so i need to learn IOS and Android development to learn what's going on behind the scenes as well? Ideally right? But that's definitely not a prerequisite of building RN apps. Abstractions are great if its done well..
Why the bad karma? Look, there are people that like Emacs (like me) and there are people, especially designers, that like drag-and-drop. Even if all it accomplishes is rapid prototyping, there is great value in closing the gap between UXPin and Emacs.
npm install -g react-native
react-native init myproject
cd myproject
# open xcode simulator or android emulator
# make changes to index.ios.js and read the damn docs
# otherwise you end up dragging slides and dragging drop
# having no idea what actually goes on behind the scenes
# when if you learned what went on behind the scenes
# you could code so so much faster and have so much more control