Angular 4 is the latest surprise coming from Google. The surprise of this release doesn’t consist of the release itself, but rather the fact that Google has decided to completely bypass the release of Angular 3. And do you want to know what’s even more curious? Google event went as far as announcing Angular 3. This happened a couple months ago when the aforementioned software was scheduled to replace Angular 2. The predicted time period then was 6 months after Angular 2’s release. Back in December, Google also release Angular 2.3. The update brought some changes although nothing major. This sort of low impact updates seems to be what the company is going for regarding Angular. Some of the things introduced in Angular 2.3 are upgrades to the language service and updated pertaining to checking errors and type completing. This is achieved through Angular Templates and the update as a whole is a direct successor of the November update, Angular 2.2.
This change isn’t completely random, as there is a motive behind it. More on that has been explained by Igor Minar, who represents Google. The explanation came in Belgium during Google’s NG-BE 2016 Angular conference and according to what was said there, the change is related to the router version scheduled for usage. To be more specific, it was predicted that the upcoming version of Angular would be using version 4 routers. Furthermore, according to Google there will come a time when so many versions of Angular will be available that having a different name of title for each of time would be highly confusing. That is the reason why Google prefers to keep it simple and just call the software Angular.
Further elaborating on the upcoming release of Angular 4, the Google officials went to say that a series of beta phases were underwent by the software. This period commenced back in December 2016 and is slated to continue until the month of March, in 2017. Angular 4 is scheduled for release to the general public on the 1st of March, meaning that Google is going to cut it close with ending the beta phase.
There are several things that users can expect from the upcoming Angular version. One of the most important things is that the platform will come with a backwards compatibility feature. For those new to the terminology, this basically means that Angular 2 things will be compatible and able to be run through or with the help of Angular 4. This is a great feature to have because a lot of time and other resources can be saved by not having to juggle with two JavaScript frameworks due to compatibility issues. Another very important change is the replacement of TypeScript 1.8 with the more advanced TypeScript 2.1. Being stuck on TypeScript 1.8 is definitely not something that Google likes to even consider, as it has actually specified.
Related blog: 8 Useful AngularJS Tools for Developers To Build Creative Web Apps
There are still a lot of updates in the foreseeable future for the JavaScript framework platform. Sometime during the month of October 2017, we should see the release of Angular, if Google is to maintain its current philosophy regarding update deployment. Following the same pattern, an Angular 7 release date should be sate for the same period of the year 2018. Google officials have announced that the drastic changes found within Angular 4 (or just Angular, according to Google) won’t be found in future releases. They further went on to explain that they are looking for a fine balance between update and stability. In other words, the next installments will feature less impactful changes. As is the case with TypeScript 2.1 and its update from TypeScript 1.8, certain highly impactful changes can be mandatory so that they ensure Angular’s relevance and therefore we do not reach a state where the platform becomes obsolete. Angular is part of an ecosystem that it needs to keep up with, but at the same time certain ruptures in said ecosystem are needed so that both it and Angular can prosper.
Conclusion
That being said, the future of Angular looks promising and if the platform has anything at all, that’s potential for bigger things. It will be very interesting to see how Angular, or Angular 4 will manifest in that ecosystem we were talking about a minute ago, and also how the updates that will follow after it will impact Angular users and the way they use the platform. With plans for future releases scattered all the way to 2018, it’s safe to assume that we haven’t heard the last of this JavaScript framework.
