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Angular vs React 2021: Which JS Framework your Project Requires?
It’s quite easy to get drowned in the sea of Angular vs React 2021 and React vs Angular 2021 articles out there. Now that you’ve stumbled upon this one, let’s make sure it’s worth your time.
In the tug of war of hotly debated questions, Angular Vs React js has also found itself amongst the front runners in this race, directly competing with questions like is the earth flat or round? Glass half full or empty? Apple, a vegetable or fruit?
While you may or may not find the answers to these universal dilemmas, let me ensure you find the right JS framework for your project. To make it easy and digestible for you to read, I’ve listed down a head-to-head comparison of Angular Vs React js on the basis of working with the framework, its technical aspects, popularity, and its pros and cons.
Let’s get straight to it.
Ask any developer and they will tell you that Angular & React are both great framework choices for frontend development. While the two don’t have much in common, what is it about these frameworks that makes choosing the right one anything but a cakewalk? Let’s scratch the surface a bit and dive into the nitty gritties of the Angular vs React debate.
React, also known as React JS, is a JavaScript library managed by Facebook utilized in interactive user interface development. The framework’s latest version was launched in 2019, but it has been around since 2013. React has its flexibility and ease of use to thank for its rapid adoption ranging from Social Networks to Ecommerce/Retail and Cross-Platform Mobile Apps.
Angular is an open-source type-script-based JavaScript framework, managed by Google and a team of Angular developers. There have been multiple versions of Angular js to date, however, the initial release goes way back to 2010. This client-side JavaScript Model Controller Framework is extensively used to build Progressive Web Apps (a perfect amalgamation of native mobile web apps), Dynamic Web Apps, and Enterprise Web Apps.
That’s Angular vs React js in a nutshell. So, what is it like working hands-on with these frameworks? Let’s find out.
If you like to go the basic way, then React is your thing. It is a minimalistic, simple, and no-fuss framework with a subtle learning curve. If you are someone who knows JavaScript well then it will be easy for you to find your way around the internal state management, components, and prop configurations in React.
However, there is no predefined project structure, so it might take quite some time to get used to for developers. Moreover, operating this framework emphasizes on developers having the knowledge of Redux library for state management and constant updates demand additional efforts too.
Steep. Time-consuming. Complex. These are the words that come to mind when it comes to Angular’s learning curve. As compared to its counterpart, Angular is a whole framework and hence its learning curve is related to the use of typescript, templates, and so on.
An ever-evolving framework, inclusive of a lot of components such as syntax and other complicated features and plugins which makes it inevitable to spend a great amount of time on learning all the intricacies. There are multiple ways of solving a single issue and the constant updation of the ecosystem also makes it mandatory for the developers to constantly stay at par with the latest versions.
React boasts of a robust community of almost a million sprawled across the web, of course, it being managed by Facebook helps. While the framework’s ever-evolving nature makes it difficult to document every little update, developers in this community swiftly adapt to the shifting dynamics, making it easier to reach out to them through thematic forums. Some popular names that make it to this million count are Netflix, Instagram, Walmart, Uber, Microsoft, and so on.
Angular, however, is often less admired by developers and faces skepticism owing to its over complicated features and constant updates that often fail regular documentation. Although what it lacks in popularity, it makes up in credibility with Google being the backbone of this framework and providing long-term support and reliability. It takes time to get totally hands-on with this framework but once you get it, this builds a loyal base. Despite this, Angular just like its peers is often chosen by business and tech giants such as Apple, Microsoft, HBO, Nike, Youtube, and of course, Google itself.
The architecture of React doesn’t have a fixed format for writing codes but the ones that are written using this framework are readable and well-structured with the component trees allowing developers to operate the codes dynamically.
Angular is a fixed format structure based on Modular and reusable architecture. Hence, both frameworks support component-based architecture.
A huge plus about React is that even its latest framework is totally compatible with all the preceding versions and even fully backs asynchronous rendering. Fun fact, this open-source framework is also registered under the MIT license with GraphQL and Jest.
However, the same is not the case with Angular. Angular 4 is backward compatible with the second version and above. Although Angular 2 is not compatible with AngularJS, that is one of its biggest disadvantages. And so React takes away the cherry in backward compatibility of Angular vs React js.
