Dave Ceddia

Writing code is fun. Solving problems is fun. That feeling of bliss when you finally get the computer to do what you want? Awesome. But then: oh crap, the CSS. The app works fine but it looks terrible, and nobody will take it seriously because it doesn't Look Like Apple(TM).

There are two ways to initialize state in a React component: inside the constructor, and directly inside the class. This post covers both, and helps you decide which to use when.