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Angular vs. React – what you'll choose in 2020 if you are starting from scratch?

3 points| sitajay | 6 years ago | reply

It has been awhile since I did any web development, and the landscape has changed completely. Javascript-based stacks seem to be the name of the game these days. If you were starting from scratch, would you choose Angular or React for a new project with a fairly complex UI? I am an experienced programmer (C++, Java, Python, etc.) but my Javascript skills are basically non-existent. I'm leaning towards React because it seems simpler and well-supported and I like the idea of also being able to use React.native for phone apps, but I'm open to other suggestions like Angular.

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[+] alsoicode|6 years ago|reply
Just my $0.02, but my experience has been that React seems simpler on the surface, but becomes more difficult to use as your project's complexity grows.

Angular appears to be more difficult on the surface, but its facilities like dependency injection, routing and form validation make your life a lot easier as your project gets more complicated.

The two frameworks are really designed to solve different problems, so doing an apples-to-apples comparison isn't really possible, although people like to do that.

Angular is designed to be a complete SPA framework, with everything you need included, except for Redux-like behavior, so you'll probably add Ngrx (or similar).

With React, you have to choose all of the bits and pieces yourself and hope everything works together. If you end up doing this over and over, and you're choosing the same things over and over, you are in fact creating your own framework.

If you need a mobile solution as well, there is NativeScript + Angular, which will allow you to continue working in TypeScript and Angular for the most part, but like any Compile-To-Native solution, it has slight differences to web development.

After working with Angular and React on non-trivial projects over the past 4 years, I will choose Angular 10/10 for its TypeScript underpinnings, consistency (since v4), huge number of built-in features and peace of mind that everything works together.

Yes Angular is opinionated. No, Angular build artifacts are not as small as React. With everything, there are trade-offs. With each framework, you'll find a huge network of highly competent, supportive developers to help you along the way.

It really just comes down to which style of development suits your style, and which one you feel will best fill the needs of your client's project goals, even if that client is yourself :)