Building An App In 24 Hours

I have been dabbling with some React work over the past few months. It is hard
to find a blog or some code on Github that does not talk about React. I had
heard about React Native, but had been using Ionic for another project to get
the cross platform support. Now that React Native had Android support, I had
been looking for a project to dip my feet in the water.I had a design that was
fairly simple and I wanted to use it as the basis to learn a new technology.
React Native has really good documentation, so the stage was set. It was
4:30AM, my design was finalized, and I was ready to build.Basically, I really
didn't know much about React and its workings. Now, at 4:30AM, I was working
with React docs to get me up to speed. React Native comes with a boilerplate
code right off the bat, so it was cool to be able to study how some of the
text and data was being displayed.For the app, I needed to get some data. The
app was just going to display the current value of Bitcoin. I had found a
simple API that displays the current value of Bitcoin in multiple different
currencies, so the API was all set, but I couldn't figure out how to get
historical data to make that chart happen. The chart was turning into
something that I might have to put on the back burner. After an hour of
research, I was still unsure about how to get the historical data.I only had
one more hour before I had to leave for work, so I worked on the style of the
single view. React uses Flexbox for styles, so I spent some time setting up my
colors and trying to work in some fonts, playing with things that I was
comfortable with. There is nothing like getting into the middle of a project,
having to leave, and not being able to properly debug. I would stew on it all
day.After I got back from work at 6:00PM that night, I set a deadline to
submit the app to the Google Play Store before I went to sleep that night. I
had a Google Developer account since it was a little bit cheaper than the $99
Apple fee.I spent most of my time working in the index-ios.js file and using
the Xcode simulator to look at the iOS version of the app. Developing this way
was really painless and enjoyable. Trying to work was Android tools is a pain
in the ass. Android Studio is a step in the right direction, but the Apple
Developer tools are just far better.I was working on that one file, but I had
never anticipated publishing this app in the App Store. But, it was easier to
iterate and start some trial and error. I am used to web dev and being able to
basically just try anything and refresh.In my mind, I could just copy this
over to Android, compile, and move on. However, for Android you need to sign
the APK. It was a whole process and I was getting tired of looking at a
screen. My deadline was looming as I spent a lot of time figuring out how to
get my API data to work the way that I wanted it to.I signed my android APK
file but didn't really test things on an android device. I made my Google
Developer account and filled out a poorly worldly description of the app. I
decided to push the APK live without testing it on a device or even in an
emulator.I felt like I was on top of the world. The listing was rolled out to
Google Play. I did it! A long standing goal of mine is finally accomplished.I
went to bed, feeling like I could do anything. I was even writing a list of
new app ideas.The next morning, I installed the app from Google Play. There is
no feeling like it seeing your app in the store. It was different from a web
project. There was something exciting about it.I installed it, and my app
crashed. I checked some of my code and then submitted another APK before I
went off to work. But, the app kept crashing and wasn't working.I finally
spent some time working on the Android side. I cleaned up my code, installed
an APK on an old device, and found what my bugs were. They just there from a
rush job. If I was going through the process with some calculated effort, they
would have been caught. But I was trying to hit a goal and in the process, I
learned a bit about the building process for Android and the differences in
the platforms for React.React is turning out to be an amazing platform. This
whole process gave me a small taste of what I can do with React Native. Just
looking around, there is another project for React Native Desktop: to get
Native Mac Apps running with React Native. The ecosystem is so rich and
powerful. Just this past month I saw that React now has more stars on Github
than jQuery. This is a space that I am going to spend a ton of time in. There
are a ton of great resources out there, but if you are looking for a few quick
roundups to get started, I would recommend this [CSS Tricks] screencast and
this React.js [free course].