React Hook recipe from https://usehooks.com. Demo: https://codesandbox.io/s/kx83n7201o

use-why-did-you-update.js

import { useState, useEffect, useRef } from 'react';

// Let's pretend this <Counter> component is expensive to re-render so ...
// ... we wrap with React.memo, but we're still seeing performance issues :/
// So we add useWhyDidYouUpdate and check our console to see what's going on.
const Counter = React.memo(props => {
  useWhyDidYouUpdate('Counter', props);
  return <div style={props.style}>{props.count}</div>;
});

function App() {
  const [count, setCount] = useState(0);
  const [userId, setUserId] = useState(0);

  // Our console output tells use that the style prop for <Counter> ...
  // ... changes on every render, even when we only change userId state by ...
  // ... clicking the "switch user" button. Oh of course! That's because the
  // ... counterStyle object is being re-created on every render.
  // Thanks to our hook we figured this out and realized we should probably ...
  // ... move this object outside of the component body.
  const counterStyle = {
    fontSize: '3rem',
    color: 'red'
  };

  return (
    <div>
      <div className="counter">
        <Counter count={count} style={counterStyle} />
        <button onClick={() => setCount(count + 1)}>Increment</button>
      </div>
      <div className="user">
        <img src={`http://i.pravatar.cc/80?img=${userId}`} />
        <button onClick={() => setUserId(userId + 1)}>Switch User</button>
      </div>
    </div>
  );
}

// Hook
function useWhyDidYouUpdate(name, props) {
  // Get a mutable ref object where we can store props ...
  // ... for comparison next time this hook runs.
  const previousProps = useRef();

  useEffect(() => {
    if (previousProps.current) {
      // Get all keys from previous and current props
      const allKeys = Object.keys({ ...previousProps.current, ...props });
      // Use this object to keep track of changed props
      const changesObj = {};
      // Iterate through keys
      allKeys.forEach(key => {
        // If previous is different from current
        if (previousProps.current[key] !== props[key]) {
          // Add to changesObj
          changesObj[key] = {
            from: previousProps.current[key],
            to: props[key]
          };
        }
      });

      // If changesObj not empty then output to console
      if (Object.keys(changesObj).length) {
        console.log('[why-did-you-update]', name, changesObj);
      }
    }

    // Finally update previousProps with current props for next hook call
    previousProps.current = props;
  });
}

@davidpn11 Maybe I'm missing something, but isn't the point that it does log every time there is a re-render? Why skip doing it when the avatar changes? Also, could you explain rationale behind isEqual? Not seeing why a simple previousProps.current[key] !== props[key] isn't enough, since we just want to compare references to see if they changed (and thus caused a re-render).

@gragland You are right. I was thinking more of a solution to log exactly which props have changed. So it shows you more clearly how your app is behaving. I was not thinking about reference, but more of the data itself.

In conclusion, I was thinking about a different hook. But is nice to see it can be easily derive from your example.

Great work with useHooks by the way! =)

@davidpn11: Gotcha, makes sense and seems like a good way to extend this hook. Thanks for the kind words!

I'm happy if someone could turn the snippet into typescipt.