Angular 12 is the latest version of the popular front-end web development framework. Angular released in May 2021 comes with several new features and improvements that enhance the performance, productivity, and stability of the framework. In this article, we will see different key features and improvements in Angular 12.
There are several improvements made in the Angular v12, where fixing bug issues in the previous versions, which helps to improve the overall performance of the application. It supports the latest version of TypeScript, providing better performance and error checking. The different improvements that are made to Angular v12, are described below:
- Performance Improvements: One of the major focuses of Angular 12 is to improve performance. Angular 12 comes with a new compiler that reduces the size of generated code, leading to faster application startup times. The new compiler also supports the latest version of TypeScript, providing better performance and error checking.
- Improved Webpack 5 Support: Angular 12 now supports Webpack 5, which comes with several performance improvements and features such as caching, faster builds, and tree shaking. This enables developers to build faster and more efficient applications.
- Angular Material Updates: Angular Material is a UI component library for Angular applications. Angular 12 comes with updates to Angular Material, including new components, improved accessibility, and better theming options.
- Improved Testing Support: Angular 12 comes with improved testing support, including better mocking of dependencies, improved testing performance, and better error messages.
- Strict Mode by Default: A Strict mode is a compiler option that enforces strict type checking and helps catch common errors during development. In Angular 12, strict mode is enabled by default, making it easier for developers to write more reliable and maintainable code.
- Router Scrolling Improvements: Angular 12 comes with router scrolling improvements that make it easier to handle scrolling behavior when navigating between pages. The new router scrolling behavior is smoother and more reliable, making for a better user experience.
- Automatic Font Inlining: In previous versions of Angular, developers had to manually inline fonts in their applications. With Angular 12, font inlining is now automatic, leading to faster load times and improved performance.
- Angular Language Service Improvements: The Angular Language Service is a set of tools that provide code completion, error checking, and other helpful features for Angular developers using Visual Studio Code or other code editors. Angular 12 comes with improvements to the Angular Language Service, making it easier for developers to write code and catch errors before runtime.
- TypeScript 4.2 Support: Angular 12 supports TypeScript 4.2, & generally, it is recommended to use the latest version of TypeScript for improved performance and better language features. Angular 12 comes with several new features and improvements, including improved performance, stricter checks, and better error messaging in TypeScript version 4.2. This enhances the development experience and makes it easier for developers to write reliable and maintainable code.
- Better Error Handling: Angular 12 comes with better error handling, including more descriptive error messages and improved stack traces. This makes it easier for developers to debug and troubleshoot issues during development and in production.
- Deprecation of Internet Explorer 11 Support: Internet Explorer 11 is an outdated browser that does not support modern web standards. In Angular 12, support for Internet Explorer 11 is deprecated, meaning that future versions of Angular will no longer support this browser. This enables developers to use modern web technologies and focus on building for the future.
- Angular Ivy Concept: Angular Ivy is the new rendering engine introduced in Angular 9. It is a complete rewrite of the old rendering engine and is designed to make the Angular framework faster, smaller, and more flexible. Some benefits of Ivy include improved performance, smaller bundle sizes, improved debugging, and better compatibility with third-party libraries. Ivy is enabled by default in Angular 12.
- Transitioning from Legacy i18n Message IDs: Angular’s i18n feature is used for internationalizing an Angular application. In previous versions of Angular, the i18n message IDs were generated automatically based on the text content of the element. In Angular 12, it is recommended to use a custom message ID instead of the automatically generated IDs. This allows for better stability of the message IDs and prevents unnecessary updates of translations when the text content changes.
- Angular Protractor: Angular Protractor is an end-to-end testing framework for Angular applications. It is built on top of WebDriverJS and is designed to make it easy to write and run automated tests for Angular applications. Protractor is included in the Angular CLI and can be used to run tests locally or on a remote server.
- Nullish Coalescing Operator: The Nullish coalescing operator (??) is a new operator introduced in TypeScript 3.7. It allows for a concise way to check if a value is null or undefined and provides a default value in case it is. This operator is now supported in Angular 12.
- Stylish Improvements: Angular 12 introduces several improvements to the styling of Angular applications. One of the key improvements is the ability to use global styles and style preprocessor files (such as Sass) directly in the Angular CLI without having to manually configure them. This makes it easier to style Angular applications and ensures consistency across the application.
Overall, Angular 12 is a significant upgrade that brings many improvements and new features to the framework, making it faster, more performant, and easier to use. With faster builds, improved performance, and new features like strict mode and router scrolling, Angular 12 offers a lot of benefits to developers. Other notable improvements in Angular 12 include updates to the TestBed API, support for TypeScript 4.3, and improvements to the ngcc (Angular Compatibility Compiler) process, which is responsible for making third-party libraries compatible with Angular.
Conclusion: Angular 12 is an excellent choice for building scalable and maintainable web applications. With improvements to performance, testing support, and error handling, Angular 12 enables developers to build high-quality applications with ease. If you’re using an older version of Angular, it’s time to upgrade to Angular 12 and take advantage of its powerful features.