Why should component names start with capital letter?
Interviewer Expectations for this Question
01
Core Competency
Assesses fundamental understanding of React conventions, runtime behavior, and memory/performance considerations.
02
Evaluation Criteria
Hiring managers look for precision, avoidance of ambiguous jargon, and ability to explain trade-offs under real production conditions.
Comprehensive Model Answer
Verified Solution
If you are rendering your component using JSX, the name of that component has to begin with a capital letter otherwise React will throw an error as an unrecognized tag. This convention is because only HTML elements and SVG tags can begin with a lowercase letter.
```jsx harmony
function SomeComponent {
// Code goes here
}
You can define function component whose name starts with lowercase letter, but when it's imported it should have a capital letter. Here lowercase is fine:
function myComponent {
render() {
return <div />;
}
}
export default myComponent;
While when imported in another file it should start with capital letter:
import MyComponent from "./myComponent";
```
Candidate Response Strategy & Interview Tips
- Start with a concise one-sentence summary: Deliver a direct, confident answer first before expanding into nuances.
- Demonstrate real-world trade-offs: Discuss where this approach excels and when you would avoid it in production systems.
- Discuss complexity & edge cases: Proactively explain time/space complexity or boundary conditions (null values, scale limits).
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