What is Angular?
Angular is a client-side web application framework primarily designed to build Single Page Applications (SPAs) using HTML and TypeScript - a superset of JavaScript. Used for developing web, mobile and desktop applications, the goal of this open-source framework is to bring simplification and structure to the JavaScript language. It does this by enabling data binding and dependency injection, which in turn prevents chunks of code one has to write to a considerable extent. Other benefits of the Angular framework include modularity, the extension of HTML attributes, event handling, routing, composability, controllers, services, rendering of HTML, easy to use (especially for beginners), unit testing and much more.
To know more about Angular, its features, things that can be built and the types of projects that are built with the Angular framework, read our blog post on Why should you hire an Angular developer?
How is Angular(2) related to AngularJS?
Angular or Angular 2 is simply a complete rewrite of AngularJS (the first version) by Google's Angular team. It was created by Misko Hevery, and first launched in 2009. The goal of Misko was to create a web framework that addresses the shortcomings of HTML and takes the best out of the libraries. It became the best-to-go solution for the development of SAPs and laid the foundation for modern front-end development. Over the years, the scope and use cases of the Angular framework has been widened with the added new features such as component-based architecture, mobile responsive applications, benefits of TypeScript, dynamic loading, routing, cross-browser and cross-platform support. Need to migrate any of your existing Angular application to a newer version, visit https://docs.angularjs.org/guide/migration
More about TypeScript: One of the fundamental contrasts between the two is that AngularJS is based on JavaScript while Angular is based on TypeScript, which is a superset of JavaScript that adds optional static types. TypeScript offers all the highlights as same as JavaScript, yet what is extraordinary about it is that it provides more than what a JavaScript can give. The extra layer on top of all the standard JavaScript highlights is the TypeScript's Type System. With JavaScript, you have language primitives like string, object and number, but it never checks whether these are consistently assigned or not.
Interestingly and as an extra bit of leeway, TypeScript does check the consistent usage of these primitives. Such validating features of TypeScript help you with detecting the unusual behaviour of the code and thereby, lowers the chance of bugs. With version 3.4, TypeScript introduces a new flag known as --incremental which helps in detecting type-check and emit changes in the least costly way possible. On the other side, TypeScript shares syntax and runtime behaviour with JavaScript, which guarantees that if you move the code from JavaScript to TypeScript, it runs the same way. To get an in-depth understanding of TypeScript’s Type System, check the TypeScript’s official handbook for JavaScript programmers.
Project type: Building an e-commerce website:
Without a doubt, the e-commerce business has reshaped the modern marketplace and expanded its own customer base by encouraging new business models now and then. Particularly, in an era of social-distancing, what was known as the disadvantages of e-commerce has now started to become the added advantage of it. From the below statistics, you can visualize the rate at which the e-commerce business continues to grow at an explosive pace.
According to the Statista report, among the three fastest-growing e-commerce categories, “The food & groceries online shopping segment went from an average of 0.74 billion monthly visits in January 2020 to 1.02 billion global site visits in June 2020 as consumers pivoted to e-grocery shopping in order to avoid crowded stores.” The provided statistics stands evident to the current available enormous e-commerce opportunities in the market. Now that we have understood the significance and relevance of e-commerce business in today’s world, no arguments needed to describe the increased market competition. Looking for a skilful Angular developer to help your business stand out from your competitors, appoint a meeting with our team to get you the expert in the Angular field.
In order to survive the battle and to keep up the good work, you must deliver nothing but a quality user experience. For an e-commerce business, it always starts and circles around its e-commerce website - a place where user engagement occurs. Thus, an utmost significance must be given when it comes to building an e-commerce website - quality web pages, creating interactive and seamless UI components, etc. Besides the known fact that you can create and develop dynamic apps using the Angular framework, let’s look at what are the other values that every company (developer, merchant, etc.) can be benefited from when an e-commerce website is built with Angular.
- Intuitive UI/UX design:
One of the biggest perks for the success of an e-commerce site is the UI/UX design, and with no doubt, Angular framework is all about creating dynamic and interactive apps. Being written in TypeScript, it offers seamless performance and user engagement. In general, e-commerce comes with major issues like cart abandonment, trouble during the checkout page, payment gateway, etc. With Angular, you can prevent most of the code you need to write which in turn helps you to get rid of the unwanted pages in your e-commerce site and to maintain high-quality appealing pages that attract more users.
- Measuring website performance:
Like most of the analytics tools such as Google Analytics to measure the behaviour of the consumer and Google Search Console (formerly, Google Webmaster tools) to analyze site’s performance, Angular helps you to measure the site’s performance. With Angular, you can track the bouncing rate and the user’s behaviour towards your site’s content.
