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Google Says Angular 2 Will Support Python, Java (thenewstack.io)

Posted by BeauHD on from the prepare-for-a-smooth-landing dept.

An anonymous reader writes: Google will release a faster beta version of Angular 2 in about two weeks, with a smaller version targeted for April. "We're improving our ability to handle different languages," says Google's Brad Green, noting that 213 contributors are currently working on Angular. "Our plan is to have versions that will work with many server-side technologies, from Java to Python." Microsoft has already demonstrated how it's building Angular into ASP.NET and Google is also working with the Drupal team. But Green says they'll also continue supporting Angular 1 for at least another year, until a majority of users have transitioned to the new syntax. Google says there are currently 21.3 million developers using Angular 1, compared to just 300,000 using Angular 2. "We've got a ways go to," Green admitted.

20 of 92 comments (clear)

  1. js crapware fad of the month by ralphsiegler · · Score: 5, Insightful

    no one values a stable web platform any more? they have to use lastest fad thing?

    1. Re:js crapware fad of the month by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 5, Funny

      >> no one values a stable web platform any more

      To their credit, they did the right thing in incrementing the major version number.

      >> Google's Brad Green, noting that 213 contributors are currently working on Angular...Google says there are currently 21.3 million developers using Angular 1

      1 developer for each 100,000 users. Coincidence...or aliens?

    2. Re:js crapware fad of the month by Zalbik · · Score: 2

      1 developer for each 100,000 users.

      That sounds *exactly* like the thinking of a machine to me.

      Where's Keanu Reeves when you need him?

    3. Re:js crapware fad of the month by phantomfive · · Score: 2

      no one values a stable web platform any more?

      There has never been a stable web platform for frontend.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  2. Re:JAVA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who uses Java anymore? I thought that stuff was virus-prone. I haven't installed Java in years.

    It's depressing that I can't know for sure if you're trolling or genuinely that stupid.

  3. What is Angular? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Funny

    I'm assuming this is some sort of fishing-related framework.

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    1. Re:What is Angular? by Jack+Griffin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I thought this was news for nerds, not news for web app developers....

  4. Re: JAVA? by pchasco · · Score: 2

    Apparently a lot of people still use Java: http://spectrum.ieee.org/compu...

  5. Front end? by roninmagus · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Can someone explain why the backend matters? I've not used Angular 2 but have used 1 extensively, and it always just calls a rest service for JSON. I understand others will have other needs, but won't you always just be calling a URL to get or submit data? That service could be written in BASIC for all I care.

    1. Re:Front end? by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 2

      Long story short, I think it's that major IDE's (e.g., Visual Studio, Eclipse?) will now be "compiling to typescript" where the typescript will be leveraging the Angular 2 framework. (Anyone...accurate?)

    2. Re:Front end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The main case for backend support is isomorphism.

      You run into a few problems when you put angular1 or 2 apps into production on the SEO side of things and also on the first hit performance side of things.

      For the SEO side of things, even though the google bots do execute javascript they do not wait for async actions to complete. Angular Apps usually load some templates via XHR and/or json data from a service, so these won't complete and google will index a broken site where nothing works.
      ( Don't mention prerendering via a headless browser, this does not work and will never work )

      On the other side of things even if you inline and minify templates etc... you will always either have a big bundle of templates to download on the first hit ( more than you acutally need ) or load them individually... So you end up with a lot slower first hit experience than you might want.

      Enter isomorphism: The idea is to have your client side routes also exist on the server, so that when a user or google comes in the server can render out the necessary templates and even service data directly to the returned page, so zero async calls are required and rendering can start immediatly .all while downloading the EXACT content needed for that. and no more.

      Afterwards the normal rendering process takes over and its business as usual.

      This requires server support ( we had to write it ourselves for ASP.NET Core 1.0 in my last project ) and ideally should be DRY....
      We currently configure our angular ui-router routes just on the server specifiy template and data dependencies and the server renders it out exactly like that ( prepopulating the template cache and the data cache of angular 1 )

      We have gotten our first hit time to a fully rendered page ( neglecting any networking latency ) down to 50ms that way, and we have no extra work anymore to keep the SEO people happy.

    3. Re:Front end? by gohmifune · · Score: 2

      Perhaps they aren't referring to the backend, but the language that one would use before compiling?

    4. Re:Front end? by cyclomedia · · Score: 2

      Wait, what? You're saying that if I went to http://example.com/x/y/z Directly I'd get the exact same HTML rendered out as if I'd gone to http://example.com/ and clicked a link to /x/y/z ?

