The frameworks are competing to be the best at building reliable single-page applications. Therefore, there is a wide variety of frameworks in the market. Among them, Angular and AngularJs are two of the most appreciated frameworks for building single-page applications (SPA). Despite that people frequently confuse the two frameworks by using the same name for both, but they have completely different purposes.

Angular

An open-source frontend framework called Angular assists companies in creating single-page applications (SPAs). It employs Typescript and HTML. Modern browsers, on the other hand, do not understand Typescript, so Typescript is converted to JavaScript so that browsers may simply compile the Typescript application.

The first version of Angular, which was released in 2016, was intended to be the successor to the most well-known front-end framework, AngularJS. Later on, it was preserved as a distinct entity.

Angular JS

The first version of AngularJS, a JavaScript-based front-end framework for creating single-page apps, was made available by Google in 2010. Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture served as the foundation for AngularJS. On December 31, 2021, the Google Angular team discontinued support for AngularJS; nonetheless, all applications based on AngularJS are still operational. Even though AngularJS's LTS is technically over, people continue to value its capabilities and use it to create large-scale SPAs.


The two web frameworks, Angular and AngularJS, originated from the same company, Google, and allow programmers to easily design user interfaces in a variety of distinctive styles. With Angular, the operation is completed without the need for external dependencies, but AngularJs allows you to build a feature-rich website with a small amount of code. AngularJS is the most basic version of the Angular framework created by Google. However, Google recently stopped supporting AngularJS, making Angular the unquestionably superior option. The distinctions between the two can be useful if you decide to transition to Angular.

Comparison between Angular vs. AngularJS

To better understand how Angular and AngularJS differ from one another, let's compare them on some common attributes.

1)Programming Language

One of the main differences between Angular and AngularJS is that Angular is based on TypeScript while AngularJS is based on JavaScript. This means that to construct applications with Angular, Typescript is required. A typed superset of JavaScript is Typescript. It has many benefits, including self-documenting code and type-checking during development, among others. As a result, Angular applications are more stable than AngularJS applications. Additionally, the former is more likely to be produced without type mistakes. However, because Typescript is a more advanced variant of JavaScript, learning it is more difficult. If you're not already familiar with Typescript, switching from AngularJS to Angular might not be as easy.

Their differences are also seen in the components that make up them. Angular is based on TypeScript, which is a superset of ES6 and is also backward compatible with ES5. While Angular employs a hierarchy of components, AngularJS, which is built on JavaScript, uses terms like scope and controllers. While AngularJS employs directives, Angular is based on components.

2)Directives

Directives are used by both Angular and AngularJS, but the difference lies in their way of usage. AngularJS includes a bunch of them together, while Angular has some standard Directives. Directives must be used with caution. For instance, when you wish to build a two-way binding you must utilize the ng-model in AngularJS for it and you can use ng-bind for one-way binding.

You will only find the ng Model in Angular. The two-way binding symbol is this "[()]" while "[]," is a one-way binding symbol. "()" is utilized for event binding while "[]" is utilized for property binding.

3)Architecture

AngularJS

AngularJS employs the model-view-controller (MVC) architecture, which is the primary building block for handling data, logic, and rules as well as articulating how the applications work. At the time when AngularJS was in use extensively, the MVC architecture served as the basis for the majority of SPAs. In reality, the MVC architecture entails the following:


  • Model: All of the data management is stored in the model.
  • View: The view produces the output after reviewing the data in the model.
  • Controller: The controller receives input and converts it into commands before sending them to the model and view.

Angular

Angular uses components that are directives with templates. There are two distinct categories of directives in Angular.


  • Structural directives replace the elements in the DOM to change how it is set out.
  • Attribute directives alter the behavior of the DOM and the look of the element.

