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Can you develop React Native apps only knowing Javascript?

Chad Whitaker's photo
Chad Whitaker
·May 31, 2016

Over the past year, I've enjoyed developing hybrid apps using Ionic/Angular/Cordova. This toolset has made a lot of sense to me. You develop a web app inside a mobile browser container, and then you use the large community of Cordova Plugins as middleware to access the hardware (camera, GPS, fingerprint scanner, etc.) Using Javascript to talk to the Cordova middleware.

I'm now trying to understand how React Native works. To my understanding, it converts Javascript to the related Objective-C/Java components. Test driving React Native apps such as Facebook Groups and Facebook Ads; you can sense the performance advancements over Cordova apps.

My largest concern is accessing the hardware using React Native plugins. Is it correct to think as React Native plugins as the same concept as Cordova Plugins? Does the plugin community feel as rich as Cordova's? At this current time is it best to have a background in Objective-C and Java in order to access device APIs when needed?​