Angular vs. AngularJS – Best Framework for App Development

In the current digital landscape, enterprises always keep exploring strategies and methods to stand ahead of their competitors.

Web and Mobile apps have become a necessary tool to enhance not only marketing and sales efforts but also customer interaction for a successful organization. To develop an enterprise-level, scaled, and user-friendly app, we need capable web development frameworks.

Angular and AngularJS are amongst the most popular JavaScript-based web frameworks available in the market.

Whether you are a business looking to swell your footprints via the launch of an app, or a software developer aiming to diversify into web application development, the debate between AngularJS and Angular must be of your interest.

Let us have a swift look at this blog to understand the basic commonalities and differences between Angular and Angular JS development.

Angular Framework – An Introduction

Angular is an open-source, Typescript-based front-end framework, primarily used to develop web applications. Front-end developers generally use frameworks such as Angular or React to manipulate and present the data and front-end components efficiently. Angular is generally denoted as Angular v2 or  Angular 2+ and beyond. 

Angular2 follows optional and core functionality as a repository of TypeScript libraries, and it uses various features of ECMAScript 6 that could be imported to your apps. Its architecture relies on certain crucial conceptions and scope.

Angular is comprised of basic building blocks, that are known as NgModules, which offer a compilation structure for directives and components. These NgModules assemble interconnected codes into a well-structured set. 

The latest version of Angular is more versatile and efficient than the older version. The Angular framework not only assures enhanced performance and smoothness, but it also comes with a unique angular CLI, that helps you to build projects efficiently.

Features of Angular

• It allows developers to use Cordova, Native Script, or Ionic approaches to build native web applications. 
• It utilizes contemporary web compatibility and policy to offer a native app-like performance, capabilities, and zero-step installation.
• It offers various command-line tools that help in testing and app deployment.
• Angular offers seamless Cross-Platform development capabilities, it allows developers to build progressive web applications (PWA).
• It develops User Interface views with simple yet powerful template syntax values.
• It enables developers to build high-performance and complex animations documentation and timeline using Angular’s in-built API.

AngularJS Framework – An Introduction

It is an open-source JavaScript framework that was developed and maintained by Google. We have a diverse community of Angular developers, who address challenges and build Angular JS documentation and solutions. 

AngularJS programming renders the highest simplifications and improvements to the complete development approach and constitution of JS coding.

AngularJS renders the code for MVVM (model view-view model) and MVC (model view controller) architecture, besides the other elements that are used in dynamic web technologies.

The latest version of AngularJS is 1.8.x. Since July 2018, the Angular JS development framework offers a long-term support model.

It is a massively popular framework, and it is a vital component of the front-end MEAN stack, which includes MongoDB, Express.JS, and Node.JS, along with Angular.JS itself.

Features of AngularJS

• It offers Controllers, which are JavaScript functions that are bound to a specific scope and case.
• It provides Data binding, which is a programmed synchronization of the data between model and view components.
• It presents various inbuilt services to cater to the project requirements. For example, it uses HTTP to build XML HTTP Requests.
• It offers Routing, which is a method of transferring views.
• It provides Directives, that act as markers on DOM foundations like data, attributes, CSS, elements, CSS, and more. It offers inbuilt directives such as ngModel and ngBind, which are used to develop customized HTML tags that may function as widgets. 
• It offers MVW(Model View Whatever), which is a pattern for unraveling the data application into different components (model, view, and controller). Each one has distinct properties and accountabilities. 

Read Also:- Angular vs React – Best JavaScript Development Framework?

Differences Between Angular and AngularJS

Here we have a few important differences between Angular vs AngularJS: 

Key Features	Angular	Angular JS
Architecture	It uses directives and components	It works on MVC (Model-View-Controller) design
Directives	Hierarchy of Components	Pack of directives
Language	The code is written in Microsoft’s TypeScript language	Here the code is written in JavaScript.
Mobile Support	Angular is mobile friendly and used to develop mobile applications	AngularJS code is not mobile-friendly
Scopes	It completely depends on the components	It is accessible to each object in the project
Expression syntax	[ ] and ( ) attributes are used for binding between model and view	{{ }} expressions are used for 2-way binding between model and view. It also supports special methods such as ng-bind for the binding purpose
Dependency Injection	It uses a hierarchical dependency injection system	It doesn’t use a dependency injection system
Data Binding	It offers 1-way Data Binding	It offers 2-way Data Binding
Routing	It uses @RouteConfiguration {(…)} to define the routing information	It uses @routeProvider.when ( ),for routing and configuration information.
Command Line Interface (CLI)	It is available	It is not available
Management	The angular code offers better structure, and it is quite easy to build and manage scaled Angular applications.	AngularJS project is slightly hard to manage with the increasing size of the source code.

Pros and Cons of Angular and Angular JS Framework

From the above comparison, we can learn that the JavaScript Angular JS framework usually simplifies the overall output of app development and offers absolute responsive project performance.

On the other hand, Angular comes with different versions, that allows developers to enlarge and support HTML syntax to direct the elements and component of apps eloquently.

We know that every technology or framework comes with its own set of Pros and Cons, the same applies to Angular and Angular JS.

Below we have listed some vital pros and cons of both the frameworks, that will help you to select the suitable one for your application development project requirements. 

