How much JavaScript experience do you need before learning a framework like Angular?
What are some cool Angular features?
And why Angular over React?
In this interview, web developer and author Aristeidis Bampakos answers these burning web developer questions and more.
An early adopter of the TypeScript-based Angular framework, Aristeidis has written two explosively popular Angular books published by Packt.
In fact, both books have made our Best Angular Books list. 🔥
From TypeScript to PWAs, Angular Material to HTTP APIs, Aristeidis is breaking down the intricacies of this popular framework in today’s chat.
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1. Tell us about yourself. Who are you and what do you do?
My name is Aristeidis Bampakos and I live in Greece. I work as a Web Development Team Lead at Plex-Earth where I specialize in the development of web applications using Angular.
I am a Google Developer Expert for Angular and also work as a Senior Angular Tech Instructor at Code.Hub, a private education institute where we train other developers and professionals into the Angular framework.
During the past two years, I have authored two books about Angular entitled Learning Angular – 3rd Edition and Angular Projects – 2nd Edition.
2. There are so many JavaScript frameworks out there. What inspired you to pursue Angular?
I started my early career as a C# .NET Framework developer but in 2011 I saw the potential of web development and moved toward it.
Initially, I used jQuery and Backbone.js for developing web applications but AngularJS had started to emerge during that time and I decided to give it a try.
The two-way binding feature that was showcased on the homepage was very impressive that I never looked back.
I have also written an article of how I started using Angular in my blog.
3. Why is Angular so popular in the .NET community?
Angular applications are built using TypeScript which is an object-oriented language that shares many similarities with .NET.
Onboarding .NET developers to the Angular framework becomes easy because they use familiar concepts and techniques when developing applications.
4. How well should a developer know JavaScript before learning a framework like Angular?
Angular applications are built using TypeScript which is a syntactic sugar superset of JavaScript.
Thus it is inevitable that when a software developer starts building Angular applications, they get a knowledge of the JavaScript fundamentals through TypeScript.
Should they wish to dive deeper into JavaScript concepts, they can do it independently from Angular but it will help them become better while building web applications with the framework.
5. There’s a lot of hype surrounding React, a popular JavaScript library. Why should developers pursue Angular over React?
The Angular framework is a better fit for developing enterprise web applications as it can scale better and provides a rich ecosystem with out-of-the-box support of libraries and tools.
But as with any JavaScript framework, they are actually doing the same thing in a different way. So, developers should use which one of the two, they are more comfortable with.
6. Tell us about some of Angular’s best features.
The best features of the Angular framework are the main pillars that the platform is based on.
The cross-platform nature of Angular is heavily based on supporting community integrations that range from server-side rendering with Angular Universal to mobile development with the Ionic framework and desktop applications with Progressive Web App (PWA) techniques.
A collection of distinct libraries under the @angular npm namespace ensure easy onboarding for developers that want to communicate with HTTP APIs, create rich HTML forms, or even use UI component libraries such as Angular Material.
Finally, incredible tooling support with Angular CLI and Angular DevTools for debugging and profiling Angular applications gives a powerful tool in any web developer’s toolchain.
7. Tell us about some of the projects developers will build in your book Angular Projects.
The Angular Projects book tries to showcase the power of the Angular framework when it comes to building cross-platform web applications.
The reader will learn how to build a PWA weather application that can run offline, a WYSIWYG editor for the desktop with ElectronJS, a server-side rendered application for their GitHub portfolio, and a mobile application that can take geotagged photos using Capacitor and visualize them on a 3D map.
8. In your book Learning Angular, you show readers how to build web applications using Angular and TypeScript. Tell us more.
The Learning Angular book is destined for beginners to the Angular framework and tries to demystify those things of the Angular framework that you cannot find easily on the web and are hidden deep in the angular.io, the official Angular documentation website.
It contains knowledge that has been acquired while reading the official Angular documentation more than 30 times and submitted various contributions to its guides.
It covers fundamental topics of the Angular framework such as component interaction and communication, HTTP communication, routing navigations, orchestrating HTML forms and animations.
It also teaches best practices for unit testing Angular applications and how to use a UI component library such as Angular Material.
A bonus chapter teaches readers how to build a real-world Angular application by applying techniques learned in all previous chapters.
9. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A fun fact about me: As a huge fan of the Assassins Creed game series, I have played all the major titles of the game and maintain a huge collection of book titles.
Thank you Aristeidis for this interview!
Be sure to follow him on Twitter and tell him RTC sent you.