- Unit Testing:
Testing is an essential factor in determining the quality of a website. Especially if it's an e-commerce website, testing and quality assurance plays a crucial role in assessing the failure and success of the business. Understanding this phenomenon, the Angular framework comes with a unit testing setup which allows you to write and test module code separately with zero interference in the rest of the application.
Some of the other reasons to choose Angular for developing an e-commerce website are as follows.
- Code reusability & consistency
- Simple architecture
- Speed and scalability
- Useful for web, mobile and desktop apps
- Better error handling
- Ease of testing
- Seamless updates
- Stability & Community support
Examples of popular applications built with Angular: Gmail, Microsoft Office (Web), The Guardian, Udacity, PayPal, YouTube TV, Forbes, Nike, HBO, Wix 9 (WebApp).
Skills and abilities the Angular developer must be proficient in:
Angular developers are the ones who are also skilled Javascript developers and possess experience and theoretical knowledge in the field of software engineering. To become an Angular developer, one must not just be an excellent JavaScript programmer but must be proficient in and around the things of Angular framework. The primary job of an Angular developer is to implement a complete user interface (front-end) in the form of web and mobile apps and the rest as follows.
- Mastery in JavaScript (mandatory one).
- Thorough understanding of web markups like HTML & CSS (firm understanding of elements interaction and positioning, as well as UX concepts).
- In-depth knowledge in Angular framework.
- Good command of the TypeScript language.
- Adequate experience in building Single Page Applications (SPAs).
- Hands-on experience in executing Angular applications, XHRs creation, dependency injections, directives, controllers, services.
- Prior experience in user’s action validation, server-side rendering, sockets handling and much more.
- Proficiency in AJAX and JS DOM manipulation techniques.
- Experience in RESTful services and the ability to coordinate with backend developers.
- Strong expertise in writing cross-browser compatible code.
- JavaScript build tools like Grunt, Gulp, etc.
- Adjacent technologies like Node for a run-time environment and Webpack for a modular bundle.
- Source/version control management systems like Git (also GitHub), SVN, Mercurial, Apache Subversion.
- Familiar with testing frameworks like Jasmine & test runner tools like Karma.
- Experience with Agile development methodologies like Scrum, Kanban, etc.
- Complete understanding of NPM (Node Package manager), Angular CLI, RxJS, Angular CDK (Component Development Kit), etc.
- Thorough understanding of the application development life-cycle, code management and release management.
And some of the interpersonal skills include . . .
- Ability to work in a complex environment of multiple projects and stakeholders.
- Ability to operate effectively and manage partnerships with all levels of organizations.
- Capability to work in multiple projects simultaneously.
- Excellent analytical, critical thinking, problem-solving and prioritization skills.
- Self-starter, highly motivated and an eye for detail.
- Excellent project management skills and developing product analysis tasks.
- To understand the business specifications and requirements to articulate thoughtful solutions in line with the reference architecture and technology roadmap.
- To take all the functional and non-functional requirements into consideration.
- Must be a team player (team-first attitude) and good communication skills
- Time-management skills and ability to meet deadlines.
- Must be aware of project requirements and business goals.
Finally, what does an Angular developer do?
Though all the things discussed so far will either directly or indirectly summarize what an Angular developer is supposed to do, the technologies and concepts that must be proficient in, the skills that must be acquired of and so forth, let us get a glimpse of the expected duties and responsibilities (common to both the small and large enterprises) in the below sections. Nevertheless, haven't you met an Angular developer who’s confident of the discussed specification and requirements? Associate with Starkflow to hire what you rightly deserve.
In Front-end:
- To deliver a complete front-end application using the latest and needed technologies as per business requirements.
- To write impeccably tested and documented JavaScript, HTML and CSS.
- To ensure high-quality and performance across all the platforms - web, mobile and desktop (and for all the systems developed).
- Timely implementation of new technologies to speed up the performance of the application.
- To work with outside resources (data) and APIs.
- Research, analyze, and develop product features of increasingly complex nature.
In Angular:
- To implement streamlined user experience and first-class codebase using the Angular best practices.
- To create independent, reusable, and testable modules and components.
- To ensure a clean dependency chain with regard to the file system, logic and model.
- To make technical and design decisions for Angular projects that best align with the business objectives.
- To design and deliver value-adding features and functionalities for users using Angular best practices.
In Testing:
- To develop the application code and perform unit tests in the Angular, Rest Web Services, Java, and Ruby technologies (for the Application Development Centre).
- To conduct functional, performance and User Acceptance Testing (UAT).
- To work on error-detection, troubleshooting and thereby to improve the overall application’s performance and stability.
With the team:
- To coordinate workflow and website ideas between HTML coder, Angular developers and Graphic designer.
- To collaborate with the cross-functional team such as the stakeholders, the developer team, the users and other production partners to deliver state-of-the-art user experiences.
- Work closely with the key members to analyze, design, develop and ship new features to improve app performance.