What is prop drilling in React?

Prop drilling is a term used to describe the process of passing down props from a parent component to a child component, and then to another child component, and so on, until the desired component is reached. This can result in a long chain of props being passed down through multiple levels of components, which can become difficult to manage and maintain.

For example, imagine a React application with a component hierarchy that includes a parent component, a child component, and a grandchild component. The parent component needs to pass a prop to the grandchild component, but the child component does not need to use the prop. In this case, the prop would need to be passed down through the child component, even though it is not needed, resulting in prop drilling.

One way to avoid prop drilling is to use React context, which allows data to be passed down through multiple levels of components without the need for props to be explicitly passed down at each level.

Context provides a way to share data between components without having to pass props down through every level of the component tree. This can make the code cleaner and easier to manage, especially in larger applications with complex component hierarchies.

// Example of prop drilling
function ParentComponent() {
  const [value, setValue] = useState('Hello World');
  return (
    
  );
}

function ChildComponent({ value }) {
  return (
    
  );
}

function GrandchildComponent({ value }) {
  return (
    
{value}
  );
}

// Example of using React context to avoid prop drilling
const MyContext = React.createContext();

function ParentComponent() {
  const [value, setValue] = useState('Hello World');
  return (
    
      
    
  );
}

function ChildComponent() {
  return (
    
  );
}

function GrandchildComponent() {
  const value = useContext(MyContext);
  return (
    
{value}
  );
}