Angular is a popular JavaScript framework used to create web applications. It is a powerful tool that can help developers create robust and efficient applications. However, it is important to understand the best practices for Angular application architecture in order to ensure that the application is built correctly and efficiently.
In this article, we will discuss 10 best practices for Angular application architecture. We will cover topics such as component design, data binding, and state management. By following these best practices, you can ensure that your Angular application is built correctly and efficiently.
1. Use Angular CLI
Angular CLI is a command line interface that helps developers quickly create and manage Angular projects. It provides an easy way to generate components, services, pipes, directives, and more.
It also allows you to easily build and deploy your application with just one command. This makes it easier for developers to keep their code organized and maintainable. Additionally, the CLI can be used to test applications and ensure they are bug-free before deployment.
2. Create a separate module for each feature
By creating a separate module for each feature, you can easily manage the dependencies between them. This makes it easier to maintain and update your application as needed. Additionally, it allows you to keep code organized and easy to read. Finally, it helps with performance since modules are loaded on demand, which reduces the initial loading time of the application.
3. Keep your code clean with the LIFT principle
The LIFT principle stands for:
-Locate: Make sure your code is easy to find and locate.
-Identify: Ensure that the code is easily identifiable and understandable.
-Flatten: Keep the structure of your code flat, with no unnecessary nesting or complexity.
-Tidy: Keep your code tidy by removing any redundant or unused code.
By following this principle, you can ensure that your code is clean, organized, and easy to maintain. This will make it easier for other developers to understand and work on your application, as well as help reduce bugs and errors.
4. Don’t forget to use Dependency Injection (DI)
DI is a design pattern that allows you to inject services into components, making them easier to test and maintain.
DI also helps keep your codebase organized by separating the concerns of different parts of your application. This makes it easier for developers to understand how the application works and reduces the risk of introducing bugs when making changes.
Finally, DI can help improve performance by reducing the number of times an object needs to be instantiated. By using DI, objects are only created once and then injected into other components as needed. This means fewer resources are used and applications run faster.
5. Avoid using @Input() and @Output() decorators as much as possible
Using @Input() and @Output() decorators can lead to tight coupling between components, which makes it difficult to maintain the application. It also increases the complexity of the codebase, making it harder to debug and test.
Instead, use services to share data between components. Services are a great way to keep your components loosely coupled and make them easier to maintain. They also allow you to easily unit test your components without having to mock out the @Input() and @Output() decorators.
6. Prefer observables over promises
Observables are more powerful than promises because they can handle multiple values over time. This means that you can use observables to create streams of data, which is especially useful for handling asynchronous operations like HTTP requests. Observables also provide operators such as map and filter, which allow you to manipulate the stream of data before it reaches your application.
Promises, on the other hand, only resolve a single value at a time. While this may be sufficient in some cases, observables offer much more flexibility and power when dealing with asynchronous operations. Therefore, whenever possible, prefer using observables over promises in your angular applications.
7. Use smart and dumb components
Smart components are responsible for the application logic, while dumb components are only concerned with displaying data. This separation of concerns makes it easier to maintain and debug your codebase since you can easily identify which component is responsible for what functionality.
Smart components should be used sparingly as they tend to become bloated quickly if not managed properly. Dumb components, on the other hand, should be used liberally as they are much simpler and require less maintenance. By following this best practice, you will have a more organized and efficient codebase that is easier to manage and debug.
8. Make sure you understand how change detection works in Angular
Change detection is the process of Angular detecting when data has changed and updating the view accordingly. If you don’t understand how change detection works, it can lead to unexpected behavior in your application, such as components not re-rendering when they should or taking too long to render.
To ensure that your application runs smoothly, make sure you understand how change detection works in Angular. This includes understanding what triggers change detection, how to optimize it for performance, and how to use OnPush change detection strategy. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to create an efficient and performant Angular application architecture.
9. Use immutable data structures whenever possible
Immutable data structures are those that cannot be changed once they have been created. This means that any changes to the data must create a new instance of the data structure, rather than modifying the existing one.
Using immutable data structures helps ensure that your application is more predictable and reliable. It also makes it easier to debug issues since you can trace back through the history of the data structure to see what has changed over time. Additionally, using immutable data structures can help improve performance since there is no need to copy or modify large amounts of data when making changes.
10. Always unsubscribe from Observables when done
Observables are a powerful tool for managing asynchronous data streams, but they can also be a source of memory leaks if not managed properly. When an Observable is subscribed to, it will remain active until the subscription is explicitly unsubscribed from. This means that any resources associated with the Observable (such as memory) will continue to be used even after the component or service has been destroyed.
To prevent this type of memory leak, always make sure to unsubscribe from any Observables when you’re done using them. This ensures that all resources associated with the Observable are released and no longer in use.