What Are The Features of Angular?

Dinesh Thakur

06 Aug 2024

In the rapidly evolving world of web development, Angular stands out as a powerful framework that has revolutionized how we build dynamic and efficient web applications. 

This framework, developed and maintained by Google, has carved a niche for itself by providing an all-encompassing solution that simplifies complex development processes. As technology continues to advance, Angular adapts and evolves, consistently introducing features that cater to both developers and businesses.

Let’s talk about some of these features of Angular and delve deeper into its architecture, versions, and updates, as we comprehend why it is the framework of choice for many forward-thinking companies in this blog.

What is Angular?

If you’ve stumbled here, you probably already know what Angular is, but let’s just start fresh and go over it briefly so we can all be on the same page. So,

Angular is an open-source web application framework developed and maintained by Google. It is a platform for building mobile and desktop web applications using TypeScript (a superset of JavaScript). 

Its primary goal is to simplify the development and testing of single-page applications (SPAs) by providing a framework for client-side model–view–controller (MVC) and model–view–viewmodel (MVVM) architectures, along with components commonly used in rich internet applications.

Imagine Angular as a high-tech toolbox for developers, equipped with everything needed to build complex web applications. With its components, services, and routing capabilities, it helps in crafting applications that are not only feature-rich but also maintainable and scalable. 

By integrating Angular, businesses can expect a streamlined development process that bridges the gap between robust functionality and an engaging user experience.

Why Angular was Introduced?

Before Angular arrived on the scene, web development was a challenging landscape. Developers often had to grapple with a lot of repetitive boilerplate code and faced significant hurdles due to the lack of modularity in their frameworks. 

These issues made managing and scaling large applications particularly difficult, leading to slower development cycles and more complex maintenance.

AngularJS, the predecessor to Angular, was introduced to tackle these problems head-on. It provided a structured framework that aimed to streamline development and testing, offering a more organized approach to building web applications. 

However, as the web continued to evolve, the limitations of AngularJS became more apparent, which led to a complete overhaul and the birth of Angular (starting from version 2). 

The new Angular was re-engineered from the ground up, incorporating modern best practices and advanced Angular features to improve performance and scalability; thereby marking a crucial step in the framework’s journey to meet the demands of today’s web development challenges.

Key Features of Angular

Angular is renowned for its rich set of features that make web development not only easier but also more efficient. These angular features collectively enhance the framework's capability to handle complex applications, streamline the development process, and deliver a superior user experience. 

Let’s dive into the standout features responsible for the countless benefits of Angular and making it a game-changer in the world of web development.

Two-way Data Binding: 

One of the most compelling features of Angular is its two-way data binding. This ensures that any changes in the user interface are immediately reflected in the underlying data model and vice versa eliminating the need for manual synchronization—this is how Angular synchronizes the model and view. 

In a practical scenario, imagine an online auction application where users can place bids in real time. With Angular's two-way data binding, the current bid amount and the total number of bids automatically update across all components of the application. 

This real-time synchronization not only enhances user engagement but also provides a consistent experience across different parts of the application.

Dependency Injection: 

Angular's dependency injection is akin to having a personal concierge who efficiently manages and delivers your needs without you having to ask. Instead of each component managing its dependencies manually, Angular automates this process, injecting services where they are required. This approach fosters a modular and maintainable codebase.

Consider a large-scale enterprise application with various modules such as user management, reporting, and notifications. Angular's dependency injection ensures that each module gets the necessary services without tightly coupling components. 

This modularity makes it easier to update or replace parts of the application without disrupting the entire system, thereby promoting a more scalable and flexible architecture.

Component-based Architecture: 

Among the many advantages of Angular and at its heart, is its component-based architecture, which is like constructing a sophisticated machine using interchangeable parts. 

Each component in Angular encapsulates its own logic and view, functioning as a self-contained unit. This modular approach allows developers to build and test components independently, leading to more organized and maintainable code. 

Imagine developing a social media platform with features such as user profiles, news feeds, and messaging systems. Each of these features can be developed as separate components, each with its own responsibilities and interactions. 

By modularizing the application in this way, we can focus on individual components, resulting in a more manageable and scalable application architecture.

Directives and Templates: 

Angular enriches HTML with its directives and templates, adding a new layer of functionality to the standard markup. 

