Angular Development and All Its Versions Are Described

Angular is one of the most in-demand JavaScript frontend frameworks for building dynamic web applications. After the first version of a platform was launched in October 2010, nearly 370,612 websites were developed with its help, as reported by AngularJS News. Another version of Angular software, which was released in September, has brought on mixed reactions since the framework underwent significant changes. Though, no matter how the Angular developers take these modifications, they have to get accustomed to them, if they still want to use Angular web development for building web and mobile applications. As from now on the creators of Angular are planning to launch major releases every six months. Here we are to describe and compare all the versions of Angular and highlight all features of each and how to Angular developers for hire.

AngularJS Development: Framework Landscape

To not take your precious time on the well-known framework globally, we just created a bright and interesting infographic with everything you need to know about AngularJS software development. Check it out below.

Top facts about Angular and Angularjs 5 developer salary

Angular 2: Things to Get Used to

The second major version of AngularJS web application development framework aims at gradual transitioning from using MVC (Model-View-Controller) software design pattern and switching over to the tree-like component-based architecture. Among other modifications in Angular 2, developers have to get used to and might have difficulties with, are the following:

  • Angular 2 is TypeScript-based, which doesn’t mean, that JavaScript won’t work with the new version, though with all its benefits TypeScript is considered to be really useful for developers.
  • Unlike in AngularJS app development, here modules, components and directives are declared by decorator functions, such as @NgModule, @Component, @Directive. Json is taken as a parameter for it.
  • Usual *ngFor (ng-repeat in Angular 1) doesn`t work until the BrowserModule is connected in the ‘module imports’ section.
  • Using Ui-router in Angular 2 can lead to bugs in the application. That is why, it is preferable to use the usual Angular 2 router – @angular/router that works fine, still with some nuances. Routes are created by using functions RouterModule.forRoot (routes) when routes are an array of objects. There are two functions forRoot and forChild in application and the first one is obligatory.
  • Besides, if one creates a state with child states, it automatically becomes abstract. For rendering the state after getting data, a class must be written which will implement an interface Resolve. In this class there must be a method resolve, the method must return an Observable or Promise or any type of data. If the method returns Promise as a catch or false, the state will not be rendered.
  • One has to be careful not to use simple HTTP, as may be offered by the IDE. It won’t work, since the module has dependencies connected to HttpModule (native HTTP module). In order to create request headers, we can use a class RequestOptions. HTTP returns data in Observables and not in a Promises as Angular JS development.

Angular 2 Applications

Even though it’s been only a few months since the release of the second version of Angular, there are now a lot of Angular 2 applications, and the framework powers a number of Google projects and web applications of various companies as well:

Microsoft Angular 2 applicationMicrosoft Azure Functions

Google Fiber Angular 2 applicationGoogle fiber

NPR One Angular 2 applicationNPR One

Lucidchart Angular 2 applicationLucidchart

DoubleClick Angular 2 applicationDoubleClick

CapitalOne Angular 2 applicationCapitalOne

Google AdWords Angular 2 applicationGoogle AdWords

Fidelity Investments Angular 2 applicationFidelity Investments

hire Angular 5 developer in 2018 Yevhen

Angular 4: Things to Consider

Angular 4 is penultimate version of Angular software development era as for now. When it was just released, Mach 2017, it gained the pick of its popularity. Everyone was talking about Angular 4 and using it in different projects. Check out yourself the graph of Angular 4 popularity.

angular development popularity of the 4th version

However, with some time, developers have lost the interest to this version. Nevertheless, here are some websites built with this technology.

  • EatSleepSport
  • 500Tech
  • Amora Coffee
  • 6HD.RU

Angular 5: What We Know

In the framework team’s blog post where they explained the framework’s versioning system, they also shared their plans for the framework’s release cycle, stating that going forward, they plan to release a new major version of the framework, which brings with it major changes to the framework, every 6 months. As it was planned, Angular 5 was released on October 23, 2017.

The Angular 5 release date came just 7 months after the Angular 4 release date, which was in March 2017. This, in turn, came 6 months after the Angular 2 release date, which was in September 2016. The short intervals between these releases show the commitment of the framework’s developers to their announced release model in order to help Angular developers have a smoother time keeping their apps updated with the framework’s latest technologies.

This new release model is in stark contrast to the framework’s old release cycle, in which, for instance, Angular 2 came 6 years after the Angular 1 release date (or, more appropriately, AngularJS release date) way back in October 2010. This posed some difficulties to AngularJS web development as it had too many changes to accommodate and adopt all at once. With the shorter release cycles, they plan to smoothen out the transition and updating processes of developers to avoid repeating some of the migration problems they previously faced when migrating from Angular JS to Angular 2.

It is doubtless there will be more updates to this framework, still, here are some of the interesting things about AngularJS for frontend development

Backwards Compatibility

Migrating from the first to the second version was a serious challenge: it required a major re-write of many parts of the application due to the latter’s incompatibility with the former. Going forward, however, the dev team assures that the new version of the framework is much easier to adopt, as only minor code changes are required.

Many Bug Fixes

With the release of changelog for the beta version of this framework, many bug fixes were detailed, with fixes to many issues related to animation, compilation, core functionalities, and the like. Thus, all the bugs from the previous versions were removed and now we have even more powerful JavaScript framework.

Code Refactoring

The update also introduces code clean-ups to the framework’s different libraries, mostly removing deprecated codes from previous versions of the framework so as to decrease the size of packages that Angular 5 developers will handle.

New Features

Some new features are in the works, including features for animations, improved browser support, improved compiler, and some user form enhancements.

