React and Angular are trending web app development frameworks that have garnered loads of accolades in the software community for contributing to the success stories of diverse web and mobile apps. Now, the million-dollar question that arises in the mind of every app developer at least once in their career is, “Which of these frameworks fare better than the other?” Well, this is a question with no straight answer. The reason is both frameworks coined by the two major tech giants Facebook and Google offer cutting-edge functionalities and prove beneficial for app development.

Nevertheless, entrepreneurs thriving hard to decide on a framework for their next project should be well versed with the distinct strengths of React and Angular, to make the right decision. Candidly speaking, each of these frameworks is tailored to satisfy particular needs. Hence, I have penned down a comparative analysis of both React and Angular to help you select the one that best suits your project requirement.

Before we commence our analysis, let me introduce you to these frameworks.

Angular framework

Launched by Google in 2016, Angular is TypeScript-based, open-source JavaScript framework for developing dynamic websites and mobile apps. The Angular team of Google and Angular developers’ community manages this framework.

React framework

Launched by Facebook in 2013, React is a JavaScript library for developing User Interfaces. Facebook, along with an open-source developers’ community manages this framework.

Faceoff: Angular vs React

Learning curve

Angular app developers encounter a steep learning curve. The reasons are:

• Angular development involves managing complex components.
• Knowledge of various languages and components such as pipes, directives, decorators, templates, TypeScript, RxJS, dependency injection, etc. are necessary.
• Updated Angular versions are being launched every year and developers need to upgrade their skill set as per the new add-ons.

React Native developers, on the other hand, only need proficiency in JavaScript for understanding and working in the React environment. Moreover, handy resources provided by the React team help newbies to easily comprehend this framework, despite the release of updated versions.

Architectural decomposition

Angular has a three-layered architecture called MVC (Model View Controller). This structure is fixed and quite complicated. So, the app’s code can be broken down into separate files using AngularJS enabling the developers to reuse the codes and templates in the other part of the application.

React’s architecture does not require any specified format for writing codes. Component trees can be developed in a very simple manner which enables the code to be logically structured and readable. React also offers functional programming that makes the component definitions declarative.

Developmental pace and Productivity

The Angular CLI enables the creation of an amazing workspace and speeds up the process of designing components using a few lines of code only. It also offers many in-built processes for solving problems faced by Angular developers.

React Native app development uses several third party libraries which affect the productivity and developmental speed. Moreover, the tools employed are not the same for every project and so more time and greater efforts are needed if new developers are given the task of updating the application.

DOM versus Virtual DOM

Document Object Management (DOM) is a crucial factor that evaluates the performance of an app development framework. It organizes the XML and HTML documents structured as a tree.

Angular uses a real DOM, and therefore the whole tree has to be refreshed whenever any small change is made. This slows down the performance if the app needs to be updated frequently.

React, makes use of a virtual DOM and so the entire tree need not be updated for implementing minor changes. Thus, due to lesser need for re-rendering React displays better performance for apps requiring frequent updates. However Angular may be picked to build a feature-rich application that needs to be updated occasionally.

Flexibility

Angular is a rigid framework as its components can be used inside other frameworks only and its codes need to be embedded inside an HTML app. This rigidity does not help apps that need real-time updates. React, on the other hand, offers developers the flexibility to choose from numerous libraries, tool-sets, and different kinds of architectural patterns. This proves immensely beneficial in architecting customized app solutions.

Data-binding

Angular development employs a two-way data-binding approach. So, this approach ensures that the model state is changed automatically whenever there is any change in the UI elements and when there is any alteration in the model state, the UI elements are updated accordingly. However, React follows a one-way data-binding approach due to which the UI elements can be changed only after the corresponding model state is updated. Two-way data-binding may appear to be simpler, but in reality, the one-way approach proves more effective for the projects that require lots of coding.

Testing and Debugging

The Angular framework is a complete solution in itself and provides clear error messages that facilitate faster debugging. Furthermore, testing for an entire project can be executed with a single tool. But React needs different tool-sets for various categories of testing throughout the developmental cycle.

Conclusion

React befits the creation of dynamic and Single page apps whereas Angular is suitable for creating heavy and complex apps like enterprise apps, progressive web apps, etc. However, as per the surveys conducted by Google Trends and Stack Overflow, React is more popular than Angular.

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