Think of directives as special ingredients that enhance the basic HTML recipe, making it capable of performing complex tasks. Templates define how data is presented in the user interface, similar to a detailed blueprint guiding the construction of a building. 

For example, using Angular's ‘ngfor’ directive, you can easily render a list of items dynamically based on data from a server. Templates allow for a highly customizable and interactive user interface. 
This powerful combination of features of Angular (directives and templates) empowers developers to create rich and engaging web applications with minimal effort.

Services and Dependency Injection: 

Services in Angular act like specialized tools designed for specific tasks, such as data fetching, user authentication, or application state management. These services are singleton objects, meaning there is only one instance of each service across the application. 

Angular's dependency injection framework seamlessly integrates these services into components, promoting a clean and efficient codebase. This not only improves performance but also enhances the maintainability of the code.

Let us imagine a scenario where your application requires access to multiple services, such as a weather API service, a user authentication service, and a notification service. 

With Angular's dependency injection, these services can be injected into components as needed, reducing the complexity of managing dependencies and ensuring that each service is only instantiated once, further supplementing the long list of benefits of Angular. 

Routing: 

Angular features of routing capabilities are like having an advanced navigation system for your web application. The powerful router allows for the creation of single-page applications with multiple views and navigation paths. Features of Angular such as lazy loading, nested routes, and route guards ensure that the application is both efficient and secure.

For example, in a multi-section web application like an online learning platform, users may navigate between different modules such as course listings, individual lessons, and quizzes. 

Angular's router manages these transitions smoothly, loading only the necessary components and resources as users navigate through the application. This results in faster load times and a more responsive user experience.

Forms and Validation: 

Handling forms is an integral part of web applications, and Angular excels in this domain with its comprehensive form management capabilities. 

Whether you’re dealing with simple contact forms or complex multi-step registration processes, it provides robust support for form creation, validation, and management.

Consider a complex financial application where users need to input detailed information such as income, expenses, and investment details. Angular allows for the creation of reactive forms that can dynamically adjust to user input, validate data in real-time, and provide instant feedback. 

These features of Angular ensure that users can enter data accurately and efficiently, enhancing the overall usability of the application.

Testing Capabilities: 

Ensuring the reliability of an application is crucial, and Angular provides a robust suite of testing tools to achieve this goal. With unit testing and end-to-end testing, software developers can rigorously test their applications to ensure they perform as expected.

For instance, let’s assume you’re building a complex e-commerce platform with various features such as product search, shopping cart, and checkout processes. Angular's testing tools allow developers to write comprehensive tests for each feature, identifying and fixing issues before they reach production. 

This commitment to testing ensures that the application remains stable and performs well under different scenarios enabling you to relish the benefits of Angular wholly.

Also Read: Why Consider Upgrading Your .Net Applications to a Later Version

Understanding Angular's Architecture

Angular’s architecture is designed to provide a robust framework for building scalable and maintainable web applications. It revolves around a modular approach and component-based design, ensuring that applications are both organized and flexible. 

Let’s explore the key components of Angular’s architecture and how they work together to create dynamic applications.

Modules

Angular applications are organized into modules, which encapsulate related functionality into cohesive units. The root module, AppModule, bootstraps the application, while feature modules handle specific aspects of the application. 

Components

Components are the fundamental building blocks of Angular applications. Each component consists of a TypeScript class for logic, an HTML template for the view, and CSS styles for appearance. These interact with each other through inputs and outputs.

Templates

Templates are the features of Angular that define the view for a component using HTML combined with Angular-specific syntax. These are enhanced with features like ‘ng-template’ and ‘ng-container’, which provide more control over rendering and structure.

Metadata

Metadata in Angular provides the framework with necessary information about components and modules through decorators. For example, the ‘Component’ decorator defines component-specific details such as the template, styles, and selector, while ‘NgModule’ provides configuration for modules, including declarations, imports, and providers. 

Data-Binding

Angular supports various forms of data binding, including one-way and two-way binding. One-way data binding flows data from the component to the view, while two-way data binding keeps the model and view synchronized.

Directives

Directives are key Angular features that extend HTML with custom behaviors or manipulate the DOM. They come in three types: structural directives (e.g., ‘ngIf’, ‘ngFor’), attribute directives, and custom directives.

Services

Services in Angular encapsulate business logic and data access, providing a way to share functionality across components. As one of the prime benefits of Angular, these are designed to be injected into components or other services using Angular’s Dependency Injection system.

