Hot reloading: a faster way to develop modern apps

Hot Reloading and Live Reloading are two techniques employed to reduce the time-consuming refresh feedback cycle in web development, particularly for complex applications. While Live Reloading involves a full page reload after changes, which can be cumbersome for testing specific features, Hot Reloading updates parts of the page without a full reload, saving significant time. The post outlines the use of Hot Reloading in React applications, particularly using the Fast Refresh API, and highlights the setup involving Webpack and Phoenix as a backend. Despite some caveats, such as potential memory issues and the experimental status of the react-refresh-webpack-plugin, Hot Reloading can be a powerful tool if used with occasional manual refreshes. The setup includes configuring Webpack to inject a WebSocket for Hot Reload notifications and using the webpack-dev-server to proxy requests to the Phoenix server, which listens on a different port. The approach, though involving some complexity, has been beneficial for the development process, and developers are encouraged to consider it in their own projects.