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I Tried Angular as a React Developer. Here Are 6 Things I Like About It
#4 Yeah, it is a framework
Angular was the first framework I ever tried out. I moved away from it quickly. Instead, I had my personal breakthrough with React.js.
Of course, I might be biased. And I admit that my memories of Angular were a little bit traumatic.
Yet, it’s not Angular’s fault. I had nearly no idea of JavaScript back then. Now I know more. Much more. It was time to challenge my past and to give Angular another try — as a React guy.
After I tried it out again, I was surprised: Angular is actually pretty cool. And here is what I, as React guy, like about it.
1. Drop-in Server-side rendering & more
What is React’s pendant to Angular’s CLI? Well, the create-react-app CLI, I would say. Yet, the funny thing is that I rarely ever use CRA. Why? Well, because React.js lives more in its dozens of frameworks and site generators. Good names are Next.js, Gatsby, or even Astro here. Using create-react-app for a production React app? Rather not.
When I learned the basics of React.js, this was a great disappointment.
I thought could build production-ready apps with the library. Yet, I had the feeling everyone else was speaking a different language. Next.js and Gatsby already dominated — and I had no idea about them.
Angular, on the other hand, outlined very well what you could need everything.
2. It isn’t that big, actually
The done app is 145 kilobytes. The identical app in React.js is 135 kilobytes in size — which isn’t much less. I was really surprised by this result since Angular had the image of being clearly obese.
Of course, a simple counter in Angular compared to the same in React.js isn’t the best comparison. The bundle size obviously increases when we import more and more features of the framework/library. Yet, there was this cliche that the necessary bundle size of Angular would be so much bigger than React’s. I just proved it wrong.
