Angular 2.0 – Revolution or revelation?

The first time AngularJS came into the web application developing family in 2009, it caused quite a stir in the world of app development. Integrating the use of simple HTML syntax, Angular allowed one to code for Rich Internet Applications (RIA’s – those things that have all the required plugins in browsers – applications software like Adobe Flash player, something you use to watch videos on the internet). The reasons the developers loved it was because it was simple and eliminated previous redundancies, good enough for any workman looking to upgrade his/her tools. It made the code required much shorter with increased functionality – and was cross-browser functional (applications can run on all major browsers and smart phones including Android and iOS based phones/tablets), and created instantly testable applications. Above all, it was free – sure, that raises some security issues, but there seem to be more pros than the cons, and the developers agreed.

While all of this may not make much sense to the layman, it made the conceptualization of all these apps that you use today possible – since many, many developers can get started with it, ideas that once may not have fruitfully surfaced in the app world now exist. The app market boomed significantly, and rightly created a revolution in terms of volume and accessibility.

Google and several other individuals who maintain the app now have arrived with the latest update to AngularJS – Angular 2.0.

Rewrite For the New

Angular 2.0 is a complete rewrite of the entire framework that Angular JS was – like replacing the skeleton, in fact, and promises many new features. In addition, it is almost a tribute to the original as far as the process of making app development easy goes – it boasts to make it even easier, if that were possible.

The new Angular is focused on the development of mobile apps, for one, indicating the attention they have been paying to the exponentially growing smartphone app market. It also has another rationale – mobile apps need more optimization, and it is easier to work backward from mobile to desktop once those issues have been addressed. The demand for ‘mobile first’ supplements this fact.

AngularJS also worked on a module system – now, many redundant and chunky modules have been removed, streamlining the parts selection process so that the developer can pick and choose exactly the parts they need for the coding. The access to third party libraries in addition to Angular’s own formidable code library makes better, and more options accessible to developers.

Another good news for commercial and business-based developers is that the new code is specifically targeted for ‘Evergreen’ modern browsers and ES6 (latest javascript), so that they don’t have to work around in terms of compatibility issues.

Without getting too aboveboard, we mention a few more noteworthy features – Angular Universal – something that binds the angular community even more firmly by providing server support for all applications, enabling developers to see how they will run on the server rendered view, optimizing the loading process on browsers. It also ensures that all search engines will be able to access your content.

In addition it has features that Angular never possessed before – the child injector, which can manage parent applications in certain scenarios, making the apps more adaptable. The speed and performance is improved overall and Angular now also has a more efficient logging service called ‘diary.js’ – which enables the developer track back their mistakes by keeping track of the development time and showing which part took more time to process – reducing further inefficiency in the coding process.

Forward is Now

Overall, there are a lot more technicalities one can delve into as far as the new release is concerned. The important point to note, however, is that the new update is immensely powerful and gives other gated applications like jquery a run for their money. While not as revolutionary as angular itself might have been due to a few issues like backwards compatibility for the old angular framework (flexibility is something developers immensely value), there have been updates of those issues being in the process of resolution with the next update.

While the debate around the update path was long in coming, it would not be too far from the truth in saying that Angular 2.0 may just be a viable option for developers faithful to the Angular family – and for those venturing into the app-development scenario, it may be a worthy first framework for consideration. Time and more bug-fixes will tell the rest of the story.