Updating state properly in React is fundamental for creating responsive and predictable user interfaces that trigger re-renders when data changes. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, I’ve implemented state updates in thousands of React components for form handling, data manipulation, and user interactions across enterprise applications. From my expertise, the most effective approach is to use the setState function with immutability patterns. This method ensures proper React re-renders, maintains state history for debugging, and prevents common bugs related to state mutations.