Technology Archives - Page 9 of 14

Why does every next-gen organization want to leverage mobility solutions today? That’s because the mobile apps have become the fast-track solution to influence the audiences. So, every company wants a dedicated mobile app.

But the real confusion arises when it comes to the choice of the right framework for mobile app development. As there are a vast number of competent frameworks available in the market, selecting the right framework becomes challenging.

What if there exists a promising framework that helps to design top-quality apps with fewer resources?

The Name of such a framework is React Native and is developed by Facebook and Instagram. React Native mobile app development is preferred by several big players in the market like Facebook, UberEats, Delivery.com, Skype, Bloomberg, Instagram, Vogue, Tesla, etc. to name a few. Javascript and JSX are used to create IOS and Android native apps. With the help of native layout components, React Native is able to create convincing UIs that are pretty much similar to native apps.

Reusability of components, sharable code repository and, “Learn once, write anything” objective, have already made React Native a winning choice for cross-platform app development. So, if you are going to build your next app with this framework or going to hire a React Native development company for your project, this blog will help you to make an informed decision. Here’s a list of some noteworthy pros and cons of the React Native framework.

Pros of using React Native for your Mobile App

Time and Cost-effective Solution

React Native app development allows the re-usability of the code i.e. the same code is being used for both Android and iOS platforms. As Javascript is used for development, it gives an opportunity for the developers to use the same codebase not only for mobile platforms but also for React web applications. This makes the job smoother, faster and easier for developers. Targeting multiple OS with one code reduces the coding time by 30-35% approximately. A single team can code for multiple platforms. As a result, team-size is reduced and the project becomes manageable.

React Native has ‘ready-to-apply’ components. So, instead of writing the code from scratch, the React Native app developers can use these components and save their efforts. All these factors boost the cost-effectiveness. The app can be launched in the market at the earliest, improving the time-to-market.

Modular architecture

This framework has a modular architecture. It allows the developers to segregate the functions of the code into the blocks called modules. These modules are interchangeable and free and they can be re-used for web and mobile APIs. Due to this, React Native mobile app development becomes flexible, and updating the apps becomes extremely easy.

Native App-like Performance

This framework uses native modules and native controls, which enhances the performance of the apps. The apps built using React Native render their user interface using the native APIs. Consequently, the performance of these apps is quite native-like.

Growing Community- Support

React Native is an open-source framework and anyone can contribute to its growth. This community of talented and experienced React Native app developers helps anyone and everyone who needs a piece of advice on an issue. It has active support from GitHub and Facebook. Facebook itself uses this framework and their team constantly works to introduce new features, functionalities, libraries as well. Also, companies like Microsoft, Callstack, Infinite Red, Software Mansion, etc. have made their contribution to React Native.

Good Reliability and Stability

Despite being a new framework comparatively, it is much stable and reliable. It has simplified data binding due to which child elements do not affect the parent data. So, if a developer changes any object, s/he would need to modify its state and then accordingly apply the updates, letting only allowed components to be upgraded.

‘Hot-reload’ feature

This is another precious feature of React Native. If a developer makes changes in the code or tweaks the UI, it immediately reflects in the apps, like a live preview even if the apps are running. The developer does not need to rebuild the app for every small change made in the code. It enables the implementation of feedbacks faster and reduces the wait time.

Third-party plugin support

Third-party plugins are usually not considered to be secure and so, the developers face challenges while using them. React Native, on the other hand, has many third-party libraries that are quite flexible and can be used swiftly. Also, there are pragmatic interfaces in React Native having customization options.

Simplified User Interface

React Native looks more like a JavaScript library and not a framework, where the user interfaces are simplified and platform-specific. So, the apps designed in React Native are more responsive and have a smoother feel.

Declarative coding style

The declarative coding style in React Native simplifies the coding process and coding paradigms which makes the development understandable. The code can be easily read and understand, simply by looking at it.

