Angular 5 vs Angular 4

Difference Between Angular 5 and Angular 4

When it comes to building a web application with multiple and complex business logic in it, Angular can be a perfect choice. Everything which is applicable for Angular 4 is also applicable for the Angular 5 version. However, some basic concepts for Angular since its inception, like controllers, scope, directive, and modules, have been replaced, but still, there is a sense of complexity associated with it. Service improvements and new features, including bug fixes from version 4, are being shipped in version 5. The main attraction arriving with Angular 5 is, however, its speed and execution. Loading time with execution is being made faster with Angular 5. Not just speedy execution, compiler have also been improved albeit slightly. Diagnostics generated by the compiler are slightly improved when the decorator has the wrong expression, which results in a faster rebuild. It also assists in incremental compilation for production builds.

Angular 4 is an output of a complete overhaul of Angular version 1. It needs high development skills since it arrives with a set of complexity. With version 4, the animation package has been pulled out from the core and put into a separate package. Few advantages like documentation finding, auto-completion-like features can also be enabled with it. With this version, parent and child elements can be coordinated across page transitions because of animation enhancement. The template is being cited as an ng-template tag instead of <template>. Developers, who use the deprecated template while updated to the Angular 4 version, can be identified easily with this new feature by the core Angular team. Core Angular team has also upgraded version 4 with TypeScript version 2.2. It will enhance the security of Angular applications. The rate of NGC would be much faster, resulting in far better type checking during the program.

Angular 5 has some certain other enhanced features. Prior to version 5, an earlier version like 4.3 was launched with HttpClient within @angular/common as a smaller but powerful way to make a web request. But with version 5, this HttpClient is being replaced with HttpClientModule, which lands under @angular/common/HTTP package for all applications. If one wishes to update the HttpClient, then it becomes necessary to replace HttpModule with the HTTP client module. Another welcome feature is support for AppShell. A router is being used to render the application. The app shall be simply inserted by using commands like -ng generate app-shell. Also, with version 5, one can decide whether or not to restrict newlines, white spaces, and tabs from the application level as well as component level.

With version 4, route parameters are being made available in the form of a map, and its execution can happen via simple method calls. All get an update operation can be performed now efficiently with a new service known as Meta tags. Thus with version 4, type security of applications and speed of ng-compiler execution is enhanced significantly. Coding faults can be easily found out with this, like defining a variable and telling TypeScript that null and undefined keywords can be inserted as the variable’s value. Directive addition of ngComponentOutlet enables the developer to create a dynamic component declaratively.

Head To Head Comparison Between Angular 5 and Angular 4 (Infographics)

Below is the top 6 difference between Angular 5 vs Angular 4:

Key Differences between Angular 5 and Angular 4

Both Angular 5 vs Angular 4 are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major differences:

• Angular 5 was released in November 2017 with lots of exciting features, whereas Angular 2 was released in March 2017, with a major release jump from version 2.
• Angular 5 has significant improvement with a compiler, support of incremental feature of the application, whereas Angular 4 does not have this compiler enhancement ingrained in it.
• Angular 5 gives you a choice to restrict whitespaces, tabs, and newlines that are unnecessary, whereas Angular 4 does not give you the liberty to restrict the unnecessary whitespaces, tabs, and newlines.
• Angular 5 has API for Angular Universal state transfer, with which state of the application between client and server can be shared, whereas Angular 4 is deprived of this API between client-server interaction.
• Angular 5 has a build optimizer, which actually assists in removing the unnecessary code from the application, whereas Angular 4 does not possess a build optimizer-like feature.
• Angular 5 has @angular/component/HTTP package and introduced a new module called HttpClientModule, whereas Angular 4 has @angular/HTTP package with a module called HttpClient.
• Angular 5 has lambda expressions, which gives a more compact code, whereas Angular 4 uses naming functions instead of lambda.
• Angular 5 has support for TypeScript 2.5, whereas Angular 4 has support for the TypeScript 2.2 and 2.1 versions.
• Angular 5 has new router life cycle events added to it, which enable the developer with more vivid tracking ability, whereas Angular 4 has a conventional approach for tracking lifecycle events.
• Angular 5 supports multiple names for directives and components, whereas Angular 4 lacks supporting multiple naming schemes.

Angular 5 vs Angular 4 Comparison Table

Below is the topmost comparison between Angular 5 vs Angular 4:

The basis of comparison	Angular 5	Angular 4
TypeScript	TypeScript 2.5 is supported	TypeScript 2.1 and 2.2 are supported
Advantage	Build optimizer	Faster and compact
Preservation	Newlines, tabs, and whitespaces can be restricted	No such choice to restrict unnecessary tabs, whitespaces
HttpClient	Update httpclient with @angular/common/HTTP	HttpClient is part of @angular/HTTP module
Router events	The developer can track the route of events	Prior 5, this feature remains unavailable in earlier versions
Bug fixes	Fixes the bug regard to animation and router	Animation and router related bugs exist prior 5 release

Conclusion

A final question arises, like, which is the best framework for web development among Angular 5 vs Angular 4. However, choosing the correct and appropriate version will always be dicey in nature. Since regular updates are arriving at a regular interval, it makes a tough decision to choose among the versions. A developer needs to consider several factors like project details, client requirements, and the complexity of implementing a certain functionality.

Application development using Angular provides core features like security, flexibility, and scalability. Since the inception of Angular 4, performance and speed have been improved significantly. Angular 5 has its own set of features like build optimizer, which was earlier missing with version 4. Not just this, but lots of other changes are also considered upon, in several areas. The developer’s ease with the version makes a better and suitable choice for web development. A developer can adapt styles and restriction that comes along with every version. The same is applicable for Angular as well. At the end of the day, its developer’s ability to handle the project’s complexity and understand the new functionality arriving with a specific version. If this understanding is vivid, then implementing a specific version should not be a hard task to meet client requirements.

Recommended Article

This has been a guide to the top difference between Angular 5 vs Angular 4. Here we also discuss the key differences with infographics and comparison table. You may also have a look at the following Angular 5 vs Angular 4 articles to learn more –

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2. Angular 2 vs Vue JS
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4. Angular 2 vs ReactJS