As JavaScript is coming out as a major development these days, there are many JavaScript frameworks available for the project development purpose. Angular has become a major part of every serious web and app projects these days. There are many JavaScript frameworks such as Ember.js, Aurelia, Knockout, VUE JS and React that have gained popularity in a very short span of time.

Angular was one of the first JavaScript frameworks which supported various enhanced features of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It is the most loved JavaScript framework that is used widely around the world.

Before proceeding further, here is the requirement to know – What actually is Angular?

What is Angular?

Angular is a JavaScript framework that is designed and maintained by Google. It is open sourced and allows to create Single Page Applications (SPAs). Single Page Application allows the application to work inside a browser and it does not require the entire page reloading throughout its accessibility. Angular was originally launched in 2009(as Angular.js) and gained the popularity very soon after that.

Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_(application_platform)

Angular was built purposely to overcome the limitations of the already existing technologies such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. I think that is enough for making you familiar with the Angular. Now, it is the moment to discover the answer to your Why? Right?

Let’s just dive into the facts that make it most trusted and one of the best JavaScript frameworks.

Important facts you should know about Angular.js:

1. Amongst the most popular technologies: Angular remained one of the most popular technologies according to Developers Survey 2018 on Stack Overflow.

Fact Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/

2. Amongst most loved, dreaded, and wanted frameworks: In the same survey of Stack Overflow, Angular was ranked in the list of one of the most loved, dreaded and wanted frameworks.

Fact Source: https://insights.stackoverflow.com/survey/2018/

3. One of the most widely used frameworks along with different programming languages and technologies:

Although this will raise a query inside you that why I am talking of other programming languages along with which the Angular can be used? This is just to show that when it comes to compatibility, Angular stands in a position of the best contenders to handle the frontend logic and design.

Fact Source: https://stackoverflow.blog/2018/01/11/brutal-lifecycle-javascript-frameworks/

Complete JavaScript based projects can also be built using a stack of technologies that support JavaScript. MEAN (MongoDB, Express.js, Angular, Node.js) stack is one of the most popular stack technology that is widely used in the world in which frontend logics are maintained inside Angular.

4. Excellent Reputation – GITHUB stars:

Github is the largest web-based hosting service for version control using Git. On this platform, most of the projects are stored and are networked amongst the like-minded people. This platform has a feature to rate any project in the form of stars and angular has been able to get a quite good rating here. It has almost 40000+ stars.

Image Source: https://github.com/angular/angular

This shows that it is very trusted amongst the developer community around the world.

5. Angular has major 5 version releases: Since its first appearance in 2009, the Angular has got 5 major versions, although the first version was completely different from rest of the versions. Those major releases are Angular.js (1.x), Angular (2.x), Angular (4.x), Angular (5.x) and the most recent one is the Angular (6.x) which was released on May 4, 2018. The interesting thing to notice here is that Angular with the first version was known as Angular.js or AngularJS but in the succeeding versions it is known by the name Angular only to avoid the confusion among the developers as it had completely different features than Angular.js.

Top reasons to know before select Angular for your next project:

Angular has a great potential with the extra advantage of a large support from the community and the capability to handle many frontend logics very comfortably. Leaving Angular 2.x which wasn’t backward compatible rest all versions of Angular are backward compatible and support features of previous versions into the new versions.

The major points that you can consider while opting to develop your next project in Angular are listed below.

1. Write Less Code:

Angular is built with a long-lasting vision of keeping the code much more compact but efficient. It used to take a lot of JavaScript code in developing a logic but with the coming of Angular, it has been reduced to a much larger extent. There are various features and components such as directives, filters, modules, services, dependency injections etc. which all support in writing less code.

2. It has web standards like components:

Components are the main building blocks of an Angular app and they are the logical piece of code. Angular is a platform where frontend logic can be implemented with the most advanced features of JavaScript. Components connect the hierarchy of logical files to the Document Object Model. They can be used to easily develop the logic of an app and are associated with the DOM.

3. It uses TypeScript for better compilation:

Although Angular comes into the category of JavaScript frameworks, its language is TypeScript. TypeScript can be said as the superset of the JavaScript which compiles very fast and makes the application to run faster which helps in making the experience seamless.

4. It has a great tool to build the project – Angular CLI:

Angular has a great tool to bundle all the tasks and functions in a pre-configured way. Although there are many bundlers available such as Grunt and Gulp angular developers opted to go with Webpack.

Webpack helps in bundling the tasks in a different way. It maintains the dependency tree by scanning the import statements. The Angular team has developed its own feature known as angular-cli which is a powerful tool to adapt Webpack so that pre-configured features can be easily used by the application.

5. It has a built-in feature of lazy loading:

Lazy Loading in Angular is a special technique which allows the JavaScript components to load asynchronously when any specific route is considered to be activated. That’s a little tricky? Isn’t it? Ok, allow me to explain it in a much simpler language. It is just a part of Angular where it helps to have the features loaded when the user navigates to the route for the first time i.e on-demand the object is loaded and not necessarily loading all the objects.

Image Source: http://blog.devitpl.com/4-ways-to-implement-lazy-loading/

6. It has a great DOM manipulation:

There are many JavaScript frameworks available but unlike other frameworks, Angular is very strongly focused to bear the burden of a developer by actively manipulating the DOM (Document Object Model). It supports two-way data binding (communication from both the sides DOM and components or DOM and controllers) which ensures to save time and efforts while coding and updating the DOM elements.

Image Source: https://codesjava.com/angularjs-two-way-data-binding-program-code

7. It has features to test the code – Unit Testing Ready:

Angular is a framework that is purposely designed to opt the techniques for making the code very clean, light weighted and perfect in execution. There are features available inside the angular which allows it to be the best in fulfilling the requirements from the point of a developer. It has Dependency Injections (DI) and the whole of the angular is linked by it.

Dependency Injections are used in managing the scopes and controllers where they can be used for unit testing by injecting mock data if it is of version 1.x and if we go in versions 2.x or the above then there are CLI features along with built-in unit-testing features such as Karma and Jasmine. (Jasmine is a framework and Karma is task runner).

8. It supports features of Progressive Web App (PWA):

In new releases of Angular, the developer’s community at Google have made the Angular compatible with the features of PWA. PWA’s are the web applications that are loaded like regular web pages or websites but can be used offline and has the features such as push notifications. PWA’s are basically made to provide web open standards to get the benefits of a rich mobile experience. PWA’s are reliable, fast and Engaging which angular supports very well.

9. It provides a great feature of universal rendering:

Angular has a new feature to render and run the application on the server. Normally, an angular application is executed in the browser which is the result of user actions in DOM that eventually renders a page. Now, the angular team has gone one step ahead and implemented the logic for static pages of the application that are generated on the server by adopting a process known as Server Side Rendering (SSR).

Image Source: https://www.cronj.com/blog/server-side-rendering-angular-angular-universal/

This feature helps in making the application universal and hence helps in facilitating the web crawlers (SEO), improving the performance on mobile and low-powered devices and most importantly it helps in showing the first page very quickly.

The Bottom Line:

MOST IMPORTANT NOTE: The topic covered in the blog is completely generic and talks of the material that is most common in all the versions of the angular. It is advised to take up the higher versions of Angular for your next project. Angular 1.x is good to use but it has now gone old, and some of the features discussed here may not be compatible in version 1.x.

The latest version of this series is Angular 6.

With all these features angular continues to be one of the most used frameworks of JavaScript that is used all around the world. I hope all the points discussed in the blog will broaden your knowledge and will make you look forward to building your new application using Angular.

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Comment your thoughts about the blog in the comments section and feel free to raise any query.