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Learn Class Components in React

A short, targeted course with Bob Ziroll: about 1.3 hours on the class-based React that modern courses no longer teach, aimed at people maintaining older codebases.

Quick answer​

Learn Class Components in React is Scrimba's Pro, intermediate course, roughly 1.3 hours taught by Bob Ziroll, covering class components: lifecycle methods, this binding, and setState. Modern React is hooks-based, so most learners should not start here. Take this only if a job or an existing codebase forces you to read or write class components. For learning React itself, do the hooks-based Learn React instead.

Is it worth your time?​

It is worth your time in one specific situation: you have landed in a codebase, or a job, that still uses class components and you need to read and edit them without guessing. For that, an hour with a clear instructor is far more efficient than piecing it together from old blog posts. Bob Ziroll covers the parts that trip people up coming from hooks, namely this binding, lifecycle methods, and the older setState pattern.

The honest verdict is that almost nobody should take this as their introduction to React. The ecosystem moved to function components and hooks years ago, new code is written that way, and learning classes first will give you habits you then have to unlearn. This is a maintenance course, not a foundations course.

What you'll learn​

There is no multi-module breakdown for this short course. In about 1.3 hours it covers the class component model end to end: defining a component as a class, the render method, managing state with this.state and setState, binding event handlers and the this keyword, and the lifecycle methods (componentDidMount, componentDidUpdate, componentWillUnmount) that hooks like useEffect later replaced. The goal is fluency in reading and editing existing class-based code, not building new apps this way.

Who it's for, and who should skip it​

It fits developers who already know modern React and have to work in a legacy class-based codebase, or who are studying older code they did not write.

Skip it if you are learning React for the first time. Do Learn React, which teaches the hooks-based approach used in all current work, and only come back here if a specific project requires classes.

Prerequisites​

A working grasp of JavaScript classes, this, and basic React concepts (components, props, state). It helps to already know hooks, since the course frames class patterns against their modern equivalents.

Where it fits​

This is a side branch rather than a core step. It is listed under the Frontend Developer Path and the Fullstack Developer Path, but the main React track runs through the hooks-based courses; take this only when a legacy requirement comes up.

Free or Pro​

This is a Pro course, so it needs a Scrimba subscription. Pro also unlocks the full career paths, the coding challenges, the private Discord, and path certificates. See current plans for what Pro costs in your region.

Strengths and limits​

What it does well: it is short and to the point, it targets the exact friction (binding, lifecycle, setState) that hooks developers hit in old code, and Bob Ziroll explains the why, not just the syntax.

Where it is limited: it teaches a pattern that is no longer how new React is written, so it has a narrow audience, and on its own it is not a path to building modern apps.

View Learn Class Components in React on Scrimba (opens in a new tab)

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