It's important to observe that the architecture of Angular differs greatly from that of AngularJS. It can be a little simpler for you to convert UI and logical abstractions into Angular components later on if you've done so in your AngularJS application. Additionally, all contemporary front-end frameworks use the more well-liked and reliable component-based architecture, which Angular supports.

4)Mobile Assistance

AngularJS does not support mobile devices, whereas Angular does provide mobile support.

5)Performance

AngularJS was initially intended for designers rather than developers. Although there were some evolutionary adjustments to the design, they weren't enough to satisfy the needs of the developers. The later versions, like Angular 2 and Angular 4, have increased performance, especially in terms of speed and dependency injection.

Speed: By providing capabilities like 2-way binding, AngularJS reduced the amount of time and effort needed for development. Due to additional processing being done on the client side, loading pages was taking a very lengthy time. Large app creation and maintenance are made simpler by Angular2's better structure and stronger change detection system. Angular 4 is the current fastest version.

Dependency injection: Angular uses unidirectional tree-based change detection in conjunction with the hierarchical dependency injection method. This significantly raises the performance of the framework.

6)Tooling

By default, AngularJS apps either imported the minified source code locally into a project or used a CDN to access AngularJS. For AngularJS, there were no appropriate tools or CLI-based boilerplate available. Any build tools have to be manually configured with the use of third-party tools like IDEs and WebStorm.

However, Angular employs the Command Line Interface (CLI) to speed up the scaffolding and creation of apps. You could create Angular builds with the CLI, test your Angular components, and create Angular components using a simple boilerplate.

Why did the Angular team decide to transition from AngularJS to Angular?

Angular advantages over AngularJS led to this transition some of these advantages are discussed below:


  • Modularity: Angular's modularity allowed for a lighter and quicker core by moving the majority of its core functionality to several modules.
  • Dynamic Loading: A combination of asynchronous templates and additional reactive programming features is available.
  • Ahead-of-Time (AOT): This compilation helps with the conversion of HTML and TypeScript into JavaScript throughout the build process. AOT builds the code, and the browser loads it for faster rendering.
  • CLI: The Command Line Interface (CLI) is a tool that is used for building and running Angular apps. It facilitates testing and handles the development of projects.
  •  Architecture: This aids in separating the logical and functional components.
  • Dependency injection: Angular employs unidirectional change detection. To improve the efficiency of the framework, Angular does not use directives like AngularJS instead it uses Hierarchical Dependency Injection.
  • Language: Although Angular is written in TypeScript, there are alternative options for writing codes available which, include ES5, ES6, and Dart.
  • Routing: The Angular framework employs a direct path for routing.

Despite their differences, Angular and AngularJS both have their advantages.

Angular has a large community following because Google currently exclusively maintains it. The community has little support for AngularJS because Google no longer formally backs it. If you want to create dynamic web and mobile applications utilizing TypeScript and HTML, it's a smart idea to start converting your current AngularJS projects to Angular immediately.

When newer versions of Angular are released, the Angular team has made it exceedingly easy to migrate to and upgrade to them.


FAQS

1)Is AngularJS superior to Angular?

Improved data binding algorithms are possible with Angular. Its architecture is built on components. In comparison, AngularJS includes a two-way binding property that makes binding quicker and simpler without the need for experts. While AngularJS is highly recommended for quick scripting and prototyping, Angular project pieces are fairly self-sufficient and independent. Therefore, depending on a person's needs, Angular or AngularJS is a preferable choice.


2)What is the distinction between one-way and two-way Binding

The flow is unidirectional in one-way binding. In a two-way the flow is bidirectional. This indicates that the code is flowing from the ts file to the html file which indicates that both ts files and html files are involved in the flow of code.


3)What purpose does AngularJS serve?

A well-liked web framework called AngularJS is used by programmers to create user-generated and weather-related applications as well as eCommerce, video streaming, travel, and user-review applications. AngularJS was used in the development of The Guardian, Upwork, PayPal, Freelancer, Netflix, LinkedIn, and other well-known applications.