State of Angular 2024

As we step into 2024, the Angular community is witnessing a momentum that has been branded the "Angular Renaissance" by the Angular team.

Over the past two years, though particularly in 2023, we've seen an explosion of new features in Angular, surpassing developments of the preceding years.

From Standalone Components and Angular Signals to enhancements in server-side rendering and a new control flow syntax, Angular's evolution speed is really impressive.

But it also seems like it might actually lead to different camps of Angular developers...

One of the most notable introductions has been Standalone Components.

@Component({
  selector: 'app-news',
  template: 'Hi there!',
  standalone: true
})
export class WelcomeComponent {}

These have significantly eased the process of building and learning Angular applications by eliminating the need to understand NgModules and their complexities.

This simplification is a big step forward, making Angular more accessible to newcomers and removing annoying boilerplate.

Another exciting development is the addition of Angular Signals - currently as a "developer preview".

@Component({
  selector: 'app-count',
  template: `
    <p>{{ count() }}</p>
    <p><button (click)="count.set(count() + 1)">Increment</button></p>
  `
})
export class CountComponent {
  count = signal(0);
}

This feature not only promises to enhance Angular's performance but also paves the way for potentially eliminating ZoneJS in the future.

ZoneJS, while integral to Angular's current functionality, watches for events that could lead to state changes (to then trigger Angular's change detection mechanism).

Moving away from this dependency could lead to improved performance and a simpler developer experience.

However, there's problem with the pace of how these new features are being introduced: The Angular developers are not necessarily adopting and using those new features immediately.

Instead, many developers are still using older versions without access to the latest features like Standalone Components and Angular Signals.

This fragmentation means the Angular team must continue to support older versions while simultaneously pushing the boundaries with new features.

In my bestselling Angular course I'm therefore teaching both the "old" and "new" Angular - making sure that it's a great source for learning Angular, no matter which projects you'll be working on!

A big trend in 2023 has been the move back from separated client- and server-side applications to fullstack applications.

Especially React, with NextJS and Remix, is moving into that direction and adding new features that help with building React-powered fullstack web apps.

Angular has Analog.js, a promising project for full stack development, but it still lags behind in features and adoption compared to its React counterparts.

That being said, more server-side capabilities are on the Angular roadmap - and AnalogJS is under (highly!) active development.

Despite these challenges, the outlook for Angular in 2024 remains overwhelmingly positive.

I'm very confident that the Angular team will be able to find a good balance between the introduction (and improvement) of innovative, new features and the support of older Angular versions.

This balancing act is crucial for Angular to remain relevant and competitive against simpler, more modern frameworks.

The Angular roadmap hints at more exciting developments, especially around Signals, server-side rendering, hydration, and possibly a future without Zone.js as well as - maybe - a new component authoring format (i.e., instead of TypeScript classes).

These improvements & features could further simplify Angular usage, reduce the boilerplate code and make Angular a more attractive choice for new developers.

In conclusion, Angular in 2024 is on the right track, evolving rapidly while facing the dual challenge of innovation and legacy support.

The community's fragmented adoption of new features and the competition in full stack development are significant challenges.

However, with its continuous improvements and the backing of many enterprises and Google teams, Angular is well-positioned to maintain its relevance and appeal in the web development landscape. The future looks bright for Angular, and it will be fascinating to see how it evolves in the coming years.