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Difference Between Element and Component in React.js

In React, both "Element" and "Component" are fundamental concepts, but they serve different purposes.

Element

An element is the smallest building block of a React application. It describes what you want to see on the screen. React elements are lightweight, plain objects that describe what to render. Elements can be either DOM tags (such as <div>, <span>, <p>, etc.) or user-defined components. You create elements using React's JSX syntax or React.createElement() function.

Here's an example of creating a React element using JSX.

const element = <div>Hello, world!</div>;

Component

A component is a reusable piece of code that defines how an element (or a group of elements) should be displayed on the screen. Components can be either functional or class-based. They encapsulate the logic for rendering UI elements and can manage their own state.

Here's an example of a functional component.

function Greeting(props) {
  return <div>Hello, {props.name}!</div>;
}

And here's an example of a class-based component.

class Greeting extends React.Component {
  render() {
    return <div>Hello, {this.props.name}!</div>;
  }
}

In the above examples, Greeting is a component. It takes name as a prop and displays a greeting message accordingly.

Summary

  • Elements are what you want to see on the screen and can be either DOM tags or components.
  • Components are reusable pieces of code that define how elements should be rendered and can manage their own state. Components can be either functional or class-based.


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