Angular vs. React: What Framework to Choose
With the growth of technology, it’s only logical that web development follows suit. If you’re familiar with the JavaScript Ecosystem, you’re very likely to first conjure thoughts of Angular and React. They’re considered the most popular front-end development frameworks.
But if these popular web frameworks are so good, how can you tell which one is the best to use? What should you consider first about the project and its needs? This article will briefly cover Angularjs and Reactjs to give you a complex look at both frameworks, allowing you to make the right choice for yourself and your project.
What is Angular?
Angular is a web framework that was developed and maintained by Google. This full-fledged framework was released by the name of AngularJS in 2010 and was the most popular framework at the time. The Angular features provide many advantages, including two-way data binding and dependency injection.
AngularJS History
The Angular framework was a slam dunk when it was first released back in 2010. Before the release of the AngularJS framework, a Google employee named Misko Hevery was working on a side project that would help make the process of web application building simpler. This project became what we know as AngularJS. Fun fact – the name comes from the “< >” in HTLM.
Misko, along with a few others, became the first Angular team and used the framework to develop more and more internal applications. It was such an incredible tool that Google decided to release it as an open-source project in 2010. Once the community got a hold of it, their creative vision was unleashed. Some of the largest brands began to incorporate AngularJS into their toolsets for web and mobile app development.
Angular Disadvantages
Angular may be powerful, but it definitely comes with a learning curve and various cons, including:
- Can be overwhelming and confusing to beginners
- No clear manual or all-inclusive documentation
- Steep learning curve
- Using AngularJS can sometimes slow pages down with interactive elements
- It’s difficult to integrate third-party libraries
- It can be a challenge to upgrade from older versions
- Fewer developers want to work with it: only 57.6% are willing to use AngularJS
AngularJS Key Features
- Aligns with current tech
- Built-in support for AJAX, HTTP, and Observables
- Efficient Typescript
- More transparent coding, concise and clear
- Improved error-handling support
- Streamless updates provided by Angular CLI
- Forms and validations
- Local CSS
- Business logic and user interface separated
What is React?
React became open-source in 2013. It’s a JavaScript library supported entirely by Facebook. Such a framework popularized a concept in web development we know as component-based architecture. This concept has many advantages.
Simple to use. Maybe the main advantage of React is that it is simple to use and allows developers to design components with a few lines of code.
Modular and cohesive components. This makes them reusable and considerably shortens the development time.
Mobile development uses. This allows mobile developers to reuse parts of the mobile app, with only the view needing to be changed.
Easy maintenance. The upkeep and improvement come from its self-contained components.
React overtook the market very quickly upon its release, overshadowing even AngularJS. This caused Google to upgrade its own JavaScript framework as a consequence, calling it Angular2.
ReactJS History
With the appearance of ReactJS in the market, opportunities for front-end developers have seen significant growth. Facebook employees put their collective skills together and started developing initial prototypes of what we now know as ReactJS. It first started with Facebook introducing XHP to its PHP stack and open-sourcing it. This was followed by Jordan Walke creating FaxJS, which was React’s earliest prototype.
As Facebook grew into the giant it is today, its ads program became harder and harder to manage. Jordan Walke worked on his prototype and eventually emerged with React.
ReactJS Disadvantages
While ReactJS is a fan favorite and widely used, it does still come with some disadvantages. The cons of using ReactJS include the following:
- If you want to integrate React with the traditional MVC framework, it requires a complex reconfiguration
- In order to integrate its user interface with MVC framework, the user requires deep and extensive knowledge
ReactJS Key Features
- Compatible with third-party libraries
- Efficient and time-saving
- Simple
- Backed by Facebook
- Improved speed and user experience
- Faster development times
- Great code stability through one-way data binding
- Has components
Angular vs. React Comparison
It may seem silly to do, but it’s good practice to first consider the popularity of the framework you’re looking at using. The more active a community is, the faster the solutions to problems reach the light and the more effective the development process is. The more people working with a system, the more the issues and unexpected problems are dispersed amongst the community. Answers come quicker. But, what exactly is the difference between React and Angular?
On Github, the large number of stars on both Angular and React show very clear evidence of large communities. They’re both consistently at the top of the most starred repositories. The Stackoverflow 2020 survey shows 35.9% of users prefer React, while 25.1% use Angular. Angular also seems to be the tougher one to make use of, as it has far more tagged questions than React, and is more complex.
| Parameters | React | Angular |
|---|---|---|
| Type | JavaSript Library | Complete framework |
| Use | Can be packaged with other programming libraries | Is itself a complete solution |
| Learning Curve | Easier to grasp | Difficult and not recommended for beginners |
| Best Feature | Freedom in development | Two-way data binding |
| Ideal For | Modern web developers | Develop large-scale apps |
| Language | JSX – JavaScript XML | Typescript |
Reasons for Choosing AngularJS:
There are a few reasons you’ll want to choose AngularJS over its rival. Developers usually use Angular for their application architecture and prefer it when they need to write application code:
- for ready-to-use solutions
- for higher productivity
- when the development team is experienced with Java, C#, and Angular’s older versions
- when the app isn’t too complex
Reasons For Choosing ReactJS:
React is a fan’s favorite, and there are a lot of reasons why a developer would choose React over Angular:
- for complex applications with multiple events
- when the development team has experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
- for a personalized solution to app issues
- when the app components need to be shareable
In Conclusion
ReactJS and AngularJS are two very powerful options, with respect to single-page applications. But they both do different things and require different knowledge and skill sets. You really can’t compare the two of them fairly. It’s a matter of personal preference, and there really isn’t an argument to be had. The choice of whether to use one or the other depends on your project goals, what you need from your framework, and the performance you are trying to achieve.
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