Angular 5 developers Ruslan

Breaking Changes

Being a major version update, the new version of the framework inevitably brings some breaking changes that requires an Angular 5 developer to slightly tweak the codes of applications using older versions of the framework in order for them to work. This includes:

  • The removal of some functionalities that were deprecated in the previous version
  • Some changes in the i18n internationalization pipe that will require Angular 5 developers to import data for locales other than US English
  • Some changes in the formatting syntax of date pipes
  • Some changes in the default values of currency pipes
  • Some changes in the default behavior of percent pipes

ask about angular developer rate for your project

Angular 5 vs Angular 4 vs Angular 2 vs AngularJS Web Development

Fortunately, the 4th version of this JS technology is largely backward compatible with the 2nd one, meaning Angular 2 applications will run with Angular 4 with minimal, if any, modifications. This is in contrast to Angular 2’s incompatibility with the 1st version. Nevertheless, the latest version of this technology introduced major changes from Angular 2 that merited an increase in the major version number, so if you plan to hire Angularjs 2.0 developer, take a look at these differences. To have a better picture on the main differences between the different released versions of this framework below is a table outlining the main features of all releases:

Angular 1.x/AngularJS Angular 2 Angular 4 Angular 5
Code generated by compiler Large Large Smaller than the 2nd release by up to 60% Smaller than the 4th release, due to the addition of a Build Optimizer; can save up to 95% of the build time
Animation packages Included in core framework Included in core package Separated from core package and may be excluded Separated from core package
Conditionals *ngIf only *ngIf only *ngIf and elseLarger *ngIf only
TitleCase pipe Not supported Not supported Supported Supported
Angular Universal Unofficial support Unofficial support Official support Official support
TypeScript compatibility Not supported Up to version 1.8 Up to version 2.2  Up to version 5.1
Template source maps  Not generated Not generated Generated  Generated
ES Modules  Unflattened Unflattened Flattened  Flattened

Comparison of features introduced in the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th versions

Angular continues its streak of great works, Angular 5 is the latest release from the line. This major release features a number of big fixes to the previous versions as well as new features. With the release of the 5th version, there is the addition of the Build Optimizer to the CLI, this was added with the goal of making your application bundles smaller and faster. With this release, Angular 5 developers are now able to easily share application states between the client-side and server-side of their project applications with the Angular Universal State Transfer API and DOM Support. The Angular Compiler has also been improved in order to support compilation done in increments, which further improves production builds for Angular 5 developers.

Below you can also check the main tech differences of 4th and 2nd versions:

Less Code

Angular 4 developers had made major revisions to its compiler so that it generates up to 60% less code compared to that generated in the second version. This significantly reduced the file sizes of applications and can result in considerably faster loading times.

Separate Animation Packages

In the 4th version of this technology, animation packages have been separated from the core package and will need to be manually imported if any animation will be used. This means that, if a developer will not be using animations, he can leave these packages out, and the resulting code will be even smaller in size.

Improved Conditionals with *ngIf/else

Angular 4 now allows developers to use an else clause after an if condition, as such:

<div *ngIf="condition; else default">
Content when condition returns true
</div>
<ng-template #default>
Content when condition is false
</ng-template>

The above code checks the condition and renders a different component depending on the condition’s truth value.

New TitleCase Pipe

In the 4 version a new pipe called titlecase, which capitalizes the first letter of each word in the text contained, was introduced to Angular developers:

<h2>{{ 'This is a sample text' | titlecase }}</h2>

The above code will print This Is A Sample Text with the first letter of every word capitalized.

Angular Universal

With the 4th version, the Angular development team has officially adopted Angular Universal, a project originally developed and maintained by the online developer community, which enabled applications to be rendered on the server-side. Such server-side rendering results in improved performance and better search engine optimization.

Better TypeScript Compatibility

Angular 4 now supports TypeScript 2.1 and 2.2, which introduces increased speeds and better type checking. In contrast, second version of this technology only supports until TypeScript 1.8.

Template Source Maps

With the 4th version, when the application encounters an error that originates from one of the template files, source maps are generated to help developers pinpoint the source of error.

Flat ES Modules

Angular 4 ships with flattened ECMAScript modules, which offer several advantages, including reducing the file sizes of generated bundles, increase in building, transpilation, and browser loading speeds, and helps with JavaScript code clean-up via tree shaking.

Angular Comparison Summary

You may check the comparison summary on different Angular releases in the infographic below:

demand for AngularJS developers and top facts about AngularJS

Build Your Team With Mobilunity

When delving into the details of Angular development and its various versions, it’s important to consider the benefits of Salesforce CRM consulting to seamlessly integrate Angular applications with the powerful capabilities of Salesforce for enhanced customer relationship management. The Angular framework is arguably among the biggest names in the JavaScript frameworks space, and the framework’s Angular JS web development team has committed to regularly releasing major updates to the framework in a 6-month cycle. The latest version of the technology has been just recently released, and if you want to improve your web applications with this awesome framework, you should consider hiring oustaffing company for them to find a skilled Angular developer for your project. Luckily, we’ve got just what you need.

Considering Flutter developers for hire can also be beneficial, offering an opportunity to complement Angular’s web capabilities with Flutter’s cross-platform efficiency for creating cohesive and dynamic user experiences across all platforms.

Here at Mobilunity, we house top-notch dedicated Angular developers for hire. While looking for an Ionic development company, one may check the list of trusted partners, look for top representatives of mobile app development, or simply find the best company that possesses both excellent reputation and pool of specialists needed to complete the job. Located in Ukraine, in the heart of Europe, our incredibly affordable rates make us the most practical choice for hiring dedicated Angular developers across all of Europe.

Hire great developers equipped with Angular skills. Contact us now to get started!

All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.

Contact us
Go Up