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shantanu mahakale
shantanu mahakale

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Quick Recap: Angular Versions

#frontend #angular #typescript #performance

Angular continues to evolve with a strong focus on performance, developer productivity, and reduced bundle size. Here's a version-wise recap from Angular 8 onwards — covering the most relevant features for developers.

Angular 8

  • Ivy Engine (Preview) – New rendering engine
  • Differential Loading – Generates separate bundles for modern & legacy browsers
  • Lazy Loading with Dynamic Imports 
loadChildren: () => import('./module').then(m => m.Module)
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  • Web Worker Support (ng generate web-worker) 👉 Foundation for future major upgrades.

Angular 9

  • Ivy Rendering Engine becomes default
  • Smaller bundle sizes
  • Faster compilation
  • Better debugging & type checking
  • Improved Test Performance 👉 A major change — Ivy officially replaces View Engine.

Angular 10

  • Smaller, cleaner package size
  • Optional chaining & nullish coalescing (TS 3.9) 
user?.address?.city
value ?? 'default'
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  • Stricter project setup (ng new app --strict)
  • New Date Range Picker in Angular Material 👉 Focus on quality and type safety.

Angular 11

  • Faster builds & HMR (Hot Module Replacement) 
ng serve --hmr
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  • Automatic font optimization
  • Updated ESLint instead of TSLint
  • Improved logging & debugging 👉 Better DX (Developer Experience).

Angular 12

  • Removed support for View Engine → Ivy-only
  • Strict mode by default
  • Webpack 5 support
  • Nullish Coalescing in templates 
{{ user?.name ?? 'Guest' }}
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👉 Push towards modern tooling.

Angular 13

  • No more ngcc (Angular Compatibility Compiler)
  • ESBuild for faster builds
  • Simplified Angular Package Format
  • Component API improvements 👉 Cleaned up legacy dependencies — faster builds.

Angular 14

  • Standalone Components (major change!) 
@Component({
standalone: true,
template: <h1>Hello</h1>
})
export class HelloComponent {}
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  • Typed Reactive Forms
  • Better CLI autocompletion 👉 Can build apps without NgModule — huge shift.

Angular 15

  • Standalone APIs officially stable
  • Functional route guards & resolvers 
const authGuard: CanActivateFn = (route, state) => true;
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  • Improved performance
  • Directive composition API 👉 Encourages modular and cleaner applications.

Angular 16

  • Signals (reactivity model, preview) 
const count = signal(0);
count.set(5);
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  • Server-side rendering improvements
  • Better hydration
  • Faster compilation 👉 Signals simplify state management — major future shift.

Angular 17 (Latest Major)

  • Full support for Signals (stable)
  • New Control Flow Syntax 
@if(condition) { ... }
@for(item of items) { ... }
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  • Better SSR & hydration
  • Improved routing with deferrable views
  • Standalone apps now the default 👉 Angular becomes lighter, more React-like.

Summary Table

Version Key Features
Angular 8 Ivy (preview), differential loading
Angular 9 Ivy default, faster builds
Angular 10 Optional chaining, strict mode
Angular 11 HMR, ESLint, font optimization
Angular 12 Ivy-only, Webpack 5
Angular 13 ESBuild, removed ngcc
Angular 14 Standalone components, typed forms
Angular 15 Functional guards, modular architecture
Angular 16 Signals (preview), SSR upgrades
Angular 17 Signals stable, new control flow

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