--- title: React.js Conf Round-up 2015 layout: post author: [steveluscher] --- It was a privilege to welcome the React community to Facebook HQ on January 28–29 for the first-ever React.js Conf, and a pleasure to be able to unveil three new technologies that we've been using internally at Facebook for some time: GraphQL, Relay, and React Native. ## The talks {#the-talks}

Keynote #

Tom Occhino opened with a history of how React came to be, before announcing Facebook’s answer to a long-looming what-if question: what if we could use React to target something other than the DOM?

Tweaking in real time #

Brenton Simpson showed us how eBay brings Bret Victor’s feedback loop to your favorite editor using webpack, react-hot-loader, and Ambidex.

Abstract Syntax Trees #

Gurdas Nijor showed us how we can leverage some conventions of React to perform source code transformations that unlock an inspirational set of use cases.

Relay and GraphQL #

Daniel Schafer and Jing Chen showed us how Facebook approaches data fetching with React, giving us an early peek at the forthcoming duo of Relay and GraphQL.

Channels #

James Long explores what might happen if we introduce channels, a new style of coordinating actions, to React.

React Router #

Michael Jackson reminded us that URLs should be part of our design process, and showed us how react-router can help to manage the transitions between them.

Full-stack Flux #

Pete Hunt showed us how a Flux approach can help us scale actions and questions on the backend in addition to the frontend.

High-performance #

Jason Bonta showed us how complex user interfaces can get, and how his team keeps them performant as they scale. He also had the pleasure of open-sourcing his team’s work on FixedDataTable.

FormatJS and react-intl #

Eric Ferraiuolo showed how you can bring your app to a worldwide audience using a series of polyfills and emerging ECMAScript APIs.

Hype! #

Ryan Florence showed us how easy it is to transition from a career selling life insurance, to a burgeoning one as a software developer. All you have to do is to learn how to say “yes.”

React Native #

Christopher Chedeau showed us how to bring the developer experience of working with React on the web to native app development, using React Native.

Components #

Andrew Rota explained how React and Web Components can work together, and how to avoid some common pitfalls.

Immutability #

Lee Byron led a master-class on persistent immutable data structures, showing us the world of possibility that they can unlock for your software, and perhaps JavaScript in general.

Beyond the DOM #

Jafar Husain told us a story about how Netflix was able to push React into places where the DOM could not go.

Data Visualization #

Zach Nation showed us how we can produce visualizations from over 45 million data points without breaking a sweat.

React Refracted #

David Nolen gave us a view of React from a non-JavaScript perspective, challenging some common intuition along the way.

Flux Panel #

Bill Fisher coordinated a Flux panel together with Michael Ridgway, Spike Brehm, Andres Suarez, Jing Chen, Ian Obermiller, and Kyle Davis.

Component communication #

Bonnie Eisenman led us through the ‘adapter’ approach to inter-component communication taken by her team at Codecademy.

Flow and TypeScript #

James Brantly demonstrated how we can reap the benefits of static typing using both Flow and TypeScript.

Core Team Q&A #

Tom Occhino, Sophie Alpert, Lee Byron, Christopher Chedeau, Sebastian Markbåge, Jing Chen, and Dan Schafer closed the conference with a Q&A session.

## Reactions {#reactions} The conference is over, but the conversation has just begun. **Mihai Parparita** detailed his efforts to [hack his way to a React.js Conf ticket](http://blog.persistent.info/2014/12/html-munging-my-way-to-reactjs-conf.html); **James Long** blogged about [his first encounter with React Native](http://jlongster.com/First-Impressions-using-React-Native); **Eric Florenzano** talked about how he perceives the [impact of Relay, GraphQL, and React Native](https://medium.com/@ericflo/facebook-just-taught-us-all-how-to-build-websites-51f1e7e996f2) on software development; **Margaret Staples** blogged about her experience of [being on-campus at Facebook HQ](http://deadlugosi.blogspot.com/2015/02/facebook-gave-me-ice-cream.html); **Jeff Barczewski** tied his experience of attending the conference up with a bow in this [blog post filled with photos, videos, and links](http://codewinds.com/blog/2015-02-04-reactjs-conf.html); **Kevin Old** left us with [his takeaways](http://kevinold.com/2015/01/31/takeaways-from-reactjs-conf-2015.html); **Paul Wittmann** found React Native [freshly on his radar](http://www.railslove.com/stories/fresh-on-our-radar-react-native); and finally, undeterred by not being able to attend the conference in person, **Justin Ball** [summarized it from afar](http://www.justinball.com/2015/02/02/i-didn't-attend-react.js-conf.html). And, in case you missed a session, you can borrow **Michael Chan’s** [drawings](http://chantastic.io/2015-reactjs-conf/), **Mihai Parparita’s** [summary](https://quip.com/uJQeABv7nkFN), or **Shaohua Zhou’s** [day 1](http://getshao.com/2015/01/29/react-js-conf-notes-day1/) / [day 2](http://getshao.com/2015/01/29/react-js-conf-notes-day-2/) notes.
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**All proceeds from React.js Conf 2015 were donated to the wonderful programs at [code.org](http://code.org)**. These programs aim to increase access to the field of computer science by underrepresented members of our community. Watch this video to learn more.