AngularJS: Top Use Cases and Reasons to Opt for This Tool

AngularJS represents a structural framework for dynamic web applications. It is an open-source, JavaScript-based front-end web platform primarily developed by Google and a consortium of individuals and companies to solve many of the challenges faced in the development of single-page applications.   

AngularJS offers flexibility in coding like no other framework due to its simple design architecture. In terms of simplicity, it helps beginners to get started and make improvements to their application projects easily. AngularJS also handles heavy web applications that are exceptionally well loaded with features and components. It allows you to use HTML as your template language and allows you to extend the syntax of HTML to clearly and succinctly express the components of your application. The data binding and dependency injections ensure that we do not need to write a big chunk of code which otherwise we would have ended in writing. And all happens inside the browser making it a perfect partner for any application. The next layer data binding frameworks gains popularity due to strong demand. The foremost known ones are: 

• AngularJS 
• KnockoutJS 
• BackboneJS 
• DurandalJS 
• JavaScriptMVC 

Here is an article on angular cli.

AngularJS overview 

AngularJS is a platform and framework that uses HTML and TypeScript to build single-page client applications. The below diagram will give you fair idea of difference in traditional page life cycle vs Single page life cycle : 

The AngularJS application is written using typescript. It introduces core and optional features when you import a collection of TypeScript libraries into your applications. The architecture of an AngularJS application is based on some fundamental principles. The basic building blocks are NgModules which provide the component compilation background. NgModules compile the related code into functional sets; a collection of NgModules define an AngularJS application. An AngularJS application often has at least one root module that enables bootstrapping, and usually has a lot more feature modules. We will not go into details as this is out of scope of this article but to give you better understanding of an AngularJS application ,let's look at below example where we are trying to calculate area of rectangle : 

<divng-appng-init="width=1;breadth=2">
<b>Area:</b>
<div>
    Width: <inputtype="number"min="0"ng-model="width">
</div>
<div>
    Breadth: <inputtype="number"min="0"ng-model="breadth">
</div>
<div>
<b>Area:</b> {{width * breadth}}
</div>
</div>

This appears to be normal HTML, with some new markup. A file like this is called a Template in AngularJS. Once AngularJS launches the code, it uses the compiler to interpret and process this new markup from the template. The DOM that is loaded, transformed, and rendered is then called view. The Directives are the first kind of modern markup. We add special actions to items or attributes in the HTML. You would have noticed the new attribute ng-app which is a directive for initializing AngularJS apps automatically. AngularJS also defines an input element directive which adds additional behavior to the element. The directive ng-model stores / updates the value of the input field within / from a variable. 

Why AngularJS? 

AngularJS is backed by Google. This is a huge relief for developers to operate on a stable code base that will offer the application maximum support. it's a stable platform to focus on. Many frameworks are nowadays a pure bundling of existing resources. They are an integrated group of tools but they are not very elegant. AngularJS is the next generation platform where each tool was built to function in an integrated manner with any other tool. Please find below some reasons why AngularJS is considered as best among its competitors: 

MVC inbuilt support 

Most frameworks enforce MVC by asking you to break your app into MVC components and then allow you to write code to re-string them. This is a lot of work. As a developer we have to just split the framework into MVC components and leave everything to AngularJS for taking care. 

Declarative User Interface 

AngularJS uses HTML to describe the user interface within the program. HTML is a more concise and less complex declarative language than the procedural interpretation of the JavaScript interface HTML is also less brittle to reorganize than a JavaScript-written GUI, so things are less likely to break. And when the view is written in HTML, you can put in a lot more UI developers. 

Data models are POJO 

The POJO acronym for plain old java objects are being used as data models in AngularJS and it works without superfluous functions getter and setter. You can include and change properties straightforwardly and circle over objects and exhibits voluntarily. Your code will look a lot of cleaner and progressively instinctive, the way mother nature expected. 

Behaviors with Directive 

Directives are the way AngularJS brings added functionality to HTML. Imagine a world in which HTML has so many rich elements ( e.g. < accordion>, < grid>, < lightbox>, etc.) that we never have to manipulate a DOM to simulate them. To get some functionality out of the box, all that our app needs to do is assign attributes to items. 

Flexibility with filter 

Before displaying data on UI, filters filter the data and may include anything as simple as formatting decimal places on a list, reversing the order of an array, filtering a parameter-based array, or implementing pagination. Filters are designed to be stand-alone features, similar to instructions, independent from your device, but concerned only with data transformations. 

Less code 

All the points you have received up to now mean you 're getting to write less code. No need to write your own MVC pipeline. The view is described using more succinct, HTML. Without getters / setters, data models are easier to write. Data-binding means you don't have to manually insert data into the view. Also the directives are different from the software code, they can be written in parallel with limited integration issues by another team. Filters let you manipulate view level data without changing controllers. 

Unit testing ready 

The definition of AngularJS would be incomplete without speaking of its readiness for unit test. Dependency Injection (DI) links the whole of AngularJS together. Agular's unit tests will use dependency injection for unit testing .It mocks the data and injects into server. In reality, AngularJS already has a mock HTTP provider for controllers to insert fake server responses. It beats the more conventional way web apps are checked by creating individual test pages that activate a single feature and then communicate with it to see if it is working. 

