reactjs / reactjs/react.dev

Examples for generating 'Stable, Predictable and Unique' keys

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JavaScript
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Description

Reconciliation chapter spends a good time explaining why using the index or even Math.random() as a key is a bad idea, proceeding to suggest using an existent id as a key. When there's not an existent id, it's suggested to "add a new ID property to your model or hash some parts of the content to generate a key".

That's a very controversial issue, a lot of people do it wrong. An example of how to do it would make the chapter a lot better. It's an extensive chapter (compared to others) that seems to end up with no code conclusion. 

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by reading the Reconciliation chapter's "Recursing On Children" section and the linked discussion about generating unique keys. Determine a clear, technically sound example for models without an existing id, then update that chapter with the example and explanation; done means the guidance addresses the common pitfalls without relying on unstable keys.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript, react
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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