Since the introduction of Hooks, I've been struggling with understanding React and React code. For context: UI development is not my full-time job (anymore), and I mostly do backend dev these days. I still read/write React once in a while, but I don't enjoy it anymore.<p>Here is what I am struggling with: I am not able to grasp the programming model with Hooks. I am not able to read the code easily, nor am I able to easily understand the interactions in the app. "easily" being the keyword here. I <i>can</i> understand what is happening if I put in the effort, but every time, it is a struggle. I switch between languages and platforms all the time, but react code is where I have to take a real pause to understand what is going on.<p>My suspicion is that this has to do mostly with the names of the Hooks, and how they are used in the code.<p>* Why are they named useState, useEffect etc? Are there better names if used will make it easier for me to read this code? Are there any other systems/languages (even in JS) where similar constructs are present? What are their names?<p>* If JSX is anyway getting compiled to JS, why do I have to still deal with strange looking useState and useEffect declarations? Is there a way to get cleaner syntax and make React code read like regular code?<p>This is mostly a cry for help, and not a criticism of React. I have used React in the past (several years ago, before Hooks) and I used to "get" React.