• Google assisted, and a great community of growth. 
• Supported by IntelliJ IDEA and Visual Studio .NET IDEs. 

Limitations 

AngularJS is not a magic bullet. Some of its drawbacks are the backsides of its positive points, some of which are intrinsic to JavaScript inefficiency that could not be solved even with the strongest derivatives of its limitations are listed below: 

• AngularJS is broad and complicated. With multiple ways to do the same thing, it's hard to tell which way is best for a particular task. Mastering AngularJS at the "Hello World" level takes significant effort. Different developers' coding styles and habits can complicate the integration of different components into a complete solution. 
• When the project expands over time, you will most likely need to throw away current implementations and build new ones using different approaches. AngularJS implementations are poor in scale. 
• More than 2,000 watchers will seriously lag behind the UI. This limits the complexity of your AngularJS forms , especially large data grids and lists. 

Best use cases of AngularJS 

If you want to build smart lightweight applications, AngularJS is your best bet. This TypeScript-based framework helps you to build interactive SPAs that are safe, maintainable, and easy to check. 

Some of the popular use cases for AngularJS are as follows: 

YouTube PlayStation three app for video streaming 

Anyone who likes to play video games would not have skipped the PlayStation 3 version of YouTube. Considering the vast popularity of YouTube, a structure will be needed. Because Google owns AngularJS, it has been leveraged to introduce a brand-new version of YouTube on PlayStation 3. The flexible architecture has helped Google reinvent the PS3 experience by replacing the traditional operating method with a fully new one.  

They replaced mouse movements with basic keystrokes. With AngularJS usability, the features of native apps like YouTube PS3 can be extensively leveraged. AngularJS has made a greater contribution in playback video and smooth scrolling on the YouTube PS3. It's the latest ultra-modern and seamless experience of AngularJS, experienced by the crowd of gamers. 

eCommerce applications like T-Mobile 

T-Mobile discovered that its customers had to wait for content to be loaded while connecting to the app. So, to make it quicker and less complicated, they used AngularJS server-side rendering to reduce the time. They also used AngularJS so that they could use HTML parsing for search engine purposes.  

This leading telecommunications leader has had tremendous success in their eCommerce app, which has generated a phenomenal search engine traffic. With AngularJS, the application interface has been revamped and turned into a smooth and powerful app. 

Real-time Data Application like weather.com 

Weather.com is one of the most popular real-time weather update websites. The credit for its success is given to AngularJS 's modular functionality of modules and directories that enable you to use the features of the app on mobile and smartphone devices.  

The framework enables developers to build customizable widgets based on the device's specific needs. Using real-time data and dynamically presenting it made it available on the Web using AngularJS technology. 

What projects don’t need AngularJS 

AngularJS is super heroic, but there are situations where you can't use AngularJS. 

Websites with Static Content 

Small websites with lower targets and static content. These types of websites are better built with limited technical stacks and do not need to be used by AngularJS, as the technology will only add extra pieces of code that are not required by the website or a specific project. Example: landing pages, educational websites, event pages, etc. 

Limited Resources and Startups 

AngularJS is not a good idea to start with for small teams and limited resources. AngularJS needs the skillful tools necessary to solve fast problems in large-scale projects. Technology should also not be used for small projects; it can be developed with other available frameworks and does not require much technological facilitation. 

Game Apps and Heavy Analytical Apps 

AngularJS is not a gaming app. Other frameworks, such as React, can be used to build a highly interactive UI in games. AngularJS tests every document object model before it changes its position. It is not recommended to use AngularJS in any app which require strong complex mathematical analytics mostly which is used in gaming. 

Popular web apps built with AngularJS 

Sharing a list of some of the renowned web applications that are driven by a versatile and robust AngularJS framework: 

The Guardian 

The Guardian is a leading designer and publisher, winning a variety of competitions in these fields. The Guardian website UI is created as an AngularJS app.

PayPal 

Papal is one of the world's largest Internet payment firms. This is another one of the big websites that use AngularJS.

JetBlue 

JetBlue is one of the most famous airline companies in the United States as the online airline portal. The new edition of the JetBlue website uses AngularJS.

Lego 

Lego is one of the world's leading producers of play materials. Its products are traded global and can be virtually explored at www.LEGO.com.

Lego.com Netflix

Netflix

Netflix is an American MNC entertainment company. It focuses on and offers streaming media and video on demand online and DVD by mail.

Freelancer

Freelancer.com 

Freelancer – the global leading online workplace where understanding businesses and professional service provider go to work!

Weather

Weather.com 

Weather.com is one of the top weather forecasting online report websites. It is also one of the biggest websites using AngularJS.

YouTube for PS3

YouTube App on PlayStation 

Owned by Google, YouTube is mainly used for video hosting and sharing. This is being developed using AngularJS framework. 

Conclusion

We can conclude that the AngularJS web app development framework surely has a wide range of powerful features that gives AngularJS an edge over its competitors like ReactJS. This is one of the primary reasons large-scale businesses are opting for AngularJS as their preferred choice of web development platform. 

To summarize the key points about AngularJS. 

• It is easy to learn and master. 
• It makes application stable and fast. 
• A bunch of useful features in one framework. 
• There are tons of reasons why you should choose AngularJS for your next web app. 
• The World loves it. 
• We mastered it.

Crack the code. Explore our live online workshops on Angular and become a pro today!