What is Angular?
Angular is an open-source framework built with TypeScript used to develop frontend web user applications. Google originally developed Angular, and they continue to maintain it. Its predecessor, AngularJS, which was also built by Google with JavaScript, was discontinued in 2016 when the upgrade to Angular was introduced. Angular is a component-based framework purpose built for high scale, complex applications. Its components are reusable pieces of code that deliver discrete functionality such as an authorization component that includes functions for logging in, resetting a password, and signing up. As a framework, Angular provides prebuilt and reusable components that speed development and allow for code reuse for a development team.
Why TypeScript versus JavaScript?
Modern web browsers cannot understand TypeScript, but they do understand JavaScript. This begs the obvious question: Why build Angular in TypeScript? TypeScript offers advantages over JavaScript. Specifically, with TypeScript, developers can use:
Data Types. Specify the type of data expected in a given section of code, such as a number, text string, or boolean value.
Syntax Highlighting. Highlights similar types of code in colors or other styles to make the code easier to read and review.
Code Completion.
Auto-complete lines of code in a similar fashion to how Microsoft Word suggests wording and allows a user to press the tab key to auto-fill suggestions.
These are all capabilities that increase development speed and efficiency for a development team.
The challenge with TypeScript is that it must be translated, a process called “transpiling”, into JavaScript before a browser can run the application.
What is built with Angular?
Angular, a popular front-end framework, is utilized by numerous companies and organizations across various industries to build modern web applications. Here are some notable products that development team have created:
Google. Angular was developed and is maintained by Google. Several Google products, including Google Analytics, Google Cloud Platform, and Google Ads, utilize Angular for their web interfaces.
YouTube TV. YouTube TV, a subscription-based streaming service by YouTube, employs Angular for its web application, delivering a seamless viewing experience to users across different devices.
Forbes. Forbes, a renowned media company, rebuilt its website using Angular to provide a responsive, dynamic, and engaging experience for its readers.
Weather.com. The popular weather forecasting website, weather.com, uses Angular to deliver real-time weather updates and personalized forecasts to users worldwide.
Nike. Nike, a leading sportswear brand, utilizes Angular for its web applications, including its e-commerce platform, to provide a visually appealing and user-friendly shopping experience.
Upwork. Upwork, a global freelancing platform, employs Angular for its web application, enabling freelancers and clients to connect and collaborate seamlessly.
PayPal. PayPal, a widely used online payment platform, utilizes Angular for its web interface, providing users with a secure and intuitive way to manage their finances and transactions.
The Guardian. The Guardian, a renowned news publication, revamped its website using Angular to deliver a modern, responsive, and immersive reading experience to its audience.
When is Angular the right choice?
Angular is often the best choice for complex or large web applications as its code is easier to maintain as applications grow in size and complexity. It provides pre-built components, but it also enables developers to build custom, reusable components when needed. Fortunately, this also streamlines testing when the same component is used multiple times.
Some say that Angular has a bigger learning curve for developers than other web application libraries or frameworks. However, the speed of development, scalability, and maintainability of large applications makes Angular a wise choice for development team applications.