There are a bunch of frameworks that could help you build your website, but choosing the right fit for you is crucial. Each framework has its own strengths and weaknesses that should be carefully considered before picking one for a particular web application.
Angular JS and React JS are two of the most popular frameworks used for building a website. Their comparison is a hot topic on the internet as well. Since they are both good at achieving their individual goals, it becomes harder for web app developers and entrepreneurs to choose one of these for their projects.
It is also worth mentioning that although there are a ton of JavaScript frameworks for developers to choose from, these two have stood out as the most popular and efficient frameworks. This obviously begs the question – Why?
To start with, we will go through a quick introduction of both the frameworks, followed by a detailed analysis and comparison between the two.
The chart below gives a brief idea about both the frameworks.
Angular JS
Actively supported by Google as well as a community of developers, Angular JS is a JavaScript web application framework originally created by Google.
The idea behind AngularJS was to pool popular and familiar patterns, components, designs, and development practices into one single framework. This outlook proved extremely helpful in addressing challenges encountered in developing a single page application.
To accomplish this, AngularJS supports consistent mechanisms such as models, views, controllers and services. This lead to angular making use of two very important software design patterns, namely Model View Controller (MVC) and dependency injection. This actually contributes in developing faster web applications with AngularJS.
Besides that, Angular makes use of several abstractions, paying attention to balancing modularity and complexity.
Pros:
- It is one of the most popular client-side library or framework for building user interfaces which are developed and used by Facebook.
- With React JS, you can organize your application around discrete components, with each handling its own rendering and state.
- Components can be nested within each other.
- React is fast because it minimizes the number of writes to DOM which is the slowest part of any client side application.
- The recommended way to write react code is by using JSX – an extension to JavaScript which presents components as HTML elements. JSX needs to be compiled to JS in order to work in browsers.
There is a considerable amount of debate on whether AngularJS or ReactJS is a smarter choice for front-end development. ReactJS and AngularJS are the robust development technologies. They are built on Javascript that clubs advancement and customization to develop advanced web applications.
Having discussed the basic features and properties you need to know about both frameworks, let us now get to the heart of the matter – Comparison between AngularJS and ReactJS. Both intend to solve similar front-end challenges, but with a difference in approach and philosophy.
AngularJS Vs ReactJS: Framework Against Library
Both these frameworks are here to stay with today’s technology ecosystem fuelling Mobile Apps and Web Apps. With the rising popularity of ReactJS and its ease of adoption, there is a significant rise in its implementation. However, AngularJS continues to be one of the top JavaScript Framework while ReactJS is yet to take the test of the time to handle websites that are of Medium to High complexity.
Prompt rendering and the presence of JSX is making ReactJS the resultant workflow stack as a highly impactful JavaScript framework. While picking up the right front-end application development technology depends upon the end user requirement, the below points will help one to make a conscious decision beforehand.
The primary difference between AngularJS and ReactJS lies in the state of its management.
Angular has data binding bundled in by default, whereas React is generally augmented by Redux to give unidirectional data flow and work with immutable data. Both are opposing approaches and there is no consensus on what is better: mutable/bi-directional data binding or an immutable/unidirectional one.
• Implementation
AngularJS is a framework that provides a large number of native options and features. It allows you to benefit from a number of options directly, which makes it possible to start a project faster without being intimidated by the choices to be made at the onset.
When comparing React JS Vs Angular JS, it is important to know that ReactJS is an open source JavasScript library. Hence, you need to add external component libraries to have the same number of features. You will need to add elements for “routing” to force unidirectional flows, to call APIs, set up tests, manage dependencies, and more.
• Data Binding
AngularJS uses a two-way data binding which connects the Document Object Model (DOM) values to model data. It means, if for user interaction with the field a new value is provided to the app it will result in the update of both the view and the model. In addition, it helps write less boilerplate code to include the interactions between components in your app. However, the two-way data binding approach has a negative impact on performance.
ReactJS supports one-way binding. It provides singular behavior for your application. The implementation of dependencies helps the singularity to separate from the classes and the risks of error can be minimized. Also, the one-way data flow in React helps to control the complexity. So, it’s much easier to debug the self-contained components of large React applications similar to larger Angular JS applications.
• Architecture
AngularJS is based on the MVVM (Model-View-View-Model). It comes with an exhaustive list of tools as well as features such as data link, change detection, forms, routing, navigation, HTTP implementation and many more.
React only covers the MVC (Model-view-Control) model, so you will have to use other libraries like Redux and Flux as a controller or react-router for navigation.
• Performance
Angular’s MVVM offers the advantage to reduce the loading speed of the web pages considerably. Further, the communication is in the asynchronous mode. It reduces the number of entrances to the server. Since the visual interface is on the client side, part of the back-end queries is removed. It improves the speed of designing web applications.
• Usage Stats Of Frontend Development Framework
ReactJS creates its own virtual DOM where components are attached. It brings the comfort of navigation within a web site since all the data get displayed without refreshing the page. Everything is then more fluid and fast!
Angular JS offers low performance with complex and dynamic applications. Also, virtual DOM enables faster performance of ReactJS apps than AngularJS apps for the applications of the same size.
• Dependency Injection
It is a software design pattern that helps in making components reusable, maintainable, and testable. AngularJS automatically finds the appropriate injected objects with parameters such as $routeParams, $filter, $store, and $scope. $inject and $provide are the two functions that make dependency injection possible in the AngularJS framework. However, the built-in container for dependency injection with React is missing. It is made possible by the inclusion of instrument modules, such as Browserify, RequireJS, ECMAScript 6 modules. It is one of the significant points of comparison between AngularJS and ReactJS.
• Directives And Templates
AngularJS has its directives to work on DOM. ng-bind or ng-app are some of the standard directives with Angular JS. Further, you can even create your directives as well. It is considered as one of the most powerful ways to work with the Dom. Also, to summarize, we can use directives, both standard and specific to bind DOM elements with AngularJS applications.
React does not offer any division into templates and directives or template logic. The template logic is required to be written in the template itself. React chooses to reinterpret all templates and the UI every time an event occurs.
• Scalability
With its intuitive design and powerful CLI, Angular is easy to scale. React is testable and therefore scalable compared to other frameworks like Vue.js.
Conclusion: Which Is Better – ReactJS or AngularJS?
In summary, AngularJS and ReactJS each have great support from their community and offer strong documentation although they have different philosophies on how application development is addressed.
Considering all the features mentioned above, we have tried to highlight the difference between React JS and Angular JS, though it is a hard choice to declare a clear winner as each one of them are good at what they do. Therefore, you should,
Choose ReactJS for your project if:
- You plan to expand the functionality of your application in the future
- You have dynamic content that changes your views or needs an app that will update the look simultaneously and constantly
- You agree with a slower initial phase of development
Choose AngularJS for your project if:
- You are in the inception phase of development. Also, if you wish to start application development, and require a holistic framework that will get you started quickly
- Seeking a robust and well-maintained framework for the project-range of any size
In short, if you are looking for flexibility and simplicity, it is better to use React.js. However, if you need the most efficient way to organize and boost your application with a complete tool, AngularJS remains your best solution.
References:
https://www.codementor.io/hello518/angularjs-or-reactjs-which-one-is-better-ko2f952d4
https://www.rishabhsoft.com/blog/reactjs-vs-angularjs
https://medium.com/unicorn-supplies/angular-vs-react-vs-vue-a-2017-comparison-c5c52d620176
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