We’re all about AngularJS. Do you want to know why?

We’re well-known for betting on the latest technologies, aren’t we? Well, if we’re not, we definitely should be, because we believe in the importance of staying up to date with technology changes. That’s why we had the chance to discover AngularJS and its benefits and now, being well informed and experienced, we want to share them with you!

AngularJS: What is it and where did it come from?

AngularJS is a client-side JavaScript framework created to simplify developer’s lives. Okay, so I’m exaggerating a little…. But it does make front-end development much easier!

This framework is an open source initiative by Google and this implies two important things: first, it was and is built by highly talented engineers and second, it counts on a large open community that is continuously contributing to its development.

But how is it that AngularJS came to be? Well this is the story… Several years ago, the need to provide dynamism into web applications running on a browser sharply increased and a new computer programming language had to be created, guess who was born…. that’s right, JavaScript!

As time passed, apps got more and more complex, especially in an interactive aspect, and JavaScript usage became too complicated. It was impossible to develop highly interactive apps without writing spaghetti codes, and that was when JQuery “came to the rescue”, helping simplify the development and organize the code.

But soon JQuery fell short as web applications continued increasing their complexity and so, powerful frameworks were built… Knockout, Backbone, Ember and Angular appeared to help developers fight complex and tangled source codes. Among them, AngularJS was the most accepted by the community and loved by our Ninja web developers

Why was it the most accepted and loved?

When a framework shows up and offers to make your front-end development easier, help you solve certain problems or provide you with the tools you need to improve your code… you accept it, you try it, and when you see its benefits you just …well, simply put, you just start loving it! And that is pretty much what happened with AngularJS and the developer’s community.

Here is a simplified list of the benefits that have made us love AngularJS so much:

• It is expressive
• It is readable
• It provides a well-organized structure
• It is quick to develop
• It optimizes testing experience
• It boost software creation
• It facilitates maintenance

Talking about loving it…just what is our relationship with AngularJS?

Almost all our Projects are Web Projects and after discovering all the benefits AngularJS offers, we implemented its use in most of them. Nowadays, any app benefits from being highly interactive and using AngularJS as a framework can be truly advantageous.

We took some time to ask our Ninja developers about the benefits of using AngularJS in different projects…and this is what they said:

“We are developing an app and an add-on designed especially for Microsoft Dynamics CRM (Hurrah! and Motivation Engine) and we are using AngularJS to do it. The app and the add-on have to be visually appealing, and this framework allows us to add different effects and transitions as it is oriented to the user experience and uses HTML to define the app’s user interface. AngularJS allows us to develop organized and clean code and that is reflected in the final product. You get to create efficient and performance-driven front-end codebase and also provide a rich experience for the end user”

“SharePoint itself is changing from being a server-based platform to a browser-based one, and it encourages the use of frameworks like AngualrJS…even its development guides and tutorials assume developers are familiar with the framework. AngularJS incorporates a client-side software design pattern and acts as a guide.
You end up having an app that is easier to maintain, any change the customer asks for has a lower cost in terms of effort, time and money”

“Making a bet on future technologies, our client chose AngularJS to develop a real state app. The framework helps us leverage our development process, it is faster than working with JavaScript or others. The code is better in quality, it has fewer bugs and it is easier to maintain.
When it comes to the end user, what he or she perceives is a faster and more responsive site with a visual, fluid interface”

“Using AngularJS for dashboard applications is a great advantage for us, the developers, when it comes to time and organization. We have to add dynamism to the app and with this framework you can do that in a simpler way, you get a clean project structure which helps you work faster. It allows you to organize, maintain and test the code and you end up having a better quality code.
From the user point of view the app becomes more responsive, everything works more fluently, and is more user friendly.”

So, there you have it. Our talented developers seem to have a bit of a crush with AngularJS. Now, we’d really love to hear about your experiences.