React or Angular? Every experienced developer has come across this question. The truth is that making a 100% accurate comparison between Angular and React is indeed very difficult, so in this article we will look at the general aspects that summarize these frameworks, highlighting the similarities and differences between them. This will help you make the right choice between React and Angular.
React and Angular: what they are and why to use them
React is a JavaScript library for user interface (UI) development that we’ve been seeing since 2013. Until recently (latest at the end of 2020), she had major updates. It is run by an open-source developer community and Facebook.
Why should we use React?
From the very beginning, this platform was born as a JavaScript library, but its latest versions make React more complex, making it an increasingly serious competitor to Angular (Google).
The React libraries only deal with the view, which means you need other tools to build a complete application. This can be seen as an advantage or disadvantage as it gives React more flexibility to replace libraries with more modern ones.
Angular
Angular is an open-source Java framework run by Google and the developer community. As far as we know, it was launched in 2016. Although Angular JS appeared back in 2010, during this time it already had several updates.
Why should we use Angular?
Developed by the Google community, it quickly gained wide acceptance in the international developer community, rapidly evolving into the MVC development environment.
Being a framework and not just a library, it has all the necessary tools to develop a complete application.
With Angular, you can manipulate the DOM object and extend HTML tags to turn them into dynamic applications. It also uses the MVVM pattern, where the application logic is separated from the design, even though it remains wired to update the content.
React vs Angular programming
Main Differences Between Angular and React
- Angular is a complete framework, while React is a Javascript library that can be combined with other libraries.
- Angular’s data flow is bi-directional while React’s data flow is unidirectional.
- Angular updates the DOM (Document Object Model) while react uses a virtual DOM.
- Angular uses Typescript, a static language in terms of interfaces and classes (its advantage is that the code is more reliable when it comes to catching bugs). React uses Javascript, with all the advantages and disadvantages that implies.
- Both offer very good performance and their user experience is more than satisfactory.
- For mobile development, React is usually chosen. Angular also has Ionic on which you can build mobile apps, but not in the same way as React.
- The independence of Angular makes updates easy, while React needs to be validated with the third-party apps you use.
- There is a lot of documentation for any of these, but maybe React is more up-to-date.
In summary, Angular is a mature framework that adapts to teams and project needs. In addition, it is easy to scale. Developers starting with Angular know that the learning curve is higher. In general, it uses more resources, so it is somewhat slower.
For its part, React is more flexible in terms of resource usage, which is why many developers prefer it to learn faster and use it in their projects. The coding protocol is necessary so that the project can be scaled without errors.
It is difficult to decide which of the two to use, it will depend on the team (experience, number of participants) and the needs of the project (size, scope…). To make the right final choice, you need to analyze your needs and goals, as well as start from your preferences.
