Is Reactjs killing Angular?
Ask any Web application developer today their favourite tool and you are bound to receive an answer that will slot them in one box or another. If you are a Web application developer and are reading this, then you already know which side of the fence you sit on. You either are a ReactJS warrior or an Angular Samurai. Though both are great instruments for writing single-page and complex mobile applications, their similarities end there. The two tools are different and comparing them would be like comparing apples to oranges because fundamentally, ReactJs is a library, and Angular is an MVC framework. That brings us to our next question. Does it really make a difference? If you were to work on a pre-defined set of codes missing just the business logic, you are better off using a Framework since it’ll manage multiple boilerplate codes. However, if you would use a Library you get to work on a set of functions developed and assorted together which you can import into your application and call at your disposal.
The biggest distinction lies in state management. Angular comes with in-house data-binding bundled in, whereas React is usually expanded by Redux to provide unidirectional data flow and work with immutable data. Also, Angular adopts TypeScript for web app development, and React follows one of the most popular languages, i.e., JavaScript.
Performance:
Angularjs uses Regular DOM to detect the change and to determine which component needs updates. The whole structure is updated even if there is a simple change in the code. React uses a Virtual DOM that helps to increase general speed and application’s performance. When one change is done, it updates only specific elements and doesn’t influence the other parts. It’s considered to be faster than Regular DOM.
Component-based routing in-built in angular lets components to accomplish their own sub-routes instead of having one big global router structure. This is finally made possible in Reactjs with react-router 4.Flexibility:
Popularity:
Over the years react and angular communities have grown exponentially. Let’s look at some stats that show which of them is more popular on different platforms. Reactjs is the most popular and most downloaded library when compared to Angular on NPM Trends
Migration:
Angularjs updates are sent every six months ad gives the developers another six months before deprecating any major APIs. DEvelopers get about six months to make the necessary changes to their code. The upgrades in React come as versions and it is more accessible when compared to Angularjs. React-codemod and similar scripts assure you seamless migration from one version to another and provide stability.
Ease of Learning:
Both Angularjs and Reactjs need extensive knowledge of Javascript and experience to make decisions concerning third-party libraries. Huge community support has made Angularjs and Reactjs easy to understand and develop complex front-end code structure. Angular provides precise information to the developers to quickly fix the issues in app development. Reactjs Docs has a clear explanation regarding the updated versions of Reactjs and guidelines for new developers.
Also Read: Why ReactJs Is The Future For Developers
Framework Size:
Reactjs being a library is approximately around 100 KB in size is suitable for light-weight applications. Angularjs, on the other hand, is suitable for complex heavyweight applications and
has a size of around 500 KB. Angularjs empowers developers by providing a wide range of features from structuring to testing.
Speed of Development:
Configuring an app is faster if the number of libraries available to the developer is more and so to build a web app with angular is much faster than that of building it on Reactjs as you might have to match with different libraries to get the desired result. Having said that, Reactjs makes up for this by having a flexible architecture that can scale easily.
Real-World Applications:
Angular is a framework developed by Google and been used by some of the biggest application-rich companies. PayPal, Upwork, Freelancer, Telegram, and many more well-known companies use Angularjs. These businesses have security and a large number of functionalities that run smoothly with a robust framework. ReactJs was developed by Facebook and provides a library that does the work of a functionality-rich framework. Instagram, Netflix, Whatsapp, Airbnb are some of the apps that use Reactjs.
How to decide when to choose React and when to choose Angular?
Choosing Angular is good for you when
❖ App size needs to be regulated. Bundle Budgets in CLI options tell the developer if the app size is exceeding the predefined size.
❖ Your application is a large-scale functionality-rich application.
❖ You and your team are familiar with Typescript, Java, and C# concepts and have experience with previous versions of Angularjs.
❖ The app needs to be highly productive and you are willing to embrace ready-to-use solutions.
❖ The application is not that complex.
React is the right pick for your project when
❖ An application needs numerous components that involve variable states, dynamic inputs, user logins, access permissions, buttons enabled/disabled.
❖ Components are needed to be shared multiple times in the same application and with multiple applications.
❖ Your team has a great understanding of HTML, CSS, and Javascript
❖ You need customized app-specific solutions.
❖ You are willing to spend some time on pre-development preparation.
Conclusion:
In my opinion, Reactjs is not killing Angular as at a corporate level Angularjs is still in high demand. Surely the user base for Reactjs has increased immensely but this doesn’t make angularjs an obsolete concept. In the end, it all comes down to personal preferences and requirements of the application.
