If you are interested in learning how to build web applications using React.js, one of the first steps is to set up a development environment where you can write and test your code. In this tutorial, I will show you how to use Create React App and VS Code to create a simple React.js project and run it on your local machine.Create React App is a tool that allows you to quickly bootstrap a React.js project without having to worry about configuring webpack, babel, eslint, and other tools. It provides a pre-configured setup that includes everything you need to start developing a React.js application.VS Code is a popular code editor that supports many languages and features. It has a built-in terminal, debugger, code completion, syntax highlighting, and extensions that can enhance your productivity and coding experience.<h2>Step 1 — Install Node.js</h2>To follow along with this tutorial, you will need to have Node.js and npm installed on your machine. You can check if you have them by running the following commands in your terminal:<pre><code>node — version
npm — version</code></pre>If you don’t have them, you can download and install them from&nbsp;https://nodejs.org/en/.<h2>Step 2 — Create React App</h2>Once you have Node.js and npm installed, you can install Create React App globally by running the following command:<pre><code>npm install -g create-react-app</code></pre>This will allow you to use the&nbsp;<code>create-react-app</code>&nbsp;command to generate a new React.js project.<h2>Step 3 — Install and configure VS Code</h2>Next, you will need to install VS Code if you don’t have it already. You can download and install it from&nbsp;https://code.visualstudio.com/.After installing VS Code, you can open it and create a new folder for your project. You can name it anything you like, but for this tutorial, I will name it&nbsp;<code>react-app</code>.To create a new React.js project using Create React App, you can open the terminal in VS Code by pressing&nbsp;<code>Ctrl+~</code>&nbsp;or clicking on&nbsp;<code>Terminal &gt; New Terminal</code>&nbsp;in the menu bar. Then, navigate to the folder where you want to create your project and run the following command:<pre><code>create-react-app react-app</code></pre>This will create a new folder called&nbsp;<code>react-app</code>&nbsp;inside your current folder and initialize a React.js project with some boilerplate code and dependencies.You can see the structure of the project by opening the&nbsp;<code>react-app</code>&nbsp;folder in VS Code. You should see something like this:<pre><code>react-app
├── node_modules
├── public
│ ├── favicon.ico
│ ├── index.html
│ ├── logo192.png
│ ├── logo512.png
│ ├── manifest.json
│ └── robots.txt
├── src
│ ├── App.css
│ ├── App.js
│ ├── App.test.js
│ ├── index.css
│ ├── index.js
│ ├── logo.svg
│ ├── reportWebVitals.js
│ └── setupTests.js
├── .gitignore
├── package.json
├── README.md
└── yarn.lock</code></pre>The&nbsp;<code>public</code>&nbsp;folder contains static files that are served by the web server. The&nbsp;<code>index.html</code>&nbsp;file is the main HTML file that loads the React.js application.The&nbsp;<code>src</code>&nbsp;folder contains the source code of the React.js application. The&nbsp;<code>index.js</code>&nbsp;file is the entry point that renders the&nbsp;<code>App</code>&nbsp;component into the&nbsp;<code>root</code>&nbsp;element in the&nbsp;<code>index.html</code>&nbsp;file. The&nbsp;<code>App.js</code>&nbsp;file defines the&nbsp;<code>App</code>component that contains the main logic and UI of the application.The other files are either for testing, performance measurement, or configuration purposes. You can read more about them in the README.md file or in the official documentation of Create React App:&nbsp;https://create-react-app.dev/docs/getting-started/.<h2>Step 4 — Running your project</h2>To run the project locally, you can use the following command in the terminal:<pre><code>npm start</code></pre>This will start a development server on&nbsp;http://localhost:3000/&nbsp;and open it in your default browser.You can now edit any file in the&nbsp;<code>src</code>&nbsp;folder and see the changes reflected in the browser automatically.<h2>You’re all done!</h2>Congratulations! You have successfully set up a development environment for a React.js project using Create React App and VS Code. You can now start building your own web applications using React.js.I hope you found this helpful and informative. If you have any questions or feedback, please leave them in the comments below. Happy coding!

Use Create React App and VS Code to create a simple React.js project and run it on your local machine.

Set up a development environment for React with VS Code

Bjorn Builds