Angular Development
Angular is an open-source, JavaScript framework written in TypeScript. Google maintains it, and its primary purpose is to develop single-page applications. As a framework, Angular has clear advantages while also providing a standard structure for developers to work with. It enables users to create large applications in a maintainable manner.
Why Angular?
JavaScript is the most commonly used client-side scripting language. It is written into HTML documents to enable interactions with web pages in many unique ways. As a relatively easy-to-learn language with pervasive support, it is well-suited to develop modern applications.
But is JavaScript ideal for developing single-page applications that require modularity, testability, and developer productivity? Perhaps not.
These days, we have a variety of frameworks and libraries designed to provide alternative solutions. With respect to front-end web development, Angular addresses many, if not all, of the issues developers face when using JavaScript on its own.
Features of Angular
1. Document Object Model
DOM (Document Object Model) treats an XML or HTML document as a tree structure in which each node represents a part of the document.
Angular uses regular DOM. Consider that ten updates are made on the same HTML page. Instead of updating the ones that were already updated, Angular will update the entire tree structure of HTML tags.
2. TypeScript
TypeScript defines a set of types to JavaScript, which helps users write JavaScript code that is easier to understand. All of the TypeScript code compiles with JavaScript and can run smoothly on any platform. TypeScript is not compulsory for developing an Angular application. However, it is highly recommended as it offers better syntactic structure—while making the codebase easier to understand and maintain.
3. Data Binding
Data binding is a process that enables users to manipulate web page elements through a web browser. It employs dynamic HTML and does not require complex scripting or programming. Data binding is used in web pages that include interactive components, such as calculators, tutorials, forums, and games. It also enables a better incremental display of a web page when pages contain a large amount of data.
Angular uses the two-way binding. The model state reflects any changes made in the corresponding UI elements. Conversely, the UI state reflects any changes in the model state. This feature enables the framework to connect the DOM to the model data through the controller.
4. Testing
Angular uses the Jasmine testing framework. The Jasmine framework provides multiple functionalities to write different kinds of test cases. Karma is the task-runner for the tests that uses a configuration file to set the start-up, reporters, and testing framework.
Angular Architecture
Angular is a full-fledged model-view-controller (MVC) framework. It provides clear guidance on how the application should be structured and offers bi-directional data flow while providing real DOM.
The following are the eight building blocks of an Angular application:
1. Modules
An Angular app has a root module, named App Module, which provides the bootstrap mechanism to launch the application.
2. Components
Each component in the application defines a class that holds the application logic and data. A component generally defines a part of the user interface (UI).
3. Templates
The Angular template combines the Angular markup with HTML to modify HTML elements before they are displayed. There are two types of data binding:
Event binding: Lets your app respond to user input in the target environment by updating your application data.
Property binding: Enables users to interpolate values that are computed from your application data into the HTML.
4. Metadata
Metadata tells Angular how to process a class. It is used to decorate the class so that it can configure the expected behavior of a class.
5. Services
When you have data or logic that isn’t associated with the view but has to be shared across components, a service class is created. The class is always associated with the @Injectible decorator.
6. Dependency Injection
This feature lets you keep your component classes crisp and efficient. It does not fetch data from a server, validate the user input, or log directly to the console. Instead, it delegates such tasks to the services.
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