Angular (web framework)

For AngularJS 1.x, see AngularJS.
Angular
Developer(s)Google
Initial release2.0 / 14 September 2016; 7 years ago (2016-09-14)[1]
Stable release
17.0.3[2] Edit this on Wikidata / 15 November 2023; 4 days ago (15 November 2023)
Preview release
17.1.0-next.0 / 15 November 2023; 4 days ago (2023-11-15)[3]
RepositoryAngular Repository
Written inTypeScript, JavaScript
PlatformWeb platform
TypeWeb framework
LicenseMIT License
Websiteangular.io

Angular (also referred to as "Angular 2+")[4] is a TypeScript-based, free and open-source single-page web application framework led by the Angular Team at Google and by a community of individuals and corporations. Angular is a complete rewrite from the same team that built AngularJS.

Differences between Angular and AngularJS

Architecture of an Angular application. The main building blocks are modules, components, templates, metadata, data binding, directives, services, and dependency injection.

Google designed Angular as a ground-up rewrite of AngularJS.

  • Angular does not have a concept of "scope" or controllers; instead, it uses a hierarchy of components as its primary architectural characteristic.[5]
  • Angular has a different expression syntax, focusing on "[ ]" for property binding, and "( )" for event binding[6]
  • Modularity – much core functionality has moved to modules
  • Angular recommends the use of Microsoft's TypeScript language, which introduces the following features:
  • Dynamic loading
  • Asynchronous template compilations
  • Iterative callbacks provided by RxJS.
  • Support to run Angular applications on servers.

History

Naming

The rewrite of AngularJS was called "Angular 2", but this led to confusion among developers. To clarify, the Team announced that separate names should be used for each framework with "AngularJS" referring to the 1.X versions and "Angular" without the "JS" referring to versions 2 and up.[7]

Version 2

Angular 2.0 was announced at the ng-Europe conference 22–23 October 2014.[8][9] The drastic changes in the 2.0 version created considerable controversy among developers.[10] On April 30, 2015, the Angular developers announced that Angular 2 moved from Alpha to Developer Preview.[11] Angular 2 moved to Beta in December 2015,[12] and the first release candidate was published in May 2016.[13] The final version was released on 14 September 2016.

Version 4

On 13 December 2016 Angular 4 was announced, skipping 3 to avoid a confusion due to the misalignment of the router package's version which was already distributed as v3.3.0.[14] The final version was released on 23 March 2017.[15] Angular 4 is backward compatible with Angular 2.[16]

Angular version 4.3 is a minor release, meaning that it contains no breaking changes and that it is a drop-in replacement for 4.x.x.

Features in version 4.3

  • Introducing HttpClient, a smaller, easier to use, and more powerful library for making HTTP Requests.
  • New router life cycle events for Guards and Resolvers. Four new events: GuardsCheckStart, GuardsCheckEnd, ResolveStart, ResolveEnd join the existing set of life cycle event such as NavigationStart.
  • Conditionally disable animations.

Version 5

Angular 5 was released on 1 November 2017.[17] Key improvements in Angular 5 include support for progressive web apps, a build optimizer and improvements related to Material Design.[18]

Version 6

Angular 6 was released on 4 May 2018.[19] This is a major release focused less on the underlying framework and more on the toolchain and on making it easier to move quickly with Angular in the future, like: ng update, ng add, Angular Elements, Angular Material + CDK Components, Angular Material Starter Components, CLI Workspaces, Library Support, Tree Shakable Providers, Animations Performance Improvements, and RxJS v6.

Version 7

Angular 7 was released on 18 October 2018. Updates regarding Application Performance, Angular Material & CDK, Virtual Scrolling, Improved Accessibility of Selects, now supports Content Projection using web standard for custom elements, and dependency updates regarding Typescript 3.1, RxJS 6.3, Node 10 (still supporting Node 8).[20]

Version 8

Angular 8 was released on 28 May 2019. Featuring Differential loading for all application code, Dynamic imports for lazy routes, Web workers, TypeScript 3.4 support, and Angular Ivy as an opt-in preview. Angular Ivy opt-in preview includes:[21]

  • Generated code that is easier to read and debug at runtime
  • Faster re-build time
  • Improved payload size
  • Improved template type checking
  • Backwards compatibility

Version 9

Angular 9 was released on 6 February 2020. Version 9 moves all applications to use the Ivy compiler and runtime by default. Angular has been updated to work with TypeScript 3.6 and 3.7. In addition to hundreds of bug fixes, the Ivy compiler and runtime offers numerous advantages:

  • Smaller bundle sizes
  • Faster testing
  • Better debugging
  • Improved CSS class and style binding
  • Improved type checking
  • Improved build errors
  • Improved build times, enabling AOT on by default
  • Improved Internationalisation

Version 10

Angular 10 was released on 24 June 2020.[22]

  • New Date Range Picker (Material UI library)
  • Warnings about CommonJS imports
  • Optional Stricter Settings
  • Keeping Up to Date with the Ecosystem
  • New Default Browser Configuration
  • Deprecations and Removals

Version 11

Angular 11 was released on 11 November 2020.[23]

Version 12

Angular 12 was released on 12 May 2021.[24]

  • Deprecated support for IE11

Version 13

Angular 13 was released on 4 November 2021[25]

Version 14

Angular 14 was released on 2 June 2022. Some new features include typed forms, standalone components, and new primitives in the Angular CDK (component dev kit). Standalone components work across Angular, and they now fully work in HttpClient, Angular Elements, router and more.

