Since its introduction back in 2009, Angular has become a reliable ally for front-end development projects around the world. Perhaps the reason for that happening is that this open-source framework was developed by Google with a focus on dynamic and modern web apps. Or it may be because front-end development with Angular provides lighter and faster apps.
In recent years, Angular has become a widely used framework, with around 30% of web developers saying they choose it on a regular basis for their work. And while it still isn’t a serious contender to the popular jQuery, the number of Angular development companies and professionals is growing steadily. It’s hard to pinpoint a reason why but maybe, just maybe, the following benefits might have something to do with it.
1 – It uses TypeScript
One of the biggest advantages of using Angular is that its applications are built using TypeScript, a Javascript superset. That’s a huge benefit since using that language allows Angular to use types (interfaces, primitives, etc.), which increase the security of the apps while helping identifying errors in the early stages of development.
TypeScript is also useful as it allows Angular developers to debug the code right in the browser or through an editor (provided that they have created map files during building). The language also comes with refactoring, auto-completion features, and improved navigation for more streamlined work.
Additionally, TypeScript is very useful when organizing code. This allows developers to easily reuse it and to encapsulate pieces of code into TypeScript modules. This, in turn, provides greater transparency to the whole application architecture, facilitating the development team’s work.
2 – It has a modular structure
Angular organizes components, directives, services or pipes into buckets, which can also be understood as modules. These make organizing the whole project a whole lot easier, as Angular development services can reuse pieces of code and features quickly and with virtually no effort. The reusability is the key to understanding why modules are so useful in Angular development.
By using them, developers avoid duplicate code, that could result in a more error-prone code and in more expensive maintenance of the resulting application. Additionally, modules compartmentalize the dependencies of the app, separating the responsibilities of its different parts. This is a fundamental approach to produce easily maintainable code.
Finally, Angular’s modular structure allows for the division of the development work across different developers or teams. That’s because each member or team can work in a specific module with the understanding that everything will come together at the end in a logically organized code. This results in an increase in productivity and quicker app development.
3 – It boasts code consistency
As any Angular web development company knows, consistent code is essential to avoid delays in development or an increase in development costs. That’s because consistent coding makes it easy to use templates and pre-written code snippets in the creation of apps and sites. Angular is based on components, which are independent interface elements that can be combined with one another.
Components are highly reusable, which ensures a smooth development process for the team since they can build the interface through the combination of various parts. Additionally, since they are independent, they simplify unit testing. Finally, components are easily replaceable with other implementations. This allows for more efficient code maintenance and a superior updating experience.
4 – It has a simplified MVC pattern
Angular offers a simplified Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. This is a software design pattern that’s commonly used to develop user interfaces. Its approach divides the program logic into 3 internal representations of information that are interconnected with one another. Using the MVC architecture decouples those major components, which paves the way for code reuse and parallel development.
The MVC version found in Angular doesn’t precisely follow those standards since it doesn’t ask for developers to build a code to unite the different MVC components. Rather, it only asks for the division of the app, while it takes care of the union itself. This eliminates the creation of unnecessary code which, in turn, ends up with less work for developers and faster and lighter apps with superior performance.
5 – It uses HTML to define the UI
HTML is one of the foundational blocks of the Internet. It’s one of the standard languages since it’s declarative and intuitive, very easy to learn and use. That’s the reason why Angular development uses HTML over Javascript to define the user interface of the applications. In a declarative user interface, the presentational logic is separated from the imperative logic. This frees the developers from worrying about the loading of the components to focus only on the layout of the page.
This saves significant development time since the team doesn’t have to decide what loads first and how the whole program flows. Instead, developers have to make it clear where the data is bound (and what it is being bound to). After that, Angular will take care of everything according to the input requirements.
6 – It’s very easy to test with it
One of the biggest benefits for Angular developers is that all websites and applications created with it are highly testable. That’s because the framework allows for unit testing and end-to-end testing, which makes the whole debugging process much easier. Since there’s module separation, developers can pick which services to load while performing automatic tests.
That’s not all. Angular comes equipped with different testing tools that provide easy methods to test an application. That way, developers can use Protractor for end-to-end testing and Karma for unit testing. Angular also includes Jasmine that’s capable of providing millions of ways to write tests and assertions. However, working with it can be difficult, so it’s only reserved for seasoned Angular developers.
Conclusions
All of the benefits described above should be enough to explain why more and more companies are going with Angular development outsourcing for their front-end development needs. Angular has proven to be a solid and powerful Javascript framework that’s very easy to work with and that’s capable of producing highly maintainable applications.
Besides all that, Angular development is supported by Google and a strong community of developers that keep that framework in tip-top shape. The combination of all those with the new features that are added regularly to Angular is what has turned it into the choice for millions of developers and the reason why you should check it out for your next development project.