Angular.JS is an open-source web application framework introduced by Google that helps build one-page applications. This is a new framework introduced in 2009 but since that time Angular went through several updates and attracted attention of the IT society.

Today, we would like to take a closer look at Angular and discuss this technology with Ruben Movsesyan our own Senior PHP & WordPress Developer, who successfully uses Angular JS and teaches a course for Svitla’s and freelance developers.

Greetings, Ruben!

So what is so cool about Angular.JS? What code difficulties can it help resolve?

Angular is a framework built by Google to build extendable and stable Single page applications. It introduces a set of innovative features, like 2way binding and html templating, and it teaches us to think in a component-based manner while developing our applications. Its modular nature allows us to abstract logic and build complicated structures as well as manage dev process.

What is the threshold to start working with Angular?

I would say you need to know JavaScript at least 3 from 5; you need to understand the oop in JS. A good bonus would be a lack of knowledge in jQuery. That’s right - a lack of! The point is that jQuery works in a different way with the dom, which makes it harder to understand Angular.

What type of web applications can be built with it?

Currently, we can build full-stack web applications and with the help of additional tools, we can build mobile applications as well.

What major advantages do you see in Angular compared to other JavaScript frameworks?

First for all, it is maintained and developed by Google, which is a big pro for the framework. I know that it won't be abandoned, and I know that its quality is under the hood of real pros. The next thing is again its modular nature, which allows us to build independent modules and use them in different applications. Now having said that, you need to know that Angular’s community has the biggest amount of modules and libraries compared to any other framework. That means that you will be mostly adding just modules instead of writing something on you own, which, of course, is a big plus.

When can we expect the major drift into coding in version 2?

Well, the drift is already possible in Angular 1.5, you already can code in a 2.0 manner. But when you should start to work with Angular 2.0 I can’t say, as it is up to you. One thing you should keep in mind is that 2.0 is written in TypeScript, and it’s good for big enterprise projects, so that’s what you might want to use it for.

Let’s talk about Automatisation, gulp, bower, npm - are they somehow used in Angular?

Sure! Those are some of the best tools I personally use when developing Angular apps. All of them are great tools and are widely used in Angular, for example, for installing some vendor angular modules or compiling preprocessors like sass or even typed supersets of JS like TypeScript or coffee script. You even can use gulp, for example, to inject your controllers automatically and don’t worry about the inclusion of them in index file. I also love yeoman, a cool tool which speeds up setup, here the link http://yeoman.io/

What would you say about Angular productivity? Does it suitable only for small applications?

It can be used for huge enterprise solutions due to its modular nature and abstraction.

Does Angular support test-writing?

Yes, they even have in their doc test examples for each directive or service or whatever they are documenting.

We know that you are teaching an AngularJS course; can you tell a bit about it?

That’s true, I started an open source course for AngularJS beginners, that means that it’s a free course and its materials are available to everyone https://github.com/rubenCodeforges/AngularCourse although it’s still in development.

Can you please tell us about some of your recent projects built in Angular? What tasks did you have to complete, and were there any difficulties to overcome?

The latest project was a LinkedIn clone with the whole front-end built on top of Angular in Coffee script. We had a lot of different tasks and challenges that needed to be addressed - the UI was very dynamic and complex, we had some performance issues due to hacks in Angular made by previous developers, the code was a spaghetti, so the first thing we did was refactoring. After that, the performance increased 300%, which is a huge increase, and the client was very satisfied with that.

Can you recommend a “Must read” list for an Angular developer?

Well, I usually use the MDN website as a cheat sheet as you obviously can’t remember everything. And, of course, the official documentation of Angular. Also, you can read about web components a bit, so that you understand the concept https://www.webcomponents.org/

Thank you very much for this informative conversation and good luck with your teaching course!

FAQ

What is Angular web development?

Angular web development comprises the building of dynamic, single-page, and full-stack applications using Google’s open-source Angular framework. This shall be an architecture that builds components that bind data in two different ways, together with templating HTML, thus offering provision to structure complex UIs and application logic modularly inside a scalable approach. It has a huge fifty-party modules community plus tools support, e.g., npm, Gulp, TypeScript, which make it useful for small applications up to large enterprise solutions.

Is Angular good for web development?

Yes, Angular is great for web development when it comes to scalable single-page and full-stack applications. The framework delivers a robust component-based architecture with two-way data binding and HTML templating out of the box, thus making UI complexity and business logic easy to manage. Developed by Google and another large community, this ensures a big ecosystem of modules and libraries that will allow developers to plug in existing solutions instead of writing everything from scratch.

What does an Angular developer do?

An Angular developer creates and sustains web apps with the Angular framework, which makes dynamic, component-based UIs. They organize app logic into reusable modules and set up features such as routing, data binding, and form handling. They add APIs for full‑stack use, too. Their tasks often involve setting up build tools and package managers to make things run better, plus writing tests so the app stays strong and easy to keep up.

Is Angular difficult to learn?

Angular is tough to pick up at the beginning, particularly without strong knowledge of JavaScript and object‑oriented programming concepts. It fosters a different conceptualization of the DOM and application structure than the somewhat related libraries like jQuery, so some mental tweaking might be required. But once you get its component-based approach, data binding, and modular architecture, it’s easy to build complex applications and even to scale them.

How much time will it take to learn Angular?

Time to learn Angular will be predicated on how much time one has invested in learning JavaScript and object-oriented programming, because it requires an understanding of both before diving in. The learning curve may be considered steep at first due to its component-based architecture and modular nature, but basic applications can be developed as soon as the official documentation is read through, accompanied by some good community resources. More time would probably be required to master the framework for large-scale enterprise projects, but practically developing them will be sped up due to the availability of myriad pre-built modules and libraries.

A closer Look at Angular Web Development