Angular Vs. React: Decoding All the Distinct Characteristics

Even if you are a newbie to coding, you should have probably heard about “JavaScript – not only once or twice. Basically, JavaScript is designated as the programming language of web development and mobile app development. It is one of the three pillar languages all web developers must learn, including HTML (for content), CSS (for layout), and JavaScript (for behavior).

The conclusion of the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2022 indicates that JavaScript is the most used language for the 10th year straight, with 65.36% of respondents acknowledging using it. JavaScript is also included in the top 20 focal players in the world of programming languages, according to PYPL.

There are numerous web technologies that you can make use of to build your own JavaScript components. However, React – a JavaScript library – and Angular – a JavaScript framework – are the most popular duo out of many other JS libraries and frameworks.

If you surf the Internet, you may get drowned by a sea full of articles and comparisons about whether React or Angular is better. This comparison is distinctive, not like any other that you can find everywhere. To be specific, this is a rundown of the differences between these two platforms. After this article, you can not only gain the baseline of them but also make up your mind with an informed decision between them.

What Is Angular? - The Referred Complete Framework

Angular is a TypeScript-based web application development framework, which is open-source and free, maintained by Google. Back in 2010, it was first released as AngularJS. The framework then underwent a complete rewrite, and the sequel was rolled out as Angular 2 in 2016. During this renovation, there was a shift in programming languages from JavaScript (Used by AngularJS) to TypeScript (the current Angular). Since then, the Angular framework has been frequently updated with new versions released once every six months until now, making it a future-proof JavaScript framework.

Among JavaScript frameworks, Angular stands out from the rest for its high performance, scalability, and modularity. It is often recommended for building large-scale applications.

Overall, Angular is characterized by the following features:

Component-based Architecture

Angular has a component-based architecture that helps divide the overall UI into individual and reusable components. Angular’s components are part of modules, which are logical and functional units of the code. Components in Angular consist of a template (HTML) and a class (TypeScript) that controls the logic.

MVC Model

Angular adheres to the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture pattern. So, Angular developers are equipped with a comprehensive suite of tools for building dynamic single-page applications (SPAs).

Angular Command Line Interface or Angular CLI

Angular CLI, which is a powerful command-line interface, allows you to create projects, generate components and services, run tests, and build for production with just one command.

Dependency Injection

This is a core feature of Angular, allowing developers to remove hard-coded dependencies among objects, make them more modular, and make them easier to manage, test, and maintain. Developers can create dependencies - services or objects that a component depends on - and inject/pass them into components. In this flow, they can keep their component classes lean and efficient.

Two-way Data Binding

In essence, this feature facilitates real-time two-way data synchronization between the model and the view. It means any alteration made to the model is reflected in the view automatically and vice versa. Thanks to this, the development process is much simplified as there is no need for reloading pages for changes and coding manual data updates.

Directives

Briefly, it is one among many Angular built-in support features that enable developers to manipulate the DOM (Document Object Model - the structure of web pages) in a straightforward, interesting way: Changing the appearance and behavior of HTML elements, adding or removing components from DOM, or modifying forms’ structure.

Material Design

Angular Material provides a suite of pre-built Material Design components that can help you create appealing, consistent, and functional web pages and apps while abiding by modern web design principles like device independence, graceful degradation, and progressive enhancement.

What Is React? - A JavaScript Library

React, or ReactJS actually refers to the same term – an open-source JavaScript library prominently used for user interface (UI) and single-page app development on both mobile and the web. It was introduced in 2013 as an open-source project by Facebook, now known as Meta. This front-end versatile JavaScript library is continuously being maintained and updated up to the current state by this tech giant and the community of developers behind it.

React makes it easier to create responsive and dynamic SPAs by breaking the entire application into small, reusable parts called components. React components model enables developers to build a more modular and reusable codebase that is easy to maintain while also allowing for faster development cycles.

As a slight digression, React Native is an app development framework built based on React. It is a reliable one for building native mobile development using JavaScript and React components. Derived from React, React Native shares very similar syntax and principles, such as virtual DOM utilization, component-based architecture, etc. You can think of it as a part of React, but instead of targeting the browser, it targets mobile platforms.

The key features of React include:

Virtual DOM

Virtual Document Object Model (DOM) is a lightweight copy of a real DOM – where all HTML elements are stored in trees that browsers use to represent web pages. React creates and manages a virtual DOM, which is more efficient than updating the real DOM. This performance enhancement allows developers to build complex, dynamic user interfaces without worrying too much about slow page speeds.

