Introduction
Angular is a modern and popular JavaScript framework used to develop complex, highly dynamic web applications. It was created by Google back in 2010 and has since become a widely used open-source framework for web application development. At Apex, we have worked with Angular / AngularJS since 2011.
Angular vs AngularJS
First, let's get the confusing nomenclature out of the way. Angular is the successor to AngularJS and was released in 2016. It is a completely re-imagined framework for developing modern web applications. AngularJS was a groundbreaking technology in its time, but Angular has since surpassed it in terms of features and capabilities.
Why Angular?
The Angular framework makes it easier for developers to create high-performing, highly adaptable single-page applications (SPA) and progressive web apps. This means that they can take advantage of multiple features which make their coding experience smoother and more efficient. Angular’s powerful features enable developers to create sophisticated applications quickly, without having to struggle with restrictions due to language complexities or other matters. It works in tandem with platforms such as TypeScript, which adds robust types checking before compilation, giving greater confidence when developing enterprise-level applications. In addition, its modular design helps in breaking down problems into smaller components, making development easier while providing clear boundaries between different functions in the same application.
For enterprises looking for dependable solutions that keep up with ever-changing technology trends, the Angular framework provides an ideal option for app construction at scale. Its command line interface empowers development teams to share different modules across team members easily via npm libraries – something that benefits bigger teams considerably when working on larger projects. NPM also allows for the easy inclusion of third-party libraries.
In terms of development speed, Angular development allows creation of complex web applications quickly due to its comprehensive feature set and its strict guidelines which reduce complexity in coding. This high level of maintainability is essential for larger scale projects as it reduces the likelihood of errors occurring during development or deployment. Furthermore, Angular provides helpful templating and analytics tools which offer users powerful insights into their customer base so they can meet customer demand more accurately. All these features make Angular an ideal choice for any application requiring large scale customization options or frequent updating capabilities.
Component Based Architecture
Reusable components are the building blocks of any Angular web app and provide a great degree of stability when structuring your application. Angular components are well encapsulated, which means they consist of only those elements that share related functionality. This makes it easier to increase code reusability, as components in Angular apps can act independently from each other and don’t rely heavily on external connections.
Another benefit to component-based architecture is how well it fits into the hierarchical structure recommended by Angular best practice guidelines. The user interface of an Angular app will typically be built like a tree, with different components representing different levels and functioning in relation to each other. Since components in Angular use well defined APIs, they can communicate quite easily with each other and act as a unified front even when using various technologies or functions. Ultimately this makes the process of developing enterprise-scale applications with Angular much easier due to its efficient code construction and reduces overall development time.
Maintainability
Working with maintainable code is essential for developing large and complex applications. Angular developers need to rely on a language that enables them to ensure that the codebase remains simple, organized, and easy-to-maintain. This is where TypeScript comes in. It allows developers to add static type checking and other features from newer ECMAScript releases while enabling backward compatibility. This helps maintain the codebase horizontally as well as vertically, and prevents the addition of breaking changes when introducing new features.
In addition, using auto-injection libraries with TypeScript also helps keep the codebase maintainable and predictable. This drastically reduces time of debugging an application by separating code into smaller pieces and providing ample information about the data types used in it. Also, since breakages can be identified beforehand due to static typing, coding becomes more efficient with TypeScript as a whole. Therefore, using TypeScript will help you create a robust Angular app with accurate syntax checks, cleaner coding style and overall improved maintainability of your application's codebase in the long run.
Material Design
The Angular Design methodology is an efficient way of ensuring the best possible user experience for your applications. Centered around responsiveness, aesthetics, and accessibility, the set of design guidelines make sure that users are provided with a consistent interface across platforms. By utilizing components that are already ready-made yet still customizable, developers save time on front-end development.
At the core of Angular Design is Angular Material as its main component library. With a wide selection of components such as pre-built layouts, navigation elements, form controls, buttons or indicators, it’s easy to implement them into your application and get quickly up and running regardless of user's device or platform. All in all, relying on this technology stack can help front-end developers create compelling interfaces with minimal effort and time investment while satisfying different user needs.
Dependency Injection System to Manage Components
Dependency injection is an incredibly useful design pattern that can help make development projects more efficient for many applications. The main advantage of dependency injection is that it eliminates the need to construct objects and configure their dependencies manually in a class or module. This ends up freeing up developer time and energy, yet still yielding maintainable code. In Angular, it is particularly helpful for large enterprise applications as well, as it drastically lessens the time spent on testing due to its configurable injectors. Dependency injections in Angular allow you to easily modify or replace any of the injectors without drastically reconfiguring other components, creating a clean structure throughout your application. Furthermore, dependency injection has been known to improve readability of code making debugging much easier going forward.
Overall, dependency injection does wonders for application performance by significantly cutting down test times leading to a shorter development process without sacrificing the overall maintainability of code. Its usefulness even extends further as it improves readability and allows quick modification of injectors within an Angular application with little effort. Therefore Angular teams should consider utilizing this pattern whenever possible since its advantages are plentiful and ever present.
Progressive Web Apps for Mobile
Angular's ability to provide both web and native capabilities with PWA support have made it incredibly popular amongst enterprise business who are looking for a comprehensive solution that includes mobile apps. Businesses are no longer limited to just one source of technology. Through Angular, developers can harness all available engineering resources and handcraft a unique cross platform product that excels across all devices and use cases. The combinations of Ionic + Angular or NativeScript + Angular offer front-end developers an array of enhanced features for building complex applications without compromising on performance.
What about React?
React and Angular, two popular development frameworks used for frontend web development, have been locked in a heated battle for supremacy since React was first released by Facebook in 2013. It quickly rose to fame due to its relatively easy learning curve compared to more complex frameworks as well as its popularity among beginners. Despite these advantages, React isn’t necessarily the best tool when developing enterprise software and applications due to the complexity of these larger projects.
Angular has arguably trumped React in terms of front-end development for enterprise application development. It provides developers with a complete framework that includes essential components such as routing, templating, dependency injection, Ajax communication modules, animation libraries and much more – something that React lacked at the time. This resulted in the emergence of a ‘war’ within the developer community – some individual developers preferred what React offered over what Angular had, and others whose preferred choice was Angular. Both technologies offer efficient solutions but have distinct advantages and disadvantages depending on your project requirements.
We believe Angular is a far superior choice for enterprise software development when compared to React. Angular offers many benefits that make it an ideal fit for large scale projects, including dependable scalability, robust performance, and comprehensive documentation. It has a large library of ready-made solutions and components that can be easily incorporated into existing code, while React currently does not have the same depth of library support. Additionally, Angular's intuitive two-way data binding makes it easier to implement forms and dynamic templates with minimal effort.
Angular and Apex Designer
Apex Designer is a powerful and flexible low-code development tool for building full stack applications with Angular on the front end and NodeJS on the back end. It encourages Angular best practices, and completely automates the generation of front end and back end code. When necessary, developers can easily inject their own chunks of code without affecting code generation. With exportable code and an open source stack, enterprises can build and deploy applications without worrying about end-user licensing costs spiraling out of control.
Apex Designer takes care of the "grunt" work of Angular project development and gives us (and you) clean code development and a competitive edge in development speed. Our component libraries offer a range of capabilities and make upgrading to new Angular versions quick and easy.
Check it out at apexdesigner.io.
