React vs Angular
How to make the right choice
Recently I received a email from a fellow developer Aranganathan Rathinavelu. He was asking about what would be the better choice for the future: React or Angular.
I like his question and he likes the answer so we decided to share it whit all of you in this article. We hope that it can help other make they're decision.
The question
Hi Tarik,
I was initially working in AngularJS for 6 months and then jumped to Angular and worked on a Project for past 5 months and now after seeing lots of medium posts,i really started looking React.i love it especially because of the community and the availability of ready made components.
After reading several Angular vs React posts i heard everyone say that one cannot go wrong with both frameworks.What concerns me is… Facebook,Instagram,Twitter, Reddit, Microsoft, Airbnb and several Tech giants use React.
Angular though backed by Google,is not used for big business as far as I know,at least not in huge apps we see everyday.
and above all React Native vs Ionic …no questions there,RN clearly wins ,but still how can Angular be so important in job perspective alone?.
Is there something Angular can do that React can’t ? particularly what does React lags to be a framework that enterprises can’t adopt them in first place?
I’m not confused about how to learn each,but really stuck in deciding which framework to learnin depth.
can you sprinkle your thoughts about which framework would be future-proof as i am a beginner in front-end development.Please send your thoughts.
Thank You in advance :)
The answer
First of all I’m very honored that you ask me such a tough question. The answer should and is very short and simple:
Do and use what you love, like and what makes more fun working with!
The choice
This is a general answer you can use not just for react vs angular but also for other decisions. If you have the choice to decide on your own than always take the thing that makes you more happy. It is so important that the technology you are working with is fun for you and that you enjoy working with.
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We don’t live in a perfect world. Of course there will be moments that will frustrate you and make you go crazy. The moment that matters is the one after all that pain and stress. If you feel euphoric, released and you feel that you have mastered and learned something you are on the right way. If you feel like you have finished one boring part of thousands waiting, you should think about the way you are going. Maybe you wan’t to go the other path.
What is the right path?
We people are no sheep’s but unfortunately we behave often like those. I have a prove for that in one word: “Finger spinner” ;) The path that the horde makes before you is often easy and without obstacles but not always the right. Don’t go to far away from it. It could cost you your life but don’t follow like blind. Here comes the part with the big community. A big community doesn’t guaranty that something is future-proof. A huge community could just be a relict from old times. You need to find your own balance between the mainstream ,custom and crazy things. Never lose the overall view but stay focused on your current path. You can’t follow every new thing in the dev world but if you for example decided to go the javascript way you can watch if there is something rising up. Even if it is don’t just jump on it. Wait for the right moment. React could also be a failure. Who could know what will happen in the future. Most of the early users had a hard time just to configure a new project. CRA now makes it so easy to start a new react project. Some problems we have now could be erased with fiber and others “reacting” later could never feel those and just benefit from the huge ecosystem prepared.
The decision
And now you are here. You took the javascript way. Angular was the only right decision before react. React is something that was rising and is still rising. They can now be compared as equal in they’re impact. To not go to far in the technical aspect: Angular is more like a framework and react just the View part of one. With react some basic things are harder to make but you can make them your own way or use different libraries. At the end it is just a decision in taste. Nothing more and nothing less.
If you want to jump on the react train because more and more people are doing it but you don’t like the ecosystem then don’t do it. If you like how the things are done in the react world even if you get frustrated making them then you should at least try. As you can see: don’t use just the technical aspects to make your choice. Your comfort zone is more important.
Future-proof
I see you’r fear for the future. Will angular survive react’s massive flight ;) I don’t think that any of those two will die in the near future. Both are at this time huge ecosystems. But nothing is to big to be save for failure. Both are using the same language so even one of them gets less popular it wouldn’t be such a disaster moving to the other. Every technology we are using now could be obsolete in 2-5 or more years. So never feel safe with any of them! That’s the reason you should always keep your eyes open.
My personal thoughts
Disclaimer: I have never used Angular ;) I started with web software before less than 2 years. Started with php. So the MVC concept and Angular seemed to be my next step but a friend mentioned to me almost one year ago react and I just didn’t came out of that crazy world :) I haven’d even use javascript before in a useful way. An now here we are knowing each other over the React Most Wanted project.
I think that generally javascript is having a amassing ride. I feel like every problem you have it can be solved with javascript. It isn’t so massive like java or C#. If you ever started eclipse or android studio you know what I mean. I’m coming from the C# world and desktop applications. Worked also on some Android apps using java and also web applications using php. No other language feels so elegant like javascript. Especially ES6 makes it so so sweet to use. I feel so dirty when I have to maintain some old C#, java or php code in old projects…phuh… and so boring.
Javascript is like a great sport car and react (for me) is like the best track you can have :) I started in the javascript world with react and I can’t imagine working with some other technology. I don’t say framework because to me it doesn’t fell like one. Here you have the answer why not every one is “reacting”. They feel comfortable in they’re angular environment and that is how it should be. Maybe they started with angular and feel well with it. Diversity is something that is very important. We can’t and should not work the same way and no one should follow others only because all are now doing it in some other way. No matter where we start you will end with the conclusion to take the one that makes more fun :)
As long you are working with javascript you shouldn’t fear for you’r future. I think that javascript is making a huge huge step forward to become a state of the art language. I also think that PWA-s will make the life of native applications harder :) but that is something that would fit in a whole new article.
There is no technology that makes good developers. The developers are those who make the technologies great. So here we come to the conclusion:
Don’t be afraid to choose the technology that makes you happy no matter witch one it is :)
I hope I could help you a little bit and sorry for the long answer.
Best regards,
Tarik
