android or iOS (your app will run on both, but you don't need to set up both for the workshop)
We will support both Expo and plain React Native for this workshop, which means you can choose.
You must use Expo if:
- you have a Windows or Linux machine and you want to build an app that runs on iOS
You may want to use Expo if:
- you just want a glimpse into the world of React Native without a bunch of setup
You may want to use the React Native CLI if:
- you have experience in mobile development
- you already have XCode / Android Studio installed
- you don't want to use Expo
To set up your environment, please follow the getting started instructions in the official React Native docs. You can choose between the Expo CLI and the React Native CLI guide. Make sure you can get an app running on your emulator, simulator or device as per your preference, and you should be good to go! For the easiest and fastest possible setup - use Expo and run the app on your own physical device.
Your instructor Kadi will be using an iPhone X simulator and a Nexus 5X emulator on a MacBook Pro.
As mentioned in a previous email, a good understanding of React is necessary to benefit from this workshop.
If you need a refresher he are two suggestions: The Complete Intro to React course, and the Intermediate React course.
A link to the course repository and the course slides will be sent to you in the next few days.