The recent versions of both React and Angular are almost at par when it comes to delivering robust performance. That being said, React is highly preferred owing to its virtual DOM that sheds a lot of load off the browser and lets users update without rewriting the whole code. Additionally, the unidirectional data-binding process ensures there is no unnecessary workload and assigned watchers.
On the other hand, Angular is far behind in this Angular vs React tussle despite recent improvements. Angular equips bi-directional data-binding, making the process complex and more cumbersome with each new binding. Even more so when it comes to building complex and dynamic web apps.
React is a library and Angular is a framework. Hence, if customization, real-time updates, and freedom to work with tools and libraries of your choices are what you look for then React is definitely more suitable for you. Angular enables limited flexibility, whereas React provides a plethora of tools, libraries, and huge architecture that doesn’t bind a skilled developer to perform within other frameworks. The developer is equipped to build customized applications from the beginning and hence the time to market is also reduced.
That’s all good but what about the technical aspects, you might think. Well, it’s time to analyze if these frameworks are really worth their salt.
When you synchronize the Model and View, that’s Data Binding. The real deal starts here. React adopts a unidirectional or one-way approach. Is that better than Angular then? It’s predictable and when augmented with Redux, it enables you to seamlessly work with immutable data making data flow unidirectional and debugging hassle-free. However, it’s not all sunshine, one of the biggest drawbacks of this approach is that it allows you to modify UI elements only when the model state is modified. It is most preferred for giant projects that demand a humongous amount of data development and coding hours.
Angular incorporates a bi-directional approach and works with mutable data. It’s definitely friendlier to work with as it modifies model state when even a single Ui component is tweaked slightly and vice versa. However, at the same time, it sometimes makes the process tiring by assigning watchers every step of the way.
So in Angular vs React, is it better to work with immutable data or mutable data? Well, that’s a debate for another day altogether.
React is all about Virtual DOM whereas Angular is more of a Real DOM framework. Well okay, but does that really make that big of a difference? For developers, it makes a difference between night and day.
DOM or Document Object Model is a lesser talked about but instrumental KPI for Angular vs React 2021. Basically, DOM is what organizes HTML, XML AND XHTML document formats into a tree. React utilizes Virtual DOM, making it a cakewalk for the developers to amend the tree without refreshing time and again. Thanks to their ever-evolving Fiber mechanism.
On the other hand, Angular utilizes Real DOM, so every time you make a small change, the entire tree is refreshed. This tends to slow down the process making development a perennial work in progress. However, to combat this obstacle, Angular uses change detection to identify and alter components, making it just as effective
The language utilized in the development framework plays a very crucial role in the project.
React is built on an amalgamation of JavaScript ES6+ and JSX Script. A syntax extension that makes the code resemble the one based in HTML. This not only makes it easier to grasp but also enables quick detection of any typos. Although, how do you compile this JSX code in the browser? For that Redux is augmented with a code translation tool, Babel.
Angular is compatible with both JavaScript or its superset TypeScript. TypeScript is more compact than the former and is essentially adopted for larger projects. Its seamless navigation makes code refactoring feel like a breath of fresh air.
When it comes to anything technology, how easily it adapts to updates tells you a lot. React allows a smooth transition from one version to another. However, it integrates a lot of third-party libraries in frontend development. These depend a lot on the migration of external libraries for third-party component up-gradation. Additionally, developers have to doubly ensure that these third-party libraries are in sync with the latest versions of the JS framework.
Angular boasts of an improved CLI that eases out the latest upgrade in Angular apps with its different components. On top of that, it is automated, enhancing the experience by reducing the development time to a bare minimum. Hence, when it comes to the ease of updating in Angular vs React, we have Angular for the win!
The ever-eminent debate of Angular vs React js takes an interesting turn when considered from a developer’s perspective.
React initially takes the longer route to incorporation and set up but gradually and quickly assists the developers with software development and project deliveries. Moreover, what it lacks in components like model and controller, it makes up for in allowing unabated access to react libraries to add new features.
Angular is straightforward to incorporate but often tends to delay the project delivery timelines and adding in coding hours owing to its steep learning curve and tons of dispensable elements.
React has an array of free as well as paid UI tools developed by the community on its portal. However, to avail these material design components, it is absolutely essential to install Material-UI Library and Dependencies.
Angular has an in-house toolset pre-built with a range of material design components consisting of ample pop-ups, layouts, forms, and buttons for the framework. Ultimately, this enables the developers to achieve more in less time.
