State Management in React: When to Use useState, useReducer, and useRef

Managing state is a fundamental aspect of developing React applications. Understanding when to use useState, useReducer, or useRef can greatly enhance your application's performance and maintainability. This article explores each of these hooks and provides guidance on their appropriate use cases.

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Introduction to State Management in React

React provides several hooks for managing state and other side effects in functional components, each serving distinct purposes and suitable for different scenarios.

1. useState: Managing Simple State Transitions

useState is the most straightforward hook for managing state in React. It's perfect for handling simple state transitions where the next state does not depend on the previous one.

Use Cases:

• Local form values
• Toggles (e.g., show/hide, enabled/disabled)
• Any other simple state that doesn’t involve complex logic or deep updates

Example:

function ToggleComponent() {
  const [isToggled, setToggle] = useState(false);

  return (
    <button onClick={()=> setToggle(!isToggled)}>
      {isToggled ? 'ON'…