Practices adopted - abhiram-shaji/Langroove GitHub Wiki

1. Folder Structure Organization

  • Modular Approach: Keep related files together. Group by feature rather than type (e.g., components, screens, services, hooks).
  • Atomic Design: Use atomic design principles to split components into atoms (buttons, inputs), molecules (forms), organisms (sections like a chat or profile), and templates/pages (entire screens).
  • Environment Configs: Separate environment variables (like Firebase credentials) for development, testing, and production. Use .env files with react-native-dotenv.

2. Component Reusability

  • Reusable Components: Abstract commonly used components like buttons, text inputs, modals, etc., to make them reusable.
  • Theming: Implement a global theme for consistent UI across screens using libraries like styled-components or react-native-paper.

3. Use Context API or State Management

  • Context API: For authentication, user data, and global states (e.g., user info or chat status), leverage the Context API or a state management library like Redux to avoid prop drilling.
  • Redux Toolkit: If you anticipate complex state management, consider using Redux Toolkit for easy state management with slices and reducers.

4. Clean Code Practices

  • Separation of Concerns: Keep business logic separate from UI by using service layers for API calls (e.g., Firebase, translation API) and keeping components focused on rendering.
  • Helper Functions: Create utility or helper functions for repetitive tasks like form validation, formatting data, etc.
  • Code Comments and Documentation: Use comments for complex logic and maintain code documentation to make collaboration easier.

5. Authentication Setup

  • Firebase Auth Hooks: Use hooks like useAuth for authentication state. This keeps the code organized and reduces redundancy in components.
  • Error Handling: Implement proper error handling for authentication flows (sign-up, login, etc.) to ensure smooth user experience.

6. API and Asynchronous Code

  • Abstraction for API Calls: Create a service for all API calls (e.g., Firebase, translation API). This keeps the code clean and makes it easy to manage or swap APIs later.
  • Async Handling: Use async/await consistently to avoid callback hell and manage promises in a readable way.

7. Testing and Debugging

  • Unit Testing: Write unit tests for critical functions like authentication, messaging, and profile management using libraries like Jest or React Native Testing Library.
  • Component Testing: Test important components, especially those with complex logic or heavy user interaction (e.g., messaging or feed).
  • Expo Debugging: Use Expo’s built-in tools for debugging, like expo-dev-tools and React Native Debugger.

8. Version Control and Collaboration

  • Git Branching Strategy: Adopt a branching strategy like Git Flow or GitHub Flow, which keeps features isolated and enables easy collaboration.
  • Pull Request Reviews: Have pull request reviews for major changes to ensure code quality and knowledge sharing across the team.

9. Performance Optimization

  • Lazy Loading: Implement lazy loading for screens like the chat to speed up initial load times.
  • Code Splitting: Use dynamic imports to split code and load only necessary parts (e.g., translation API logic only when needed).
  • Optimize Images: Compress and optimize images, especially user avatars, using libraries like react-native-fast-image.

10. CI/CD Integration

  • Continuous Integration: Set up automated tests to run on every pull request. Tools like GitHub Actions or CircleCI can help.
  • Deployments: Automate your app deployment with services like Expo's EAS Build for both iOS and Android, so you can push updates seamlessly.

11. Further Features

  • Feature Flags: Use feature flags to release new features incrementally. This allows you to test features like moderation tools or language games without impacting existing users.