React has it all in one place, templates, and logic at the end of components. So, even though the reader might not know the syntax, the meaning of the code is still easy to grasp.
In contrast, Angular has a directive of how each object has to be set, and hence each template is returned with an attribute. It is complex and sophisticated, so unless a developer has the know-how or any experience working with this technology, it’s complicated.
Documentation
React has an up-to-date documentation database, whereas Angular’s documentation is an ever-evolving process.
Angular vs React, who has the better code quality?
ESLint and DeepScan, these aren’t just some random words. These are the go-to tools for significantly elevating React code quality. How? ESLint is a tool that not just enables you to discover errors in the code but also fixes them for you. What’s more? You can also customize its functions and make it work according to your needs. Whereas DeepScan lets you spot run-time errors and quality issues.
Angular Style Guide is the holy grail for anyone who is looking for best practices to elevate Angular coding. One of the life-altering tools when it comes to Angular is Angular CLI. It lets you leverage your productivity by taking over mundane tasks such as creating a project and then linting your code. Hence, Angular fares better here.
More often than not, developers face the paramount challenge of their code serving redundancy. React JS codes function as an independent module, in turn enhancing the reusability life of a code by the developers. This is not just an effective solution to a developer’s most common nightmare but also a seamless way of code maintenance.
Angular is most suitable when it comes to single-page applications. Owing to their complex and dynamic programming modules, maintaining them while ensuring a rich UX app experience demands a framework that can handle such complex maintenance parameters. That’s where Angular saves the day, it lets you build a maintainable JavaScript and in scenarios where that’s not a possibility, the framework also provides an HTML extension.
Now, we know why developers say that both React and Angular are great picks for your projects. Though there’s always a favorite, the “it” thing on the block, so which is it?
Remember the popular kid back in school & college? Well, turns out the principle of popularity holds true for coding frameworks too! Hence, it is always wise to map which framework is talk of the town and why? While both React and Angular enjoy a loyal fanbase, an insightful stack overflow illustrates that as of last year, 35.9% preferred React JS with Angular coming in close at 25.1%. That’s not it, another recent notable study on frontend frameworks across parameters such as usage, satisfaction, interest, and awareness cites that 88% prefer React whereas only 42% prefer Angular.
It is safe to say that React scores the brownie points when it comes to popularity even when it comes to GitHub credibility with 168K stars in its repository. While Angular is still one of the most popular frameworks with 59.6K stars, it is often quite dreaded too due to its complex mechanisms.
It’s finally time to weigh in the pros and cons of these frameworks for real.
Minimal Coding
A huge plus when it comes to React is that it aids in creating stellar interactive and fully functional web applications without clocking in long hours for coding. The same is not the case when it comes to HTML Strings
The JSX Barrier
A syntax extension employed by React Js for blending HTML and JavaScript, the JSX Barrier is just as much of a disadvantage as it's a relief. From a developer’s perspective, this extension is often complex and hence puts the onus of a challenging learning curve on them.
It’s safe, it’s swift
Angular is literally ahead of its time owing to its one of its kind feature known as the “Ahead of time Compiler.” This enables exceptionally swift loading time and enhanced safety. Basically, it compiles all the HTML and Typescript into a JavaScript framework while the development process is going on. This enables the code to be compiled in the background even before your browser loads the web application.
SEO
One of the biggest letdowns when it comes to Angular is its poor SEO mechanism. Owing to it being a framework backed by Google, this faces a lot of criticism as it results in more efforts on the developer’s end, limited SEO options, and lower visibility as well as accessibility.
Wrapping it up, Angular vs React, which is better and what should you choose? React and Angular are both mature, holistic, and robust frameworks. There’s no better or worse. Although there are some parameters to keep in mind when making a choice. If you’re just beginning your developing journey, I recommend starting out with React and then gradually moving to other frameworks as you gain experience in the field. It’s simpler, minimalist, and lets you climb the ladder at your own pace.
A lot also depends on the size of your projects, while React is more preferred for large-scale projects owing to its Unilateral Data Binding, Angular works wonders for small projects with its Bilateral Data Binding. Although, both these frameworks are constantly being modified to be at par with competitors with new versions and newer features rolling out ever so often. Hence, it really is more of a matter of personal preference, project objectives, and developer skillsets.
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