JSX (JavaScript XML) Syntax

React uses a syntax called JSX. As such, React developers can write HTML-like code directly into their JavaScript. This syntax makes it easier to work with dynamic UIs and components, as well as promoting better code readability.

Functional Components

Unlike Angular with class components, React offers stateless or presentational components. The term is a bit confusing, but the main idea behind functional components is that they do not have a state and are incapable of having state changes hooked into them. These are relatively simple components used to present data passed in as props from other components.

One-way Data Binding

React implements the downward data flow – refers to the convention in which data is passed from parent components down to their child components. Each component owns its state and properties (props). When designing a React app in the traditional data flow, parts of the state known as props are passed into one component by its parent. This allows child components to use inherited data but is unable to modify it as low is unidirectional in React.

XSS Protection

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) is a security vulnerability type enabling attackers to inject malicious scripts into web pages viewed by other users. XSS attacks occur when an application includes untrusted data in a new website page without proper validation or escaping. React has built-in protection against XSS attacks.

Server-Side Rendering (SSR)

Server-Side Rendering (SSR) is a technique often utilized in web development in order to render web pages on the server rather than in the client’s browser. With JavaScript frameworks like React, SSR can be accomplished using Node.js. This means you can use React to render UI components in their initial state on the server, which are then sent to the client and become interactive.

Lightweight Library

React is a relatively small library and does not add any additional rules or layers to the code. This means developers can easily integrate React into an existing project without worrying about compatibility issues.

Angular Vs. React: A Fair Evaluation

Front-end development has seen a massive shift over the years with the introduction of various popular frameworks and libraries. Still, Angular and React are trusted ones that first pop up in most developers’ minds when we think of front-end web development, and it is no surprise.

Commonalities

Before going into how these two differ from one another, it is necessary to clarify their similarities first. After all, they both have the same goal in mind – to help developers build dynamic and interactive user interfaces.

Both are open-sourced and written in JavaScript and can be used with other JavaScript frameworks and external libraries. Angular and React utilize component-based architecture, which involves breaking down an application into smaller, reusable web components. This lets developers build complex user interfaces while keeping the code organized and maintainable.

Another likeness of these two is having vast communities of users, active forums, tutorials, and documentation available online. Advantageously, it is easier for software developers when they create React apps or conduct an Angular project but need help.

Last but not least, React and Angular offer server-side rendering (SSR) capabilities. This allows developers to generate web applications on the server instead of solely relying on client-side rendering. SSR improves initial page loading times, which has a significant impact on user experience.

Key Differences

Now, it is high time to scrutinize all the parameters that set Angular apart from React and vice versa.

Types

Tangibly, their nature. Angular is a full-fledged MVC (Model-View-Control) framework that provides a robust set of tools to developers for building complex, data-driven applications.

React, on the other hand, is merely a library, not a framework. It covers only the View part in MVC, and developers need an external library or more for controllers and models.

Programming Languages

TypeScript - which is a statically typed superset of JavaScript - is the mainstream language for Angular, whereas React is written in JavaScript ES6+ combined with JSX script.

Purpose

Angular is a feature-rich framework designed for developing dynamic web applications, while React is a JavaScript library geared towards building user interfaces.

Data Binding

As mentioned earlier, Angular uses two-way data binding, which means any changes in the model are reflected in the view and vice versa. React implements unidirectional data flow only.

DOM Manipulation & Performance

Angular manipulates the real DOM, meaning it updates the entire tree whenever there is a change in data. Meanwhile, React uses virtual DOM and only renders what has changed, making it more efficient. Due to this difference, Angular can be slower in performance compared to React when handling large databases.

Learning Curve

React is relatively easier to pick up for developers with a background in JavaScript. Angular, on the other hand, requires familiarity with TypeScript and can have a steep learning curve for beginners.

GitHub Ratings

Currently, React has a higher number of stars (215k) than Angular does (90.9k). These figures once again affirm the React as well as Angular advantages and indicate the popularity of both.

A Partner Can Handle Both React & Angular with Solid Experience

Hopefully, this comparison has taken you to where it is easier to make a decision. Nevertheless, it is possible to keep your options open and reach out for further community support or aid from a trusted partner. This party plays the role of a specialist and, at the same time, a consultant to advise on technical fronts.

To be appropriate for such an important role, the partner should have a strong hold on both technologies and be aware of their specifics. Also, look for a team that has developed multiple projects with React and Angular and look into their portfolio to see how they have successfully executed similar projects. Consider hiring a partner that can handle both so you remain flexible in case the need to switch technology arises after some time.

By all those, you are referring to Orient Software. Why trouble with your choice any longer? Come to us, and we’ll help you out. Contact us now for further discussion.