React vs Angular: What to Choose as Frontend Development Framework in 2024

    Wednesday, November 29, 20178 min read18566 views
    React vs Angular: What to Choose as Frontend Development Framework in 2024

    In software development, putting out a finished, polished application well before your competitor is key. Coding everything from scratch, excluding even the normal things, can be extremely time-consuming and makes the developer spend time reinventing the wheel, time which would rather be spent implementing new features or tightening up the code base.

    This is where web application development frameworks come in. They often cover all the usual aspects of an application including database access, authentication, session management, and much more. So we will be focusing on the two Javascript frameworks in this article, i.e. AngularJS vs ReactJS.

    Angular and React are two new web technologies on the rise. Many business owners, technical decision-makers, and project managers are having difficulties making a choice between these two. The amount of JavaScript tools is steadily increasing, turning the selection of appropriate technology into a challenge. While among the top discussions is AngularJS vs. ReactJS, both are highly performing, advanced, and widely used worldwide.

    In this article, we will delve into the Angular vs React comparison, examining their performance, features, state management, steep learning curve, popularity, testing, data binding, optimizing bundle size, code quality, and maintainability. This detailed insight aims to help you make an informed choice between Angular and React.

    AngularJS vs ReactJS: Framework vs Library

    AngularJS is managed by Google and is considered a full-fledged JavaScript framework, while ReactJS is a JavaScript library owned by Facebook. Both of them are unique and resourceful in their own ways. These frameworks are quite easy to use with the high-end potential to build cutting-edge mobile and web applications.

    angular js vs react js image

    Let’s get down to the specific specialties of both frameworks, let us discuss the similarities first. This will give us a clear picture of the basic features they both offer:

    JavaScript

    In both the cases, JavaScript (ES5 and ES6) is fundamental. As both are from the same language background, hence flexibility and reliability are the same.

    CSS3

    You cannot perform serious front-end coding without CSS3. Luckily both frameworks support CSS3 and give you more opportunities to do better.

    HTML5

    Like other frameworks, for these two also HTML5 is obvious. Though the depth of knowledge required for both frameworks is not the same they have quite similar applications.

    According to 2017 State of JS research, Vue and React tops the list when respondents were asked about their satisfaction levels.

    state of JS research

    However, when they were asked about their interest, React gained on Angular.

    2017 state of js research

    Source: stateofjs.com

    Key differences between AngularJS and ReactJS

    DOM Manipulation and Component Based Architecture

    Angular: AngularJS update the Real DOM directly. It has two-way data binding which updates the MVC.

    Reactjs: ReactJS does not update the Real DOM directly but uses a virtual dom implementation. It performs one-way data which updates the view. React is all about components.

    Scalability in Angular and React

    Angular: Powerful CLI and it's design makes it more scalable.

    React : Efficient workflow is very important so that code can be easily tested and deployed therefore more scalable than angular.

    library compatibility 

    Angular would have done better, if not Typescript that requires type definitions for every library.

    React. Although it doesn’t work with DOM, it is pure JavaScript logic and its popularity even the DOM based libraries have their alternative in React. Additionally, React supports third-party libraries for data storage, state management, and bidirectional data binding in the application.

    Beyond the Web: Building Web Applications

    This is where there is a lot to talk about; native rendering. All libraries are capable of doing so, but some of them perform better than others.

    Angular: Comes with ionic 2 and native script, but neither of those mobile frameworks allows angular to reach the performance of react native.

    React: Comes with react native, Alibaba rax, react Windows and next.js, it is the best choice for developing mobile apps. React allows developers to create dynamic user interfaces quickly, which can be a foundation block for building mobile apps with React Native.

    Simplicity vs Steeper Learning Curve

    Angular: Angular on the other hand, it is quite easy and simple to understand. Its inherent complexity sometimes causes confusion.

    React: React, with its component-based architecture, is not simple by any means and it takes quite some time to set up a project.

    Development time

    Angular: although being very competitive, the amount of unnecessary syntax it requires to do simple things puts angular in the last place.

    React: Takes longer to set up, but then you can start to make an app and it should be relatively easy to add new features.

    Overview of Angular and React

    Overview of Angular and React

    ReactJS is a popular JavaScript library for creating dynamic and interactive user interfaces. It is specifically designed for building user interfaces, focusing on UI components and offering a reusable component-based approach. This makes it easier to understand, maintain, and enhance performance for dynamic UIs.

    Angular, on the other hand, is a powerful JavaScript framework for building web applications, particularly single-page applications (SPAs) and large-scale, enterprise-level web applications. It provides a structured development environment and uses TypeScript, enforcing the separation of concerns through the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. Angular is also well-suited for handling complex applications, offering extensive customization features and robust management capabilities.

    Conclusion

    React and Angular offer completely diverse approaches to web application development for startup, small and mid-market businesses. Both technologies are powerful and flexible, while none of them is worse or better than the other. Depending upon custom app goals and particular system constraints, developers can run from ng-2 to React, and back. However, in certain aspects, React outperforms Angular, particularly in virtual DOM implementation and rendering optimizations. Additionally, React developers have significant advantages due to the one-way data binding, which provides better control over web and mobile apps.

    Opting for Angular, it usually assumes the creation of core skeleton for a front-end app, whereas React.js can be applied to improve its specific parts. Moreover, it can be integrated with other frameworks, like Backbone or even well-known Angular.

    Also check our article:- 5 Most Popular JavaScript Frameworks of 2017

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