Angular

Brief Introduction

Angular is an open-source, TypeScript-based framework for front-end development, maintained by Google, that is designed explicitly for developing scalable web applications and single-page applications (SPAs). 

It was released in 2016 and it's a successor to Angular JS, whose origins can be traced back to 2009 when a team of Google engineers created AngularJS - a framework for building web applications, based on JavaScript. 

When we talk about Angular we cannot dismiss it's beginning - as a JavaScript-written application (AngularJS), however the transition to a TypeScript-based application (Angular) was so significant that it bore a new application and this is why we differentiate the two, as they are completely different by many parameters not only the programming language. 

Some of these differences being the AngularJS architecture is MVVM, while Angular's architecture is Component-based. While Angular's features are widely-ranged, some of them including routing, dependency injection and form validation, AngularJS doesn't offer the same. Angular being a TypeScript-based framework doesn't strictly follow, but extends HTML templates. 

Despite the vast difference, however, the key purpose of Angular remains untouched - to build dynamic web app interfaces capable of processing large volumes of data. Let's dive deeper into Angular's features and how it works below.

How it works?

In an Angular application, a module is nothing but a collection of components, directives, pipes, and services that are typically used in the application. All such groups communicate with each other to effectively build functionality to make your application secure and reliable. 

Angular Application consists of 8 building blocks that developers use on a frequent-basis within the framework when creating web applications to ensure the smooth development of the said. These building blocks include:

  • Modules: Every Angular Application has one root module called AppModule. The module usually provides developers with the bootstrap mechanism that makes it easy to launch new applications.
  • Components: Every Angular Application has at least one component, the root component that connects a component hierarchy with the page document object model (DOM). Each component defines a class that contains application data and logic, and is associated with an HTML template that defines a view to be displayed in a target environment.
  • Services: The Angular developers create a service class when no specific data or logic is associated with the particular view. In addition, the developers can share the data or logic among different reusable components.
  • Templates: Angular templates are a combination of HTML and Angular markup. The primary aim of these templates is to modify HTML elements before they are displayed. Additionally, template directives provide program logic, and binding markup connects your application data and the DOM manipulation. 
  • Metadata: Metadata acts as a descriptor that informs the system about how to process a class. It's designed explicitly to decorate the class so that developers can quickly configure the expected behaviour of a class.
  • Data binding: The Angular data binding concept typically handles real-time communication between a template and its related component. Moreover, data binding is also a boon for communication between parent and child components.
  • Directives: Directives are a class that can modify the structure of the DOM or modify attributes in the DOM and component data model. A directive class is usually associated with an HTML element or attribute, and that element or attribute is often referred to as the directive itself. When Angular finds a directive in an HTML template, it creates the matching directive class instance and gives the instance control over that portion of the browser DOM.
    Angular has three categories of directive: Components that are used to associate a template with a class. Attribute directives that modify behaviour and appearance of page elements. Structure directives that modify the structure of DOM. Angular supplies a number of built-in directives that begin with the ng prefix. You can also create new directives to implement your own functionality.
  • Dependency Injection: represents a design pattern and mechanism for creating and delivering some parts of an application (dependencies) to other parts of an application that require them. In Angular, dependencies are typically services, but they also can be values, such as strings or functions. An injector for an application (created automatically during bootstrap) instantiates dependencies when needed, using a configured provider of the service or value. 

Advantages

Angular framework has a whole range of advantages that attest for its high-end execution. The most prominent of them, however, are as follows:

  • Custom and reusable components - that allows developers to create their own components.These components can be reused, combined and nested, providing a construction kit for building the application.
  • Asynchronous programming - this gives developers the advantage of executing tasks asynchronously. When a user calls any action, the app keeps running and performing other actions. As a result, different developers or development teams can handle different tasks simultaneously, while the application keeps working.
  • Easy testing - Angular can be used to perform unit testing (Jasmine/Karma) and end-to-end testing (Protractor, Cypress) of the application. The framework is suitable for performing both simple testing for unit testing and end-to-end testing. The number of developers/users doesn't matter. It's possible to test any part of your application.
  • High Compatibility - Angular is cross-platform compatible with all major browsers such as Chrome or Firefox. In order to be able to develop comparatively easily, large and small applications with modern web technologies, companies need appropriate resources and reliable tools.  

Disadvantages

Like every product, Angular has its disadvantages as well. 

Some of them being that the learning curve for this tool is more pronounced in comparison to other Java Script frameworks, such as React. The broad onset of many and different features can be daunting for novices, which might result in a longer boarding period. 

It’s also known that Angular apps have a greater amount of boilerplate code compared to other frameworks, resulting in a larger codebase that might be challenging to maintain. 

Angular applications mostly generate content on the client side, which may result in limitations for SEO capabilities. There’s a requirement for extra work in order to guarantee the appropriate implementation of search engine optimization, this factor however is project-specific and isn’t universal. 

Even with said disadvantages, Angular is a preferred framework amongst developers and by many big companies as well, including Google itself, of course, - it’s used in various components of Outlook, Office 365, OneDrive. It’s also used by other leading companies such as PayPal, Deutsche Bank, Delta Air Lines, IBM, Bosch and many more.

Key Takeaways 

  • Angular is a structural framework for building web applications that uses TypeScript as its programming language.
  • Angular follows a component-based architecture that allows developers to create reusable UI components and build complex applications with ease.
  • Angular has a powerful set of features like two-way data binding, dependency injection, and directives that make it easy to develop dynamic web applications.
  • Angular has a hierarchical dependency injection system that allows components to be loosely coupled, making it easy to replace or update individual components without affecting the entire application.
  • Angular has a modular architecture that allows developers to break down an application into smaller modules that can be loaded on-demand, improving performance and reducing load times.

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