The story of modern frontend development cannot be told without talking about React . More than just a JavaScript library, React fundamentally changed how developers think about user interfaces. It introduced concepts that became industry standards, inspired competing frameworks, and eventually evolved into a massive ecosystem that powers much of today’s web. But like every technology revolution, React went through phases: rise, dominance, overload, reinvention, and evolution into its newest avatar. The Birth of React Before React arrived in 2013, frontend development was messy and difficult to scale. Most developers relied heavily on jQuery and direct DOM manipulation. As web applications became larger and more interactive, maintaining complex UI logic became increasingly painful. Inside Meta , engineers faced the same problem. They needed a better way to build dynamic interfaces that updated efficiently and remained maintainable as applications grew. That led to the creation of ...