> The promise is simple and compelling: write once, ship twice. iOS and Android all in one shot
While this is certainly feasible (largely depending on the requirements of your app), it is important to clarify that RN never promised "write once ship twice".
RN's promise is "learn once, write anywhere", meaning that the technology and mental model is what transcends platforms, not the codebase itself.
Just wanted to make this clear so as to avoid any possible frustration for newcomers after the fact.
Not to mention it's something that when making custom components etc., you will be able to do if so desired. A good component structure and composition enables you to handle Android versus iOS, but still have a large amount of sharing available.
I consider this similar to the Xamarin structure of Apps where you have Android and iOS projects, and then a shared common library.
A note on the require issue: this makes sense if you think of requiring as it's compiled equal - importing.
You can't dynamically import dependencies - so if you're wanting to load JSON dynamically you should be using other mechanisms (even if it's just a FS operation or having an internal service to return JSON).
While this is certainly feasible (largely depending on the requirements of your app), it is important to clarify that RN never promised "write once ship twice".
RN's promise is "learn once, write anywhere", meaning that the technology and mental model is what transcends platforms, not the codebase itself.
Just wanted to make this clear so as to avoid any possible frustration for newcomers after the fact.