> This isn't really a React-specific tip, as such anti-patterns often occur in code in general; in this case, React simply points them out more clearly.
Using state to cache values calculated from props (for example in `getInitialState`) often leads to duplication of "source of truth", i.e. where the real data is. Whenever possible, compute values on-the-fly to ensure that they don't get out of sync later on and cause maintenance trouble.
Using props, passed down from parent, to generate state in `getInitialState` often leads to duplication of "source of truth", i.e. where the real data is (see [denormalization](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denormalization)). Whenever possible, compute values on-the-fly to ensure that they don't get out of sync later on and cause maintenance trouble. Javascript is plently fast for most use cases.
Bad example:
@ -60,3 +60,31 @@ var MessageBox = React.createClass({
**But** in situations where your component truly is stateful, using props to initialize that state is totally fine. In such cases, it can be helpful to name the prop `initialX` (or similar) to make it clear that the state will not stay in sync.