Final answer:
Redux is a state management tool, while Redux-Saga is a middleware for managing side effects in Redux applications, using sagas for complex asynchronous tasks.
Step-by-step explanation:
The difference between Redux and Redux-Saga lies in their roles within application state management in React applications. Redux is a predictable state container designed to help manage the state of JavaScript apps in an orderly way. It provides a centralized store for states that need to be used across your application. On the other hand, Redux-Saga is a middleware library that is used to handle side effects in a Redux application, such as data fetching, synchronous operations, or accessing browser storage, which are common in complex applications.
Redux operates using actions and reducers, where actions are dispatched to signify the intent to cause a change with a payload of information, and reducers specify how the application's state changes in response to actions sent to the store. In contrast, Redux-Saga makes use of sagas, which are functions that can listen for actions dispatched to the store and then decide what side effects should occur. Sagas are implemented using ES6 Generator functions, allowing them to pause and resume their execution, thus making them ideal for handling complex asynchronous operations.
Overall, while Redux maintains the state and its updates, Redux-Saga focuses on making application side effects like data fetching easier and more efficient to manage by using sagas. Understanding the difference and the right application of each tool is critical in building robust and maintainable React applications.