Angular

Pros	Cons
The latest version of Angular ropes in TypeScript allows code optimization and code modularity using the OOPS methodology.	As far as setting up is concerned, the Angular2+ versions are way more complex than the Angular JS.
It offers end-to-end mobile support, that enables developers to build all types of mobile applications	Angular is not suitable if your objective is to build an output of modest web applications.
Angular supports changes for an improved hierarchical dependencies system along with modularity.	In Angular, directing a wide range of browsers is quite difficult as it doesn’t support all the properties of modern browsers. However, this can be compensated by loading Polyfill scripts for the browser you are planning to use.
It enables the developer to utilize the features such as TypeScript, Dart, syntax for type checking, ES5, Angular CLI, ES6, iterators, and lambda operators.	The learning curve of Angular is certainly steep as developers must learn and master TypeScript, which is a statically typed programming language. With the emergence of frameworks that allow rapid development, most of developers are not compatible with statically typed languages.
It adheres to a semantic versioning approach, that encompasses a major-minor-patch arrangement.	The much-talked-about Angular CLI (command-line interface) is highly preferred by the developers, but its documentation is not complete.

Angular JS

Pros	Cons
AngularJS utilizes MVC (Model-View-Controller) data binding, which ensures the development of high-performance applications.	AngularJS is not only vast but too much complicated due to its multiple methods of performing a similar function.
Angular JS allows unit testing and change detection at any point in time.	The scale of implementation of Angular JS is quite poor and rough, which is undoubtedly a major drawback.
It enables developers to use the declarative template language using HTML, which turns the entire solution more intuitive.	Once we disable the JavaScript of an AngularJS application, users get to see a basic page.
Angular JS is an open-source framework, that offers a well-structured front-end development process. It doesn’t need any other plugin or platform for app development.	The User Interface gets cracked up if we use multiple Angular JS apps at one time.
Developers and Users can run AngularJS apps on Android and iOS devices, including smartphones and tablets.	The application developers should be well versed with MVC architecture to use AngularJS.

Top Apps and Websites Built with Angular and AngularJS

Angular vs Angular JS – Use Cases

Angular and AngularJS both frameworks offer their own set of benefits and features. Google also develops and maintains both frameworks with finesse.

However, both Angular and Angular JS has a different type of use cases, based on the project and industry requirements.

Angular – Use Cases

Most people use Angular to develop both web and mobile-based SPAs (single-page apps) using TypeScript and HTML.

The Angular is your perfect choice for building solutions of discrete complexity, whether it is a small messaging app, a web store, an e-commerce store, or a news app, it will serve your requirements for front-end development tasks.

An Angular application can handle huge loads while demonstrating top-notch performance. Besides, it also makes the overall application development process handy and fuels your business with easy-to-use and customer-oriented apps.

Here are the most common use cases of Angular : 

• SPA (Single Page Applications) – SPAs are the most prevalent solutions for web app development. They offer an immaculate user experience to the customer as compared to conventional multi-page apps. Angular is a perfect choice for SPA development.
• PWA (Progressive Web Apps) – PWA apps are known for offline access and faster loading capabilities, and that’s why they are gaining massive popularity over the years. The angular framework offers the right set of features and capabilities to develop PWAs.
• Mobile Apps – Angular is undoubtedly the perfect framework for mobile apps development. You can blend Angular with Ionic or Native Script to build hybrid applications. The front-end code could be reused for web and mobile apps, which reduces the overall development effort, cost, and time.
• Enterprise Web Apps – It is a highly reliable framework for building complex and scaled enterprise web apps. Angular offers feature such as unified architecture, scalability, component reusability, and high security, that fulfill the requirements to build scaled enterprise-level applications.
• Animated User Interfaces – Angular is an excellent choice for the development of animated user interfaces for digital users. It offers you numerous modules and libraries to design animated UI elements, which ultimately enhance the user experience.

Angular JS – Use Cases

Front-end applications have become an instrumental tool to enhance customer interaction, win over the customers, and outclass competitors.

The uniqueness and features of AngularJS have made it the most suitable framework to build user-friendly apps with less effort in less time.

Angular JS is mostly used to develop SPAs (single page applications) with the help of reusable and modular code. Angular JS could be used along with various server-side languages like ASP, Php, and .Net.

Here we have common use cases for Angular JS : 

• SPAs and Mobile apps – Angular JS developers to build user-friendly and interactive single-page web and mobile apps. 
• e-commerce & m-commerce – Using Angular JS you can develop full-fledged m-commerce and e-commerce applications, that can function on both web and mobile platforms.
• Social Apps – Angular JS is equipped with the right set of features and tools to develop social applications. The mobile app of renowned social media platform “LinkedIn” is built with Angular JS.
• Video Streaming Apps – Angular JS could be used for the development of video streaming apps. Famous applications such as Youtube and Netflix are developed using Angular JS.
• Travel Apps – Angular JS comes with numerous dynamic features and libraries to build exceptional travel and tourism applications.
• Weather Apps – Angular JS offers a perfect blend of capabilities to develop weather applications. You can build weather apps that can offer higher performance and an extremely simple interface to the end-users. Weather.com is certainly the best possible example of a weather app developed using Angular JS.
• User-Review Apps – Nowadays, user reviews applications are getting highly popular. Customers are referring to such applications before making informed decisions. Angular JS is used to build such user-reviews applications. For example, the famous film review app GoodFilms is developed using Angular JS.

Angular vs AngularJS: Conclusion

When AngularJS was initially released, it gained massive popularity among developers and AngularJS development organizations for its ability to build responsive web applications and in-built features such as 2-way binding and highly responsive designs. 

On the other hand, Angular is a perfect alternative for building complex and scaled applications. Google has also shifted to TypeScript to enhance the code maintainability and overall performance of the apps.

Angular is undoubtedly the framework for the future, and it has now geared toward the development of enterprise-level apps.

If you go by the list of advantages, then selecting Angular over AngularJS seems to make perfect sense. However, you must also consider the steep learning curve for using Angular.

If you are planning to develop a straightforward app development, then AngularJS can make development easier and faster. But if you are planning to build a complex and scaled app, then Angular must be your obvious option.