Comparing different types of functions used in react-native

In React Native, you can use different types of functions depending on your requirements. The commonly used types of functions are regular functions, arrow functions, and const functions.

1. Regular Functions

Regular functions are defined using the function keyword. They are used for defining methods in a class or for creating custom hooks

function myFunction() {
  // function body
}

Pros:

They have their own scope, which can make them easier to reason about.

They allow you to define methods in a class, which makes the code more organized.

They can be used for creating custom hooks, which helps to reuse logic across multiple components.

Cons:

They can be more verbose than arrow functions, which makes the code harder to read.

The value of the ‘this’ keyword inside a regular function is determined by the way the function is called, which can lead to unexpected behavior.

2. Arrow Functions

Arrow functions are used for callback functions or when we need to bind the ‘this’ context to the parent function.

const myFunction = () => {
  // function body
}

Pros:

They are concise, which can make the code easier to read.

The value of the ‘this’ keyword inside an arrow function is determined by the surrounding context, which can make the code more predictable.

They can be used for creating small, inline functions like event handlers, which can make the code more organized.

Cons:

They do not have their own scope, which can make them harder to reason about.

They can be less performant than regular functions in certain situations because they create a new function object every time they are called.

3. Const Functions

Const functions are functions that are assigned to a constant variable. They are useful when we have a function that needs to be used multiple times but doesn’t need to be re-assigned.

const myFunction = function() {
  // function body
}

Pros:

They have the same behavior as regular functions but makes the code more readable than regular functions.

They can be used for creating reusable functions, which can help to avoid duplicating code.

Cons:

They can be more verbose than arrow functions, which can make code harder to read.

Like arrow function, they create a new function object every time they are called which makes them less performant compared to regular functions.