Let me introduce myself. I've been a web developer for over a decade, and I've seen a lot of JavaScript frameworks come and go. I've worked extensively with both AngularJS and Angular, so I have a strong understanding of their differences and the evolution of these technologies.

## Is Angular, AngularJS?

This is a question I hear often, especially from those new to the world of front-end development. The names are strikingly similar, leading to understandable confusion. However, it's crucial to understand that while they share a lineage, AngularJS and Angular are distinct entities.

Let me break down the key differences:

1. Architectural Foundation:

* AngularJS: At its core, AngularJS operates on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architecture. This pattern divides an application into three interconnected parts:
* Model: Manages the application's data.
* View: Displays the data to the user.
* Controller: Acts as the intermediary, handling user interactions and updating the model and view accordingly.

* Angular: Angular, on the other hand, embraces the concept of components and a hierarchical structure. Components are the building blocks of an Angular application. Each component encapsulates its own logic, template (view), and styles, promoting modularity and reusability.

2. Language Paradigm:

* AngularJS: Relies heavily on JavaScript. While you can use TypeScript, it's not inherently designed with it in mind.

* Angular: Fully embraces TypeScript as its primary language. TypeScript, a superset of JavaScript, introduces static typing, which brings significant advantages in terms of code maintainability, early error detection, and improved tooling support.

3. Directives: The Heart of Manipulation

* AngularJS: Directives in AngularJS are primarily used to extend HTML with custom attributes and elements. For instance, `ng-repeat` is a core directive used to iterate over collections in your templates.

* Angular: The concept of directives is refined in Angular. We now have more specialized types:
* Components: As mentioned before, components are the fundamental building blocks. They are essentially directives with a template associated with them.
* Structural Directives: Modify the structure of the DOM (Document Object Model). Examples include `*ngFor` (similar to `ng-repeat` but with enhanced syntax) and `*ngIf` for conditional rendering.
* Attribute Directives: Alter the appearance or behavior of elements, components, or other directives.

4. Mobile Development Landscape

* AngularJS: While possible to build mobile applications with AngularJS, it wasn't inherently designed with the mobile-first world in mind.

* Angular: Has a strong focus on mobile performance and optimization. This makes it a much more suitable choice for creating modern, responsive web applications and native mobile apps.

5. Performance Considerations:

* AngularJS: Due to its design and reliance on two-way data binding (which can be costly for large applications), AngularJS can encounter performance bottlenecks as applications grow in complexity.

* Angular: Significant strides have been made in Angular to enhance performance. The use of a unidirectional data flow, change detection optimizations, and ahead-of-time (AOT) compilation contribute to faster rendering and a smoother user experience.

In Essence:

To put it simply, **Angular is a complete rewrite of AngularJS**. While AngularJS was groundbreaking in its time, Angular leverages modern web development practices, design patterns, and language features to provide a more robust, scalable, and performant framework for building ambitious web applications.

If you're starting a new project today, I highly recommend choosing Angular over AngularJS. Angular is actively maintained and developed by Google, ensuring its relevance and continued improvement in the ever-evolving world of web development.
read more >>

AngularJS is a structural framework for dynamic web apps. It lets you use HTML as your template language and lets you extend HTML's syntax to express your application's components clearly and succinctly. Angular's data binding and dependency injection eliminate much of the code you would otherwise have to write.read more >>