What is the difference between Angular vs AngularJS? AngularJS is the most primitive version of Angular that was developed by Google and is one of the oldest front-end frameworks for building SPAs. However, Google recently dropped support for AngularJS which makes Angular the obviously better choice out of the two. However, there are still some projects that use AngularJS and it can be helpful to understand the differences between the two in case you wish to migrate to Angular.
Let’s compare Angular and AngularJS on some common factors to understand how they’re different from each other.
One vital distinction between Angular vs AngularJS is AngularJS is JavaScript-based while Angular is TypeScript based. That means you need to use Typescript in Angular to create applications. Typescript is a typed superset of JavaScript. It has several advantages such as self-documenting code, development time type checks etc. Hence an Angular application is more robust than an AngularJS application. The former is also more likely to be free from type errors in production. However, Typescript being a more evolved version of JavaScript also presents a steeper learning curve. Migrating from AngularJS to Angular might not be as straightforward and simple especially if you’re not familiar with Typescript beforehand.
But what more does it mean when one framework is JavaScript-based while the other uses TypeScript? We can see the difference in their Components. The TypeScript that Angular uses are a superset of ES6, which has backward compatibility with ES5. AngularJS, based on JavaScript, uses terms of scope and controllers while Angular uses a hierarchy of components. Angular is component-based while AngularJS uses directives.
While both Angular and AngularJS use Directives, how they use them makes the difference. Angular has standard Directives while AngularJS has a pack of them. One has to be cautious while using the Directives. For instance, when you want to create a two-way binding in AngularJS, you will have to use the ng-model. For one-way binding, you will use ng-bind.
In Angular, you will find only the ngModel. You can use the symbols for one-way binding as:” [],” and two-way binding as:” [()].” “[]” is for property binding, while “()” is for event binding.
AngularJS has a model-view-controller (MVC) that acts as the central component as it manages data, logic, and rules, and expresses how the applications behave. SPAs around the time when AngularJS was heavily used were mostly based on the MVC architecture. Here’s what the MVC architecture actually means:
Model: The model is where the management of all data is stored.
View: The view generates the output after reviewing the information in the model.
Controller: The controller receives the input and converts it to commands which it sends to the model and view.
Angular uses components that are directives with templates. There are two kinds of directives in Angular.
Structural directives alter the DOM’s layout by replacing its elements.
Attributive directives change how the DOM behave and the appearance of the element.
It’s interesting to note that Angular’s architecture is completely different from AngularJS architecture. If you’ve made UI and logical abstractions in your AngularJS application, it might be a little easier for you to translate them into Angular components later on. Also, Angular supports the more popular and robust component-based architecture that all modern front-end frameworks adopt.
AngularJS does not provide mobile support while Angular supports mobile.
AngularJS uses a two-way data binding feature ultimately reducing the development time and efforts. However, this had a downside in the performance and speed of the production application.
Angular on the other hand upgraded to a better structure of the same two-way data binding, which provides improved performance and speed for the production application.
By default AngularJS applications used either AngularJS locally by importing the minified source code inside a project or through a CDN. There was no proper tooling or a CLI-based boilerplate available for AngularJS. You had to set up any build tools manually with the help of third-party tools such as IDE and WebStorm.
On the other hand, Angular uses the Command Line Interface (CLI) to reduce the time when creating and scaffolding applications. The CLI would also help you generate Angular builds, test your Angular components, and also generate Angular components with a basic boilerplate. It definitely enhances the developer experience since the tooling simplifies and automates a lot of steps for you.
Most of Angular’s core functionality moved to various modules that created a lighter and a faster core.
There is a combination of asynchronous templates and added support for reactive programming.
This compilation helps convert the HTML and TypeScript into JavaScript during the build time process. AOT compiles the code and the browser loads the compiled code for faster rendering.
Command Line Interface helps to create and serve angular applications. It takes care of project building and makes testing more accessible.
This helps to divide the functional and logical components.
Angular uses unidirectional change detection. Rather than using directives like AngularJS use, Angular makes use of Hierarchical Dependency Injection to boost the framework’s performance significantly.
Although Angular is written in TypeScript, it also has other language choices such as ES5, ES6, and Dart, used for writing codes.
The Angular framework has a simple path. It can interpret a URL as a directive to navigate to a client view.
Despite the differences between Angular and AngularJS, they each have their benefits.
Google now officially only maintains Angular, so it has extensive community support. Support for AngularJS by the community is limited since it’s no longer officially supported by Google. If you have an AngularJS application, it’s a good time to start migrating it to Angular for creating dynamic applications for both web and mobiles using TypeScript and HTML.
As newer versions of Angular are launched, the Angular team has also made it really easy to migrate and upgrade to more modern versions of Angular. You can find the complete update guide on their official documentation.
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