Introduction:

In the ever-evolving landscape of web development, React has stood out as a powerful library for crafting dynamic and interactive user interfaces. However, when the need arises to extend beyond the front end and delve into full-stack development, Next.js emerges as a formidable framework that seamlessly integrates with React, offering a holistic solution. Let's delve into the key features that make Next.js the go-to choice for building robust full-stack web applications.

Understanding the Difference:

At its core, React is a JavaScript library designed for building engaging user interfaces. In contrast, a framework encompasses a more comprehensive set of tools, libraries, and conventions. Next.js, as a framework built on top of React, extends its capabilities by providing a structured environment for full-stack development.

The Next.js Compiler and SWC:

One of the standout features of Next.js is its advanced compiler, crafted in Rust using SWC (Speedy WebAssembly Compiler). This compiler plays a pivotal role in transforming and minifying JavaScript code for production deployment. A noteworthy statistic is that SWC outperforms Babel by a staggering 20 times on a single thread and an impressive 70 times on four cores. This efficiency ensures faster development cycles and optimized production-ready code.

Full-Stack Development with Next.js:

Next.js not only streamlines the frontend development process but also offers a robust backend solution. It comes bundled with the Node.js runtime, enabling developers to seamlessly execute backend code within the same project. This unique capability empowers developers to write both frontend and backend code in a unified environment.

Execution Flow:

In the Next.js ecosystem, backend code is executed within the Node.js runtime, providing the necessary server-side support. Meanwhile, frontend code is bundled, optimized, and sent to the client, ready to be executed in the browser. This architecture simplifies the development process, fostering a cohesive environment for building and maintaining full-stack web applications.

SSR[Server side rendering]

SSR involves rendering React/Next components on the server before sending the HTML to the client. Making applications faster and more search engine optimization-friendly.

SSG [Static site generation]

With Static Site Generation (SSG) in Next.js, when you run the npm run build command, Next.js generates static HTML pages for your application based on the defined paths and content. These pre-built static pages are then ready to be served directly to users without requiring any additional server-side processing.

Routing in NextJS

Routing in nextJs is based on the file system.

app/users/page.tsx--->localhost:3000/users

Server-side vs Client-side rendering

But with a server-side component

• We lose interactivity

• Can't listen to browser events like click, change, submit etc

• Can't access browser API like local storage

• Can't maintain state

• Can't use useEffect etc

In real-world applications, we use a mixture of client and server components,

we default to server components and use client components when we need them.

Data fetching

Data fetching in react is done at client side , usually using useState and useEffect hook, basically we get a blank page and later fetch the data to populate it , its not good for seo, but in case of next js it is fetched on server side.