      So basically, after forcing all this ajax on everyone for years you're finally getting back to Web 1.0 with proper links that actually link to stuff instead of linking to a pile of javascript

      --
      If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
  6. Should work with any type of server side technolog by jjn1056 · · Score: 4, Informative

    Angular.js is a framework that runs on the client, typically a web browser. At the minimal you need a web server written in any old language and it communicates to the server via existing protocols, AJAX, HTML forms, etc. Any backend language will work. I use Angular2 beta right now with my Perl based web application.

    Maybe they intend to release tools and plugins for popular frameworks to make it easier? I have no idea...

    --
    Peace, or Not?
  7. They should call it !Angular by ilsaloving · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I was a major fan of Angular until all this crap with Angular 2.

    Was it *really* necessary to make fundamental changes to the syntax, thereby making it completely incompatible with Angular 1? It's dishonest to even call it Angular 2, when it has almost nothing in common with the previous.

    And everyone thought Java's constantly revolving APIs were bad...

    1. Re:They should call it !Angular by ilsaloving · · Score: 2

      The core language was stable, but because they didn't differentiate between the language and the support libraries, it basically amounted to them continually 'changing' java. Java now has a bajillion different ways of doing the same things. There are multiple windowing toolkits (AWT, Swing, etc), and don't get me started about server side stuff. JSP. Faces. It's ridiculous, and makes it unnecessarily difficult for people to get into java development cause there are too many equally valid sub-technologies to learn, and many (bad) projects may even mix and match between them.

  8. So when will this majority switch exactly? by roman_mir · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I don't see how it is possible to have the majority switch to anything from their existing code base. I predict a gigantic fail for this plan of switching people from AngularJS 1 to AngularJS 2 in a year. It's nonsense.

    Let me explain something to Google here: vast majority of projects will not be rewritten with AngularJS 2, if they have AngularJS 1 as the code base, they will stay AngularJS 1 and will continue being developed as AngularJS 1. It takes MONEY to switch from one framework to another, money that most projects already spent on design, development, testing and releasing into production in the first place.

    --
    You can't handle the truth.
  9. React by irrational_design · · Score: 2

    I've never used Angular or React, but I keep up with the JavaScript news and from everything I've read over the last year many developers have moved from Angular to React. My gut feeling is that Angular 2 will be too little too late. Or maybe that is too much too late since many developers seem to be moving away from monolithic frameworks like Angular to using best in class libraries (which many consider React to be). Only time will tell I suppose.

  10. What will the Cool Kids use? by Required+Snark · · Score: 2
    When it comes to web stuff I see a lot of fad driven behavior, i.e. new=cool=good.

    I have also been trying to choose between React and Angular for my next web effort. Without any clear release schedule for Angular 2, it seemed a tossup. Now that I've found out how far along it is the only rational choice is Angular 2.

    So Google has 231 confirmed contributes for Angular 2, and React has how many? Does anyone actually know? And since Google will be shifting resources from Angular 1 to Angular 2, it's clear that Angular 2 will be very well supported in the future. What kind of guarantee is there that React will get the same level of support that Google will provide in the next three years?

    If you RTFA, you'll notice that Google is using it internally for CRM and will be testing it in public with weather.com. Google is not infallible, but they do have skin in the game as far as their reputation is concerned. It will be solid and the roll out will be on time.

    So for an organization of any size that depends on it's web presence, do you think they will go with Google or with Brand X? At some level, it doesn't make any difference if Brand X is better. And once the network effect kicks in, Angular 2 will dominate. The race has already been decided.

    It seems like React is the Cool Kids choice. It's New! Of course, there is a cost associated with new stuff, because it is not wrung out yet. But being ahead of the curve is a powerful inducement for a lot of people.

    The fact that Google re-architected Angular means that they took the lessons they learned the first time and made it better. Somehow that is not cool, even though it is good engineering practice.

    As for whining about changing the API, grow up. When the choice is a syntax change vs a completely different system, which is the better investment? There is the cool answer, and then there is the right answer.

    Arguing that so many people use Angular 1 that Angular 2 will be dead in the water is foolish. When Google ends support for version 1, do you think that the internet hoards will leap into action and take over maintenance and development? Or is it more likely that there will be a well defined process to move from 1 to 2, and 2 will become the de facto standard?

    If you want to use React, great. It might be the future. However if you are interested in having a known quantity with good support and large user community, Angular 2 will meet your expectations. Even if it is not cool.

    --
    Why is Snark Required?
  11. Re: JAVA? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    You are on slashdot. Odds are he's technically illiterate but thinks he's really in the know because he "hacks on linux".