Migration From AngularJS to Angular: Common Misconceptions

AngularJS enjoyed a lot of popularity in the web app development industry for quite some time. However, this open-source front end development framework eventually became a bit obsolete. With the release of Angular 2, Google fixed the challenges posed by AngularJS. They presented the Angular ecosystem with an improved framework for web apps, especially for single-page applications. While most app owners were quick to adopt migration from AngularJS to Angular, many of them are reluctant to make the move.

Angular migration myths are one reason why many web app owners haven’t considered upgrading AngularJS to Angular. In this article, I will highlight the common misconceptions about migration to Angular and why these myths aren’t true.

I need to learn TypeScript to develop projects using Angular

One common reason why app owners are hesitant to migrate to Angular is the belief that they need to learn TypeScript for maintaining the app in Angular. That is not true. TypeScript is more like an added optional benefit of Angular, it’s not a necessity.  If you aren’t proficient with TypeScript and don’t want to learn it, you can develop Angular apps using JavaScript. You can do that because TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript. Codes written in JavaScript are also valid in TypeScript. Angular gives you an option to write the code using ES5 and later versions of JavaScript. In fact, you can also use Dart to build your Angular app. 

If you aren’t migrating to Angular just because you don’t want to learn TypeScript, you should definitely reconsider your decision. It’s a misconception that you can maintain your Angular apps only by using TypeScript.

Migration from AngularJS to Angular won’t make much of a difference

The reason Google came up with Angular after AngularJS is they wanted to introduce drastic improvements in the older framework. Angular doesn’t have the limitations that developers faced in AngularJS. As opposed to the traditional MVC structure in AngularJS, Angular equips the app with component-based architecture. AngularJS provides client-side rendering whereas Angular facilitates the server-side rendering of the web apps. Angular comes with a command-line interface that makes the developer’s job easy when it comes to app initializing and configuration. 

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With advanced features like ivy renderer, mobile support, and fairly independent modules, Angular apps are capable of delivering much faster performance. Angular delivers a holistically convenient experience to the users as well as the developers. Do not underestimate how migrating to Angular can improve the performance of your AngularJS app in the long run.

My app would stop functioning during the migration process

Migration to Angular doesn’t have to be a complicated process where you completely stop the functionality of the app. You don’t need to adopt the big bang strategy and migrate all the application parts at the same time.  Instead, you can opt for a hybrid model wherein you can migrate the components of the app one by one. This way, you migrate only one route of the app at a time. Your app can keep functioning with the rest of the routes. The new Angular framework handles the migrated routes. The old AngularJS framework maintains the functionality of the routes that are yet to be migrated. This way, you don’t need to unpublish the app during the migration process. 

Even if your app doesn’t contain many routes or the routes seem too complex to be migrated, you can still choose to migrate different modules of the app with the help of a @angular/upgrade package.

Migration from AngularJS to Angular will slow down my app’s performance

Angular has a modular structure. It enables the framework to optimize the performance of the web apps with the help of lazy loading. Lazy loading is a brilliant feature of the Angular framework which lets the users load the app features on demand. Due to this, users have the choice to load only those components that they want to use at the time. As a developer, you can ensure that whenever a user uses your Angular app, the browser imports only that part of the code that provides the user with particular features at a time. This selective, asynchronous loading of the app elements makes the Angular apps very light. Ultimately, your app’s performance becomes much faster compared to other frameworks. 

Moreover, the components in the Angular framework are loosely coupled. When you encounter a bug in your Angular app or want to add new features to the app, you can do so without affecting the overall performance of the app. Because of the independence between the components, app maintenance in Angular is easier and less time-consuming.

With so many new versions of Angular, migrating my app to Angular would make it unstable

I personally like the fact that Angular keeps evolving and comes up with improved updates twice a year. This is one of the reasons why it has stayed at the top of the web app development ecosystem. I do understand that app owners may feel the stability of their app’s framework is at risk with Angular releasing different versions year after year. However, you can rest assured that the Angular team is making commendable efforts towards ensuring that their improved versions don’t come with many breaking changes.

It’s a huge advantage that they have made the release schedules of newer versions predictable for the ecosystem. This enables developers to plan the migration in advance and be ready for the updates. The team behind the Angular framework ensures that there are minimum deprecations in the framework. In the case of deprecations, they communicate it with the ecosystem along with a recommended update path. Lastly, Every Angular version is backed by Google’s Long Term Support for at least 18 months from the release date. Thus, it is a misconception that migration to Angular would make your app’s framework unstable.  

Conclusion

Migration from AngularJS to Angular can sometimes be challenging because of the inherent differences between various web apps. However, planning the migration ahead of time can greatly take some burden off and make the whole process less stressful. It helps to make a list of cross-app dependencies and map out how the routes will be migrated before you actually start your migration journey. If you are considering migrating your web app to Angular, do it at the earliest because you are really missing out on the amazing benefits that Angular offers over AngularJS.