Cons of using React Native for App Development

Small Collection of Components

React Native is still in its infancy. Though it has ‘ready-made’ components to use, the collection is small. Some of the components may even not meet the expected standards, as they aren’t developed by official developers. This limits the developers to create simple basic apps. For developing an app with custom native-like features, one might have to maintain 3 codebases like react native, iOS, and Android.

Memory Management

React Native is based on JavaScript and not suited for the apps that are computation intensive. In terms of memory usage and management, float computations are handled inefficiently and the speed and performance are significantly degraded.

Need for Native Developers

To solve some of the issues in React Native, native modules are required. However, implementing them requires expertise in Java/ Swift/Objective-C and detailed knowledge of a specific platform. So, we can’t deny that occasionally, some help from native developers may be needed. This could be problematic especially to small enterprises or start-ups.

Lacks the Security Robustness

Being an open-source framework the security robustness of React Native may get affected. While creating data-sensitive apps like banking or financial apps, experts advise that this framework should not be used as it is based on JavaScript which is known for its instability.

Isn’t Ideal for All Business Requirements

React Native is known for saving time and money, however, it may not suit every business requirement. At times, when complex features are required to be used in the apps, React Native may not be the apt choice.

Are You Interested in Building a Top-Class Website or Mobile App?

Key Takeaways:

React Native has been one of the most sought after frameworks for mobile app development. Though it has its downfalls like every other framework, its advantages surpass the downfalls. Also, the huge React community growing at a fast pace is highly likely to develop more efficient and advanced components and functionalities, making it ‘THE BEST’ framework in the future.

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The dynamic team of the popular typescript-based web framework, Angular, has been known for its periodic updates to keep up with changing times and emerging technologies. And, here’s another update that has created a buzz in the technical world. Their latest update, Angular 13, rolled out on 3rd November 2021; is one of their most organized, pre-planned, and game-changing updates so far.

So, what’s new in angular13? Well, this post discusses all the noteworthy add-ons, embellishments, improvements, deletions as well as modifications. Let’s peek through the novel offerings of Angular 13!

Angular 13: Major Add-ons, Enhancements, and Modifications

Ivy View Engine replaces the Legacy View engine

After the Angular team had rolled out multiple updated versions that marked a transitioning phase to the Ivy View Engine, Angular 13 is now 100% Ivy. Angular has completely removed support for the legacy view engine and supports only Ivy. The existing libraries will get migrated to the “partial” compilation mode automatically and the metadata that was earlier needed for the legacy View Engine will be removed. Angular developers should switch from “enableIvy:false” to “compilationMode:partial” to keep up with the update.

This update brings about speedier compilation as well as enhanced productivity to Angular app development. Moreover, the Ivy approach enables developers to write codes dynamically unlike the previous versions, wherein the developers needed a boilerplate for code creation. Using the previous versions, developers are required to inject ComponentFactoryResolver into the constructor for creating components. But, with V13, components can be created without having to create an associated factory using ViewContainerRef.createComponent.

Modifications in the APF (Angular Package Format)

The APF (Angular Package Format) defines the format and the structure of the packages contained within the Angular framework. This approach greatly helps in packaging third-party libraries in the web development environment. Angular 13 comes with a new version of the APF, a modernized and streamlined APF.

Modifications and add-ons

Older output formats including View Engine-specific metadata, have been eliminated which will minimize the maintenance expenses as well as the complexity of the codebase.
Libraries created using the updated APF will not need to use ngcc any longer; resulting in a leaner package as well as quicker execution.
The production of UMD bundles have been removed
The new APF supports Node package Exports and as such, Angular developers will no longer unknowingly rely on internal APIs that are subject to change.
It generates ES2020 output and Ivy partial compilation output
The new APF makes use of the package exports using the sub-path pattern feature from Node.js for displaying multiple available outputs at each entry point.

Form and Router Enhancements

V13 comes with FormControlStatus, a new type for forms which is a union type of all status strings possible concerning form controls. This add-on brings about two more modifications – the type of AbstractControlStatus changes to FormControlStatus and StatusChanges now has Observable instead of Observable.

