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By Addy Osmani and Hassan Djirdeh

Code Smart, Scale Fast, Conquer Challenges

Learn tools and techniques to build and maintain large-scale React web applications.

Or  for free.
Building Large Scale Web Apps: A React Field Guide. By Addy Osmani and Hassan Djirdeh

“Building Large Scale Web Apps” is a toolkit to managing large-scale React applications.

React as a library allows you to start building user interfaces quickly and easily. But how do things scale as an application grows? How do you ensure that your codebase remains manageable, your performance metrics stay on point, and your team continues to work cohesively as the project evolves?

In this book, you'll uncover strategies that industry professionals use to build scalable, performant, and maintainable React applications, all without becoming overwhelmed by complexity.

Together, we've spent well over two decades building within or consulting for

The Google logo.
The Doordash logo.
The Instacart logo.
The Netflix logo.
The X logo.
The YouTube logo.
The Shopify logo.
The Ebay logo.

In the reflection of his glossy screen, Kamil saw the pixelated purple blocks from the movie beginning to bleed past the edges of the media player. They crawled onto his desktop icons, then spilled over the bezel of the monitor, manifesting as physical, jagged shadows in his bedroom.

The "House of Darkness" wasn't just the title of a file; it was a destination. And as his room dimmed to a low-res, grainy grey, Kamil realized the download was finally complete.

Kamil frowned, leaning closer. The compression artifacts were heavy—purple and green blocks swirled in the shadows of the digital mansion. As the protagonist of the film, a man in a sharp suit, walked into the dark hallway of the house, Kamil noticed something odd. The artifacts weren't just random noise; they were forming shapes. Faces. Dozens of pixelated eyes stared out from the "darkness" of the 480p render.

"You shouldn't have opened the door," the voice murmured in Polish.

Kamil had found it on a forgotten Polish forum, buried under threads from 2008. He wasn't sure why someone would encode a modern 2022 film in the ancient XviD format at 480p—it was a relic of the era of burning movies onto CDs. But his laptop was a junker, and high-def files usually turned his fan into a jet engine. He double-clicked. The media player groaned to life.

The flickering cursor on the old CRT monitor was the only light in the room, blinking rhythmically like a digital heartbeat. At the center of the screen sat the file: .

Some other things!

Descriptive content, continous updates, and soundbites from industry professionals.

Descriptive, not prescriptive

When explaining content, we follow a descriptive approach, not prescriptive. In other words, we don’t tell you what specific tools or libraries you have to use to be successful. Rather, we focus on explaining a concept and employ certain libraries or tools to illustrate that concept.

React-focused with universal concepts

While the book is React-focused, it teaches universal concepts that transcend all web development frameworks. It's designed to enhance your understanding of building web applications that are scalable, maintainable, and adaptable, regardless of the specific technology stack.

Continous, frequent updates

Purchasing the e-book gives you access to all new content, edits, and improvements forever. In fact, we're currently working on adding three new chapters soon — Routing, User-centric API design, and React in 2024. Check out the Changelog to follow along on all the updates we'll make.

Soundbites from industry professionals

In the book, we share soundbites and thoughts from industry professionals. These soundbites are shared from start-up owners and software engineers who work at Doordash, Netflix, Spotify, and more.

Back cover of physical book
Front cover of physical book
Back cover of physical book
Contents of physical book

Industry nuggets

Nuggets of wisdom from industry professionals

Jem Young

Maxi Ferreira

Emma Bostian

Zeno Rocha

Francine Navarro

Jeffrey Peng

And others!

House.of.darkness.2022.pl.480p.web-dl.xvid.dd2.... -

In the reflection of his glossy screen, Kamil saw the pixelated purple blocks from the movie beginning to bleed past the edges of the media player. They crawled onto his desktop icons, then spilled over the bezel of the monitor, manifesting as physical, jagged shadows in his bedroom.

The "House of Darkness" wasn't just the title of a file; it was a destination. And as his room dimmed to a low-res, grainy grey, Kamil realized the download was finally complete. House.of.Darkness.2022.PL.480p.WEB-DL.XviD.DD2....

Kamil frowned, leaning closer. The compression artifacts were heavy—purple and green blocks swirled in the shadows of the digital mansion. As the protagonist of the film, a man in a sharp suit, walked into the dark hallway of the house, Kamil noticed something odd. The artifacts weren't just random noise; they were forming shapes. Faces. Dozens of pixelated eyes stared out from the "darkness" of the 480p render. In the reflection of his glossy screen, Kamil

"You shouldn't have opened the door," the voice murmured in Polish. And as his room dimmed to a low-res,

Kamil had found it on a forgotten Polish forum, buried under threads from 2008. He wasn't sure why someone would encode a modern 2022 film in the ancient XviD format at 480p—it was a relic of the era of burning movies onto CDs. But his laptop was a junker, and high-def files usually turned his fan into a jet engine. He double-clicked. The media player groaned to life.

The flickering cursor on the old CRT monitor was the only light in the room, blinking rhythmically like a digital heartbeat. At the center of the screen sat the file: .

Who we are

Heyo! We're Addy & Hassan — Engineers & Educators.

Profile picture of Addy Osmani

AddyOsmani

I'm an engineering leader working on Google Chrome and I lead up Chrome's Developer Experience organization, helping reduce the friction for developers to build great user experiences.

HassanDjirdeh

I'm a senior software engineer and have built large production web applications at organizations like Doordash, Instacart, and Shopify.

Profile picture of Addy Osmani

Pick your package

“Building Large Scale Web Apps” is available in either an e-book or as a physical copy.

E-book

Great for digital learners.

$24.99USD

  • 300+ pages
  • PDF or EPub (or both)
  • All future updates
Buy with Leanpub Or buy with Apple Books or Google Play

Physical copy (softcover)

Perfect for hands-on referencers.

$49.99USD

  • 300+ pages
  • Softcover
  • Something to put on your bookshelf
  • Interested in both the e-book and physical copy? Purchase both separately!
Buy Physical Copy

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