Version 15

Angular 15 was released on November 16, 2022.

Version 16

Angular 16 was released on 03 May 2023. New features included partial hydration for Angular Universal's server side rendering (SSR), experimental Jest support, esbuild-based build system for development servers, standalone project support, and more.

Version 17

Angular logo from 2016 to 2023 (v3-v16)
Logo from 2016 to 2023 (v2-v16)
Angular current logo (v17)
Current logo (v17)

Angular 17 was released on November 8 2023. [26]

Future releases

Since v9, the Angular team has moved all new applications to use the Ivy compiler and runtime. They will be working on Ivy to improve output bundle sizes and development speeds.[27]

Each version is expected to be backward-compatible with the prior release. The Angular development team has pledged to do twice-a-year upgrades.

Support policy and schedule

All the major releases are supported for 18 months. This consists of 6 months of active support, during which regularly-scheduled updates and patches are released. It is then followed by 12 months of long-term support (LTS), during which only critical fixes and security patches are released.[28]

Supported Angular Versions
Version Status Released Active Ends LTS Ends
^16.0.0 Active May 03, 2023 Nov 03, 2023 Nov 08, 2024
^15.0.0 LTS Nov 16, 2022 May 16, 2023 May 16, 2024
^14.0.0 LTS Jun 02, 2022 Dec 02, 2022 Dec 02, 2023

Angular versions v2 to v13 are no longer under support.[29]

Libraries

Angular Material

"Angular Material" redirects here. For the library of the same name for AngularJS 1.x, see AngularJS § AngularJS Material.

Angular Material is a UI component library that implements Material Design in Angular.[30]

Angular Elements

In 2018, Angular 6 introduced Angular Elements that lets you package your Angular components as custom web elements, which are part of the web components set of web platform APIs.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Angular, version 2: proprioception-reinforcement". blogspot.com. September 14, 2016. Archived from the original on 2017-03-12. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
  2. ^ "v17.0.3". 15 November 2023. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  3. ^ "angular/CHANGELOG.md". Retrieved 2023-11-15.
  4. ^ "AngularJS and Angular 2+: a Detailed Comparison". 6 April 2018.
  5. ^ "Angular Docs". angular.io.
  6. ^ "What's the difference between AngularJS and Angular?". gorrion.io. September 19, 2017. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  7. ^ "Angular: Branding Guidelines for AngularJS". Archived from the original on 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2017-03-04.
  8. ^ Coman Hamilton (28 October 2014). "A sneak peek at the radically new Angular 2.0". Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  9. ^ "Ng-Europe schedule". Archived from the original on 2018-04-30. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  10. ^ Coman Hamilton (29 October 2014). "Angular 2.0 announcement backfires". Retrieved 2015-10-21.
  11. ^ @angularjs (30 Apr 2015). "Angular 2 moves from Alpha to Developer Preview! Dev guide and API docs now available at ... angular.io/docs/js/latest" (Tweet). Retrieved 2015-10-21 – via Twitter.
  12. ^ "Angular: Angular 2 Beta". angularjs.blogspot.it. Archived from the original on 2015-12-18. Retrieved 2016-07-13.
  13. ^ "angular/angular". GitHub. Retrieved 2016-05-04.
  14. ^ "Ok... let me explain: it's going to be Angular 4.0". angularjs.blogspot.kr. Archived from the original on 2017-10-16. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  15. ^ "Angular 4.0.0 Now Available". angularjs.blogspot.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-01-08. Retrieved 2017-03-23.
  16. ^ "Angular 4 coming in 2017, to be backwards compatible with Angular 2". react-etc.net. Retrieved 2016-12-14.
  17. ^ Fluin, Stephen. "Version 5.0.0 of Angular Now Available". Retrieved 2 November 2017.
  18. ^ "Angular 5 JavaScript framework delayed". 18 September 2017.
  19. ^ "Version 6.0.0 of Angular Now Available". Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  20. ^ Fluin, Stephen (2018-10-18). "Version 7 of Angular — CLI Prompts, Virtual Scroll, Drag and Drop and more". Angular Blog. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  21. ^ Fluin, Stephen (2019-02-08). "A plan for version 8.0 and Ivy". Angular Blog. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  22. ^ "Version 10 of Angular Now Available". 25 June 2020.
  23. ^ "Version 11 of Angular Now Available". 4 December 2020.
  24. ^ Thompson, Mark (2021-05-12). "Angular v12 is now available". Medium. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  25. ^ Thompson, Mark. "Angular v13 is now Available". Angular Blog. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  26. ^ Gechev, Minko (8 November 2023). "Introducing Angular v17". Medium. Angular Blog. Retrieved 12 November 2023.
  27. ^ Fluin, Stephen (6 February 2020). "Version 9 of Angular Now Available — Project Ivy has arrived!". blog.angular.io. Retrieved 22 March 2022.
  28. ^ "Angular". angular.io. Retrieved 2019-06-07.
  29. ^ "Angular". angular.io. Retrieved 2022-06-10.
  30. ^ "Angular Material". material.angular.io.
  31. ^ "How to create Angular 6 Custom Elements and Web Components".

External links