The triumph of any application you create dramatically depends on the different development practices and tricks you use—AngularJS development functions with the same principle.
AngularJS is an open-source JavaScript framework that developers use to build frontend applications. It comes with modular support, an extensive community, and all the tools that help develop and manage dynamic frontend web apps.
Moreover, this popular framework powers multiple high-traffic websites like PayPal, Virgin America, Netflix, Gmail, Google, etc.
The rich experience the AngularJS developers worldwide have acquired in the last decade has evolved into some of the best tips and tricks. And these practices have worked efficiently to help AngularJS counterparts create remarkable applications on this framework.
So, I have compiled a list of the best tips and tricks to optimize AngularJS performance. These tips are straight from AngularJS professionals. From directive utilization to handling DOM manipulation, this list will help clear any performative issues your web app may face.
Significance of AngularJS
Let us look at some of the best AngularJS features and functionalities that set it apart. Also, by understanding the core functioning of this framework, you can improve your website’s performance.
MVW Architecture
The Angular team refers to this model as Model-View-Whatever (MVW) architecture, a combination of MVC and MVVM architecture. Like MVVM (Model-View-View-Model) architecture, the touchpoint for data in AngularJS is the View layer, which makes unit testing seamless and event-driven coding.
Unlike many frameworks that leverage MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture, Angular doesn't need much work from you.
Two-Way Data Binding
The AngularJS framework offers developers two-way data binding. It smoothly harmonizes the data between the Model and View layers. So, these two components are automatically updated in real time whenever the data is changed or modified.
Directives
Directives are one of the unique features of AngularJS. They help you build new HTML syntax or customize the existing ones ideal for your application. The directives also help build reusable widgets that save up your development time. Hence, you can also utilize directives to manipulate DOM attributes.
POJO Data Models – Scopes
The data models in AngularJS are called Scopes. They are Plain Old Java Objects (POJO) that don't require get/set functions. They are also temporary storage areas without any properties or data. Developers can easily add and modify properties looping over arrays and objects through the Controller, and AngularJS can automatically upgrade the View layer accordingly.
Dependency Injection
The dependency injection in AngularJS helps you to define how your app is wired declaratively. This means your app requires no primary () method, which is commonly unmanageable chaos. And any component that doesn't fit your requirements can easily be changed.
Unit Testing
AngularJS was designed from scratch to be testable to prevent any debugging problems of other frameworks. Also, multiple AngularJS frameworks allow for unit testing and come pre-bundled with mocks. Hence, developers can efficiently debug faults and make the code operative using unit testing and dependency injection.
Digest Cycle
Every time you build a scope or use a built-in directive, a watcher is developed. This watcher tracks down any modifications in the value of the scope to which it is linked. A corresponding watcher function is produced in the digest cycle when a watcher is built.
The digest cycle is a function loop that acquires a list of multiple watchers of the app. Hence, the watchers and digest cycle employ two-way binding in AngularJS.
Best AngularJS Optimization Tips and Tricks
Whether you’re looking for performance optimization or if you want to see if there is any growth potential, here are a few significant tips and tricks for getting your AngularJS solutions up to speed:
1. Limit Your Watchers
Speaking of, any time you begin with data-bindings, you build more $$watchers and $scopes, which extends the digest cycle. Too many $$watchers can lead to delays, so restrict their use as far as possible.
2. Keep Tabs on Your Digest Cycle
The digest cycle of your AngularJS app is a proper indication of its performance. Consider the digest cycle like a loop that scans for any modifications to variables being monitored. The smaller the digest cycle, the faster your app will function.
3. Use scope.$evalAsync
When you try to activate the digest cycle manually while it's already functioning, there can be an error. To avoid this situation, use scope.$evalAsync instead of $apply when you begin the digest cycle. It lines up the operations to be carried out at the end of the current cycle without starting a new one.
4. Use One-Time Binding
If you still use an older version of AngularJS, you can use one-time binding. You just need to add a double colon before the value. If applied rightly, the value will resolve once and vanish from the watcher's list.
5. Limit DOM access
Accessing the DOM can get expensive, so keep your DOM trees small. Don't modify the DOM if you can help it, and don't set any inline styles to avoid JavaScript reflow.
6. Use console.time
Suppose you're facing any challenges while debugging; here - console.time (Chrome DevTools) is one of the excellent DevOps tools for measuring execution times and other performance benchmarks.
7. Use Chrome DevTools Profiler and Timeline
Utilizing the DevTools Profiler and the Timeline tools can assist you in looking for performance limitations to direct your optimization efforts.
8. Disable CSS Class and Comment Directives
When building a directive, you can label it to be utilized as a CSS class, comment, attribute, or element. So, if you don't require comment directives and CSS class, disable them for a better performance.
9. Use $cacheFactory
Suppose you want to store data that you may require to recompute later; utilize the $cacheFactory directive. It functions smoothly like any other memoization approach.
10. Tight Scoping
Uphold your variables scoped closely so that the JavaScript garbage collector frees up some memory once in a while.
11. Debounce ng-model
Debouncing inputs utilizing the ng-model directive can restrict the digest cycle. For instance, applying ng-model-options="{debounce:200}" assures that the digest cycle doesn't function more than once every 200 ms.
The Bottom Line!
Finally, considering these best practices for developing AngularJS applications or optimizing them later will help immensely.
Although multiple JavaScript frameworks are gaining prominence nowadays, AngularJS remains the number one choice for developers, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon. And to make the best out of your applications, you should make AngularJS optimization a steady habit. Hence, fine-tuning your application's performance by following these best tips and tricks might enable you to provide more content while utilizing less code, freeing up resources that can be spent elsewhere.
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