Dependency Injection

Angular's Dependency Injection (DI) system is a powerful feature that allows services and other dependencies to be injected into components and services. The ‘Injectable’ decorator is used to mark a class as available for DI.

Also Read: How to Scale Your Tech Startup with Top Development Talent

Angular Versions and Updates

Since its inception, Angular has undergone significant evolution, reflecting the ever-changing needs and advancements in web development. From a complete architectural overhaul to incremental enhancements in performance and tooling, Angular’s journey illustrates its commitment to staying relevant and efficient.

Here’s a brief overview or a snapshot of its major versions, highlighting key features of Angular and the improvements that help you enjoy all the advantages of Angular with ease:

 Comparing Angular with Other Frameworks

When choosing a framework for web application development, Angular, React, and Vue.js are among the top contenders. Each has its strengths and caters to different needs and preferences. 

Here's a quick comparison to help you understand how Angular stacks up against React and Vue.js:

Also Read: React vs Angular

Advantages of Angular

Performance and Efficiency: Angular’s AOT compilation and Ivy rendering engine improve performance by reducing bundle sizes and enhancing runtime efficiency.

Code Reusability and Maintainability: The component-based architecture and modular structure promote code reusability and maintainability.

Comprehensive Feature Set: Angular provides a complete set of tools and features out-of-the-box, including routing, forms, HTTP client, and testing capabilities.

Strong Community Support: Angular has a large and active community, extensive documentation, and numerous third-party libraries and tools.

Cross-platform Capabilities: Angular can be used to build web, mobile, and desktop applications, thanks to projects like Angular Universal and NativeScript.

Limitations of Angular

Complexity and Learning Curve: Angular’s extensive feature set and opinionated approach can be overwhelming for beginners.

Performance Considerations: In certain scenarios, Angular’s performance may lag behind lighter libraries like React or Vue.js, particularly in small-scale applications.

Verbose and Boilerplate Code: Angular often requires more boilerplate code compared to other frameworks, which can lead to verbosity.

Compatibility Issues: Angular’s updates and changes can sometimes lead to compatibility issues with third-party libraries and tools.

Real-world Applications of Angular

The Angular features in their robustness and scalability make it a preferred choice for many high-profile companies and platforms. Here are some notable examples of how Angular is employed in real-world applications:

• Google:  Angular is developed and maintained by Google, and it is used in several of their products, including Google Ads and Google Analytics.
• Microsoft: Microsoft integrates Angular within its Office 365 suite to enhance the user interface and experience.
• Forbes: The Forbes website, a major digital news platform, uses Angular to build and maintain its web application.
• Upwork: Upwork, a leading freelance platform, utilizes Angular for its web application to provide a seamless user experience.
• Netflix: Netflix uses Angular for parts of its platform to deliver dynamic, high-performance user interfaces.

Conclusion

Angular is a powerful framework that has significantly impacted the way we build web applications. Its comprehensive feature set, strong community support, and versatility make it a preferred choice for many developers and companies. While it has its challenges, the advantages of Angular far outweigh the limitations, making it a valuable tool in the modern web development landscape.

Here at DITS, we leverage Angular and an extensive technology stack as a leading and reliable custom software development company to give our clients the highest quality products and solutions.

If you’re looking for comprehensive and custom application development solutions for your business or project. Let us help you take the next step towards innovation and scalability!

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FAQs

What is Angular?

Angular is a platform and framework for building client-side web applications using HTML, CSS, and TypeScript. Developed by Google, it offers a comprehensive solution for creating dynamic and scalable web apps.

Why do we need to use Angular?

Angular simplifies the development of complex applications by providing a structured framework with built-in tools and features. It promotes modularity, enhances performance with features like AOT compilation, and supports maintainable code.

What are the benefits of using Angular?

There are several advantages of Angular. It offers improved performance with its AOT compilation and Ivy rendering engine, promotes code reusability through its component-based architecture, and includes a comprehensive feature set for routing, forms, and HTTP communication. Its strong community support and cross-platform capabilities further enhance its appeal.

What are the top Angular features?

Top features of Angular include a powerful component-based architecture, two-way data binding, dependency injection, an extensive CLI for development, and built-in support for routing and forms. Additionally, Angular’s AOT compilation and Ivy rendering engine improve performance and efficiency.