Advancing from jQuery to AngularJS
Technology trends are increasingly growing today with the developers building robust and more complex applications. Almost all of the rich web applications that we currently see on the web rely on a subtle set of UI controls, libraries and frameworks. There are so many options out there to provide a consistent, reliable, and highly interactive user interface, but selecting the right library or a framework can be overwhelming. To have an idea of all the possible alternatives, in this article we will explore what constitutes best practices with regard to jQuery and, furthermore, why angular is a good choice of a framework to implement.
jQuery as we all know it has become an essential library when it comes to common functions and adding JavaScript functionality to a website. But when it comes to some of the web applications that are large and complex, jQuery alone cannot be used to provide a stable foundation to write quality, maintainable code. Consequently, MVC frameworks have emerged to provide more structured and maintainable code when developing these applications.
There are many JavaScript frameworks, which provide a solid structure for your code whilst also offering some extra functionality to turn up the desired task quickly. To name a few- Angular.js, Backbone.js, EmberJS, KnockoutJS, etc. all these frameworks have their own perspectives based on the functionality, features, size, dependencies and interoperability. Based on the statistical reports of Infoq.com, it is found that AngularJS has been the preferable framework in most of the cases. Also Angular has jQuery dependency, which makes it a good choice for web development. Angular provides a ready framework that works with multiple libraries which can be added on as required.
Let say, if you would like to send some requests to a backend server and display the results on a web page and vice versa. We can perform this simply in both Angular and jQuery. But with Angular it goes really well against jQuery with one big difference. It does not involve us to think of the back and forth DOM translations as opulent to jQuery. In jQuery, the view and the logic or behavior which affects those elements is left to the developer to split them. In jQuery, if we wish to update a specific DOM element with backend data it has to be coded. There is no separation as to which is the data and which is the controller of the data.
That’s where AngularJS comes into play with its two way data binding. Angular separates the UI data and the UI representation of data. The code in AngularJS is the translation of data to the DOM and vice versa. Angular makes this binding ideal, while increasing productivity. This is the best way to separate data and the HTML view code.
Angular provides rich ‘desktop like’ applications and features that you don’t get with using a jQuery library.
- MVW pattern (similar to MVC)
- Two way data binding
- Dependency Injection:
- Templates
- Form Validations
- Deep Linking for dynamic pages
- Communication with server
- Reusable components and localization to name a few
When looking for a comprehensive all-in-one solution, AngularJS is the right choice between the two. Its two-way data binding, in-built directives and filters allows developers to build applications very rapidly. So if you are looking for a lightweight and modular front-end framework for developing fast and powerful web interfaces, AngularJS is the apt framework to build complex applications. I hope this post has made you think about Angular.js as being a more than viable replacement to jQuery.