Today, no successful business can do without web development. It is necessary to create large-scale projects that require continuous improvement of the user experience. In app development, you cannot do without the main tool – a framework – software that allows you to simplify the process of creating and assembling a variety of modules (parts) of one software project.
We offer you to evaluate all the advantages and disadvantages of the 2 most relevant technologies – Angular and React.
Defining Angular and React
Both technologies are JavaScript-based.
React framework
The React framework is a massive JavaScript library. With its help, all the elements of the interactive user interface are created. React helps to significantly reduce the amount of time spent, and minimize the risk of errors.
The library is equipped with two essential functions that contribute to the rapid creation of an efficient technological system:
- JSX – DOM manipulation tool;
- virtual DOM – in addition to the properties of a realistic loophole, it has qualities that contribute to a significant increase in site performance.
Facebook introduced React Native in 2015. It can be used to create applications for mobile devices on Android, IOS, and UPD. Wide functionality and many internal systems contribute to the improvement of the user interface.
The code is structured independently and fragments of it can be reused. Unlike JavaScript itself, React does an isolated job of returning HTML code through rendering. In the main root component, child units are installed, which together form a whole “tree”.
Good React Specialist
First, you need to decide on the application itself, its goals, scale, and other qualities. This will affect the cost of the job, the tools needed, and the time taken. Before hiring React native developers it is necessary to assess all the skills of the candidate. In addition to the above abilities of an Angular specialist, he must have:
- knowledge of all React.JS tools;
- experience in unit testing;
- specialization in designing with Flux and libraries (MobX, Fluxxor, Redux, etc.).
It is also important that the specialist has an understanding of Bower, Gulp, Grunt, BootStrap, etc.
Angular
Angular is a framework introduced by Google in 2009. The core value of the technology is to create the perfect client application. But like its predecessor AngularJS, it is only intended for single-page systems. In all other respects, this framework is an absolutely new technology, unlike either its progenitor or other tools.
After installing Angular, there is no need to download additional programs. It is a complete organism with a full range of functions. It has two-way binding, which allows the components to be changed in one part after they are written in the other.
The main difference of the framework is its foundation – the TypeScript programming language. Main advantages:
- FormControl – used to embed an unlimited number of forms and their inclusions;
- quick setup of routing;
- easy process of sending different types of HTTP requests;
- Rxjs and AngularCLI are provided for creating data exchange channels;
- parallel launch of components, which helps to save financial resources and time for application development.
Node.js is used to maintain reliable interconnections of all components. It also allows you to replace any components during development. And testing of the unit and end-to-end type with add-ons Protractor and Jasmine make it easy to assess the quality of the elements of the developed application.
Powerful and practical Angular framework is used everywhere for web application development.
Good Angular Specialist
Skills that an Angular professional should have:
- deep knowledge of JavaScript and code in general;
- skills in HTML, CSS, REST API, and markup languages;
- understanding of UX design, placement of systems and their interaction;
- understanding how to simplify work on processes using Node, Webpack
- attention to detail;
- stress resistance;
- skills of finding and correcting errors in already written code.
A professional will be able to explain all the advantages and disadvantages of the tool before starting work, and will also help you make the right choice.
Choosing: Angular vs React
Each JavaScript framework has its own advantages and disadvantages, so when developers are faced with a choice of which one is best, they should take the matter seriously. Learn Angular and React thoroughly before getting started.
For example, the latter is not intended for creating web applications; it is used to create characteristics of components for internal representations. Angular is the main platform for creating multidisciplinary applications of any complexity, which includes additional modules.
Differences
On the question of which framework is better, the opinion of the developers was divided. To say unequivocally – it is impossible, that both technologies are convenient for their purposes. Both technologies have undergone changes since their release, each wanting to provide a wider range of options to meet the needs of web development professionals.
React has a database of more than 100,000 codes, as well as about 300 ready-made solutions. You can connect to it all sorts of functionality that will help you make a powerful and multi-level application. Angular has 1800 ready-made solutions, a wireframe structure, and takes up a lot of disk space. Other differences:
- Angular does not provide the ability to connect additional components, unlike the library, and most of the existing functionality may not be useful at all;
- statistical typing is the main helper in error detection at compile time, which is available only in Angular, and in React it is available only at runtime;
- the library is suitable for small applications with a small set of functions, while Angular is ideal for massive and powerful projects;
- when it comes to corporate support, React is second to none, it has a whole community to support developers, in which you will always have answers to any questions;
- React is very difficult for beginners to master, it is much more difficult to understand the basics, so you should start by learning Angular;
- in the library data is passed from top to bottom only one-way, in Angular – in two-way, which is more convenient for development, for example, the component is linked inside the text itself with tags and other attributes.
Regarding control, React provides a special Redux system with the ability to deliver a data stream, and in the framework, the system initially has all the information bound.
Nuances of choice
Before choosing a tool, the following nuances should be considered:
- Requirements of the project. If it doesn’t require a serious application, opt for React, and if you need a larger project, opt for Angular. This will help you avoid wasting time and resources.
- Financial expenses. In order to exclude increased consumption, you should initially think over the entire project, and only after that start choosing a tool. Similarly, when organizing events, selecting the right service, such as conference photography, can greatly enhance the overall experience and ensure the event is captured professionally.
- Project start time. If the project requires an urgent launch, you should not start development in Angular, and vice versa, if time permits, you should choose the framework. It will save your budget and make your application more functional.
- Security. The technology must be secure for both the user and the server. For example, it might contain special tests for checking threats or other scan components.
- Availability of resources. Before choosing a tool, make sure you can take advantage of all the resources available.
Even after the integration of the application, it will continue to consume resources, both physical and material. Continuous maintenance and possible modifications continue throughout the entire period of operation.
Popularity
Also, before choosing a technology, it is worth looking at its popularity. According to reseаrch over the past year, Angular has received about 31 stars per day and has over 1,400 contributors, and 21,500 commits on Github. Whereas React has more than 51 stars every day over the past 12 months, and the number of contributors remains at the same level. The number of commits on Github is only 14,000.
Rating is not so important when choosing, but it should not be ignored.
Front-end developer
Front-end developers carry out the full work on the creation and implementation of the functionality. They use coding skills, UX and UI graphic design, etc.
The specialist must have an idea of all technologies and understand the essence of the entire project. This will help to correctly estimate the required time for the implementation of the latter and calculate the budget.
Conclusion
A lot of technologies have been created for business development. Frameworks, libraries, programming languages, and other tools are impressive in their variety. We analyzed the two most popular of them, and compared their advantages and disadvantages, properties and characteristics, performance and functionality. Before making a decision, study the technology in detail, determine the goals of its application, and also present the desired result. Both systems are popular among web developers and are applicable to many tasks. We hope that all of the listed tips were helpful to you.
Featured Photo by luis gomes