Every company today needs a dynamic presence on the web. However, building and maintaining a sophisticated, interactive web application is not a trivial undertaking. That’s why choosing the right development framework, like Angular, is critically important.
One of the most popular web development frameworks in use today is Angular, which is based on JavaScript and TypeScript. Developed by Google and initially released in 2010, Angular has enjoyed wide acceptance among the frontend developer community. However, as new frameworks have become available, and as it has undergone significant changes, some developers have been asking whether Angular continues to be a viable choice for cutting-edge web development today.
The answer to that question is clearly “Yes”! Angular not only remains relevant, but in many cases is the preferred option. Let’s take a look at five important reasons why that’s so.
1. Angular Is One of the Most Popular Frameworks Currently
Since its initial release as AngularJS in 2010, Angular has been the premier framework for building user interfaces. It works on the web, for mobile, and even for the desktop.
However, its popularity took something of a hit in 2016 when Google released Angular 2 (now known simply as “Angular”). This included a full rewrite of the framework, intended to incorporate the new features required for modern web design.
However, the new Angular was a radical departure from the old, to the extent that all backward compatibility was lost — migrating from AngularJS to Angular 2 was such a difficult process that some users became discouraged.
But Angular bounced back! In subsequent updates, the Angular team provided new migration tools and techniques that made transitioning from AngularJS far easier.
Now, according to a 2020 Stack Overflow survey, Angular continues to be one of the most popular web frameworks. In fact, 54% of survey respondents indicated a “love” for the new Angular, and expressed a desire to continue using it. Interestingly, even the old AngularJS captured the continuing admiration of 24.1% of developers.
2. Although There Are Other Frameworks, Angular Keeps Its Touch
Angular no longer has the web development framework field to itself. Competitors such as ReactJS and Vue.js are gaining in popularity. These new kids on the block do provide some advantages. For example, they are generally thought to be easier to get up to speed with. On the other hand, professionals consider these newer contenders less versatile and maintainable than Angular.
Angular isn’t sitting still! Google plans to release major updates every six months, with enhancements such as improved CLI compiler performance, better type checking, and faster testing.
The impact of these continuing upgrades is reflected in the title of a recent InfoWorld article regarding the May, 2021 release, which enthusiastically declares,
“Angular 12 piles on the improvements.”
3. Angular Provides a Better Structure To Build Applications Quicker
Angular’s component-based architecture provides major benefits in terms of ease of development and testing. It also permits a high degree of code reusability, so that developers aren’t continually reinventing the wheel. Because of the breadth of the functions included in the framework, it’s seldom necessary to incorporate external libraries. In fact, compared to other frameworks, Angular is considered to be a particularly low code environment.
Other features that contribute to Angular’s status as an environment in which applications can be built quickly include a highly intuitive UI (user interface), the ability to detect errors at compile time rather than only at run time (TypeScript is a statically typed language), and automatic management of dependencies. Angular also boasts a highly efficient CLI, which provides a large degree of automation to the entire application development process. For example, developers can create entire new projects simply by running a few CLI commands.
4. Developers Can Leverage Their Knowledge of JavaScript
Angular is written in, and can be programmed in, TypeScript, which is basically a superset of JavaScript. TypeScript provides significant improvements in features such as autocompletion, navigation, refactoring, and, of course, its static typing which substantially improves debugging. Still, users have the option of sticking exclusively with JavaScript if they so desire.
Angular framework developers who already have extensive JavaScript knowledge will find that their learning curve is significantly shorter.
5. Angular Has a Huge Community and Documentation
As the oldest of the major web development frameworks, Angular benefits from an extensive ecosystem. This fact alone significantly elevates its usefulness compared to alternatives.
The ecosystem includes a large variety of resources, including components, plugins, packages, libraries, IDEs, user interfaces, and analytic tools that developers can take off the shelf for their own applications. Plus, the Angular team at Google provides extensive and detailed documentation that can guide developers, whether new or highly experienced, in successfully completing their projects.
Of course, the strong developer community, which includes highly skilled specialists in all aspects of web development, provides personalized help and support, including training materials and third-party tools.
One particularly important feature of the Angular ecosystem includes a commitment from Google, which ensures the long-term stability of the platform.
Your Project
If you are planning large and complex web development projects that require good scalabilities, such as video streaming, e-commerce, or real-time data delivery (stock prices or weather, for example), Angular may well be your best option. On the other hand, if your web application will only deliver static content, Angular isn’t suitable.
Learn More About Working With ParallelStaff
Whether you choose Angular, or even if you decide to go with ReactJS or Vue.js, you’ll still face the problem of finding the highly skilled frontend developers you’ll need to staff your projects. And that’s where ParallelStaff can help.
ParallelStaff is a global business process outsourcing provider based in the U.S. We specialize in providing our clients with staff augmentation and nearshore software development services using highly skilled contract employees working remotely from Mexico and Latin America.
With our deep pool of expert front-end developers, we can ensure that your project teams are able to add individuals with just the skills you need (including not only Angular and AngularJs, but ReactJS and Vue.js as well) when you need them.
If you’d like to know more about how ParallelStaff can supply your company with the software development talent your projects need, please contact us.
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