Purpose of the componentDidUpdate lifecycle method

1. Responding to Prop or State Changes: One of the primary purposes of componentDidUpdate is to respond to changes in props or state. After a component’s props or state are updated, componentDidUpdate allows you to perform actions based on these changes.

2. Performing Side Effects: componentDidUpdate is commonly used for performing side effects that are dependent on component updates. This will include updating the document title, triggering imperative animations, integrating with third-party libraries, or interacting with the DOM directly.

3. Managing Subscriptions and Event Listeners: When working with subscriptions or event listeners, componentDidUpdate can be used to subscribe to new data streams, update subscriptions, or attach event listeners. It ensures that these subscriptions are updated after each render, preventing memory leaks or stale data.

React web apps are actually a collection of independent components that run according to the interactions made with them. Every React Component has a lifecycle of its own, the lifecycle of a component can be defined as the series of methods that are invoked in different stages of the component’s existence.