Rant: Learning JavaScript with vanilla first vs jumping to React

I spent 6 months bouncing between React tutorials and getting nowhere. Then someone told me to drop all frameworks and just learn plain JavaScript for 3 months straight. Once I actually understood loops, arrays, and DOM manipulation without a library, React clicked in like 2 weeks. My first real project was a to-do list that took me 4 days with vanilla JS but only 1 day after I knew the basics. Why do so many beginner courses push React before you can even write a function from memory? Anyone else waste time trying to learn frameworks before the language itself?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby_murphy1mo ago

Oh @the_sarah, I spent a week stuck on a for loop once. Humiliating.

the_sarah1mo ago

Oh man, "bouncing between React tutorials" hit me HARD. My buddy Mike spent like 4 months doing nothing but React courses and still couldn't build a simple form that saved data. He'd copy paste hooks and state stuff but had NO clue what was happening. Finally his coworker made him build a basic calculator app with just vanilla JS and he was stuck on a for loop for two hours. After he actually learned the basics though, he rebuilt his whole portfolio site in React in like 3 days flat. Now he tells everyone the same thing you just said - learn to walk before you try running a marathon.