As asked
Walk me through how the old React Native bridge works. What is serialized, what thread does each side run on, and what are the concrete performance consequences of crossing the bridge frequently?
Sample answer outline
A strong answer explains that the bridge is an asynchronous, batched, JSON-serialized channel between the JS thread and the native main thread. All messages are serialized to JSON, queued, and dispatched in batches, which means no synchronous calls are possible and large payloads or high-frequency calls create jank. The candidate should name the three threads (JS, native/main, shadow/layout) and explain that layout happens on the shadow thread via Yoga. They should mention that serialization cost is proportional to payload size, so passing large blobs or images over the bridge is expensive.
Expect these follow-ups
- How does the new architecture eliminate the serialization bottleneck?
- What debugging tool would you use to measure bridge traffic?