V13 introduces a host of new functions that manage form validation like addValidators, setValidators, hasValidators, removeValidators, alongside their equivalent async versions – addAsyncValidators, setAsyncValidators, hasAsyncValidators, and removeAsyncValidators.

Now let’s take a look at the router modifications. The earlier Angular versions had an empty string to set the routerLink directive value to zero and undefined; without any means for disabling the link’s navigation. However, with Angular 13, you can entirely disable the navigation, if you set the same values to routerLink directive. Another add-on is Active Change, a new output for the RouterLink directive; which is produced every time when a related link becomes either active or inactive. Developers using V13 can use dynamic ESM import statements as in this updated version; the load property that is a part of the route definition is unable to accept string values.

Enhancements to Angular Material Components

The enhancements made to Angular Material Components include:

The addition of a default role to the “table” and stepper updations
Improved ARIA descriptions and Datepicker
Better accessibility of matChipRemove and a sturdy focus option for the slider
The touch sizes of the radio buttons and checkboxes are now bigger resulting in a smoother UX with higher contrast modes.
The feature of accurately detecting fake mouse down events from the screen readers employing FocusMonitor such that Angular applications are able to correctly interpret the occurrence of focus or click events on the screen.

Performance Improvements in Angular 13

The usage of ergonomic code-splitting APIs and the practice of breaking down the granular code at a component level has reduced the load times considerably.
ESBuild, a superfast JavaScript bundler, has helped in enhancing the performance as well. It works with Terser for optimizing global scripts, supports CSS source maps that allow optimized global CSS, and also supports languages such as Vue, Svelte, and Elm that are used in other frameworks.
Owing to the new enhanced Angular CLI, the framework currently supports persistent build-cache by default – build outcomes are cached on the disk. Consequently, the speed of Angular app development accelerates by 68% as compared to the existing speed.
In V13, the opt-in feature is enabled by default
There are no Angular traits such as Directive, Component, Pipe, NgModule decorators, Injectable, etc. in the incremental builds performance.

Support for IE11 removed

The Angular team has removed support for IE11 (Internet Explorer11) in the latest version Angular13, based on customer feedback, to make it future-ready. As a result, the entire infrastructure concerning IE11 – build passes, CSS code paths, polyfills, special JS, etc. – will be eliminated.

Advantages

Angular can now enjoy the benefits of native web APIs and also leverage the features of new-age browsers – web animations and CSS variables.
Angular applications built in Angular 13 will have smaller-sized bundles and load faster as code paths and IE-specific polyfills can be removed.
It eliminated the requirement for differential loading.

The build infrastructure and enhanced APIs will prove beneficial to Angular app developers, whereas the end-users will enjoy speedier load times as well as an improved UX.

However, this update will affect organizations that still use Internet Explorer 11 and have not yet migrated to modern browsers like Microsoft Edge. For migrating your project to Angular 13, you have to run the ng update – this will automatically drop the IE-specific polyfills and minimize the bundle size during migration. The existing Angular development projects that still need the support for IE11, can continue using Angular 12, which will be supported till November 2022.

Other Noteworthy Add-ons and Enhancements in Angular 13

The introduction of TypeScript 4.4 allows users to access the multiple languages functionality while working on it. This feature was absent in the previous Typescript versions.
Now in-built validators like max,min, and minLength can be dynamically enabled or disabled.
The support for inlining Adobe Fonts has been added in Angular 13, just as inlining Google font support was added during the Angular11 update. Inlining fonts are responsible for speeding up the FCP (First Conceptual Performance) and this improves the web performance substantially.
Angular Developers can leverage the benefits of the updated RxJS7.4 for developing new projects employing the new ‘ng’ command. The Angular projects that are in RxJS V6.x, are to be manually updated with the help of the command npm install rjs@7.4.
The TestBed segment is now an improved one that functions impeccably to tear down test modules and environments after every test. The DOM gets cleaned by default after each test. So, developers can expect tests that are lesser memory-intensive, have a lower amount of interdependency, are more optimized, and get executed much faster.