Introduction
Do you want to know whether the React of Angular is a better development tool for web-based applications? Read this article for a comparison between the two most popular and widely-used client-side frameworks.
In the world of web development, we as a web developer must know about the latest trending technologies. When we want to start development in a new project and we need to choose which technology or tools we need to use, then we must know why we need to use this tool or technology and also why it is better compared to the other technology.
So that’s why in this article, we are discussing the two most popular and widely used tools; i.e. Angular and React. Both tools are used to develop frontend applications in the web-based development environment.
What is Front End Development?
Basically, Front End Development is the practice to produce or develop HTML, CSS, and Scripting language for a website or web application so that the end-user can interact with the application. There are several tools or elements which are available for the development of a front-end web site. The most popular elements are:
- HTML
HyperText Markup Language (HTML) is the main backbone of any web application development.
- CSS
Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) basically controls the main presentation and style aspect of web applications.
- JavaScript
JavaScript is actually an event-driven based programming language that is used to transform a static HTML page to a dynamic HTML UI interface. JavaScript code actually uses DOM (Document Object Model) elements.
- Web Assembly
Web assembly is currently supported by all modern browsers. It is basically an alternative process of JavaScript to execute the code in the web browsers.
For developing front-end applications, there are several libraries and frameworks available. Out of them, the most popular are ReactJs and Angular. Now we need to understand how we can compare Angular (a framework) and ReactJs (a library).
What is the Framework?
In Software development or web development, a framework means a collection of standardized, prewritten code which basically helps us to develop certain functionalities more easily and faster. In this system, developers don’t have so much freedom to write code since developers always need to follow the process or structure which is provided or maintained by the framework architecture.
What is the Library?
A library is actually is a collection of functions and functionalities, which we can use to achieve a certain goal. In the case of the library, developers have total freedom to design and structure the system which this library needs to use.
The most significant and important difference between a framework and a library is how they will interact with our code. Actually, our code always calls the library whereas the framework calls our code. Actually, this is called Inversion of Control.
What is Angular?
Angular is basically known as AngularJs or Angular and it is one of the most popular open-source and scripting frameworks. Angular is a Typescript-based open source code based, web application based framework. It is an MVC based framework that was created and developed by Google. Basically, MVC is an architecture type pattern framework which we will use for developing web-based applications. MVC stands for Model View Controller.
With the release of Angular 5, Google added support for progressive web apps.
What is React?
React is a Javascript-based library just like jQuery for developing user interfaces. The library contains 3 different versions – React-devtools, ReactJs.Net, and React-Native. Other than the above libraries, React Native is very popular for developing native mobile applications.
Differences between React & Angular
| REACT |
ANGULAR |
| Data Binding |
| React allows one-way data binding |
Angular always allows Two-way data binding. |
| One-way data-binding means any changes we make to the model variable will affect the view but not the other way around. |
Two-way data binding means that any changes made to the model variable will affect the view and vice versa. |
| One-way data-binding always has Unidirectional data flows. |
Two-way data binding always has Bidirectional data flows. |
| Language |
| React is a JavaScript Library. |
Angular is a Framework by Nature |
| For developing an application in React we can develop the program using JSX which is JavaScript but with extended XML syntax. |
In the case of developing an application using Angular, we need to develop it using TypeScript which is a superset of JavaScript. |
| DOM (Document Object Model) Usage |
| React is used as a Virtual DOM. |
Angular always use the Browser’s DOM |
| Native Application Development Support |
| React has a part by the name of React Native, which always allows us to build a complete mobile application for either Android or iOS. |
Using the Angular framework, we can develop hybrid mobile applications. |
| Application Structure |
| React is not an MVC like Framework. It is just a view based library. |
Angular is a fully-featured MVC Framework. |
| React does not force its user or developer to use any specific application structure. |
Angular’s MVC based structure always allows the application to divide into three interconnected parts so that they can be easily manipulated. |
React is an ideal library for developing logic-less or static type applications where no such logical operations or computation will occur. Basically, we can develop almost anything using React. Following are some scenarios where we can use React.
- Dynamic Applications
React always is a great choice for dynamic applications because it uses a virtual DOM. A virtual DOM is actually a simplified version of the DOM. In the case of virtual DOM, we can change any element very quickly, and without rendering the whole DOM. For this reason, it drastically changes the performance of the application. Imagine the difference in performance in needing to render all 100 items when just a single item is changed, versus just rendering a single changed item and not rendering the rest.
- Single Page Applications
React is always a great solution for single-page applications because it can display all changes made to the DOM elements without reloading the entire page.
- Native Mobile Application
If we want to create a native mobile application, then React Native is one of the best choices for that. We can create apps using JavaScript with the same type of performance and feel of the apps created by Java or other mobile development based applications.
In the case of Angular, the following are some scenarios where we can or must use Angular,
- Cross-Platform Mobile Application
The angular framework also provides great support for mobile-based applications. Using Angular 2 or above versions, we can develop any type of mobile-based application using Angular.
- Enterprise Software
Since Angular supports MVC based frameworks, it is a great choice for developing enterprise-level applications.
- Progressive Web Application
We can develop Progressive Web Apps or Hybrid Mobile apps using Angular Framework. Using Angular 2 along with Ionic 2 is the perfect tool combination for developing hybrid applications. This same combination can be used to develop Progressive web apps.