It’s no secret that migrating from AngularJS to the newer versions was a topic for quite some time now. Although the notion of “the newer the better” is relevant to Angular, still there are ongoing concerns if it’s actually worth it. There is always the question of how long it will take and how much will it cost. And we completely understand if you are undecided on the issue of migration.

But worry no more! We will guide you through the things you need to know before making the final decision. First, you’ll discover in which ways newer versions of Angular are better than AngularJS. After that, we will give our recommendations on upgrading and introduce our technology that will help to make your migration fast and hassle-free.

As you know, AngularJS is a JavaScript framework to implement single-page applications and it covers all versions of the framework that appeared before Angular 2. Although it was made by Google in 2009, the actual release took place in 2012.

In accordance with “Built With”, AngularJS powers more than 3 million websites, which makes it the most popular open-source web development technology worldwide. It doesn’t come as a surprise because with AngularJS, you can fast create dynamic interfaces. This is all due to the use of declarative programming behind this framework to build the front-end of web applications. It also uses HTML as a template language, which allows creating a very expressive and readable environment that is quick to develop.

Just as AngularJS, Angular was made by Google and released in 2016, which was the direct descendant of the first-ever created AngularJS. Angular 2+ or simply Angular are referred to as Angular 2 and the later versions, and all of them are Typescript-based platforms.

If you are not quite sure if there is a significant difference between the two frameworks, you might be surprised. The code for Angular was actually written from scratch, therefore, it has not much in common with the initial framework. Developers really wanted to make significant improvements in enhancing the performance of web applications.

The table above comparing AngularJS and Angular might be a bit confusing, so let us take you through the crucial points and tell you how the migration will enhance your application!

The main reason is that this framework was created mainly for web designers, thus, it is not that good at meeting programmers’ requirements. Reportedly, Angular offers a five-time higher speed than AngularJS and that is quite an amazing improvement.

Besides the faster page load time, the change detection was heavily optimized in Angular. Therefore, especially for larger applications, a migration from AngularJS to Angular can really boost the performance of your app, i.e. when presenting large lists.

Here are a few tips for you to make sure that the migration will be as painless as possible:

First, you need to bring in the TypeScript compiler before you start the migration process. Make sure to carefully review the existing code, make annotations, etc. Although it will take some time, however, the results will be worth it.

A lot of people are hesitant to upgrade applications to the newer versions of Angular because, as they think, it will pause the use and feature development of such applications for a significant period of time. But that’s not true. You can migrate gradually, since both frameworks may co-exist within one app.

The Angular team published guidelines with best practices on upgrading to the later versions of the framework. Following them will make this task easier for you. In addition, Angular has a wide and active community so you should be able to find support from people who have experience in a successful migration. To read the original article from GBKSOFT, please click here.

We here at LogicFlow developed a technology that automates large parts of the migration process. With that technology, we can translate services, controllers, templates, filters, and directives from AngularJS to Angular. Depending on your architectural needs, the translation process can be configured to integrate different patterns. You could, for example, want to make use of RxJs instead of promises.

By working with migration experts and manually fine-tuning your code to your needs, we make sure to not only migrate your codebase but to make it future proof and integrate it into your existing application landscape. We are dedicated to adhering to best practices and coding standards, thereby ensuring that your developers can work on the new codebase in no time.

For applications with ongoing feature development, we promote a hybrid approach, where we migrate parts of your application while work is done on other parts. On a suitable schedule, your developers can switch to Angular, while we finish the rest of the migration. Thereby, instead of migrating code, your developers are freed up to work on business-critical aspects of your application.

I hope we have equipped you with enough knowledge on the difference between AngularJS and Angular, the advantages of migrating, and the way around it to make it less stressful for you and your company. The final decision is always up to you, but we recommend migrating as it is an investment worth making. We are proud of our amazing technology that will help your business to migrate effortlessly and would love to help you with this hard yet exciting journey!

Hope you enjoyed our #MondayBlog on AngularJS migration and will have a smooth migration! Have a great and productive week and see you at the next #MondayBlog by LogicFlow!