A very Angular learning curve

Recently my team at work have been working with Angular JS, a Javascript framework created, used and published by Google. We’ve used it extensively in our new website, which is created from static HTML and Javascript files with no server-side page generation. All the work is done by the browser and user interaction is processed using a REST API.

I didn’t actually do any of the coding on the website and so I did not have the opportunity to learn how to use Angular JS during the project as the rest of my team did, so in order that I did not fall behind on the skill I decided to learn it myself in my own time by creating a web-based tool which creates DHCPd configuration files. The application is boring (although actually useful if you run such a server), but that’s not the point, it was a learning exercise.

Angular JS has a bit of a learning curve. It works in different ways to other Javascript libraries and frameworks and it takes a while when you’ve started from scratch to “think Angular”, rather than in ways in which you may have become accustomed with things like jQuery, itself revolutionary in the world of Javascript, but Angular takes it to a whole new level. Once you are “thinking Angular” things become much clearer and easier and you find yourself in a very natural-feeling flow.

I’ve made the exercise available on Github. You may find the tool itself useful if you’re a system administrator, but if you’re a developer it’s more likely the demonstration of a simple Angular application that you will probably see more value in.

I have some larger extra-curricular projects around the corner which I intend to base on Angular JS and expand my knowledge. We’ll also continue to use it at work and will almost certainly use it when it comes to re-implementing the user interface of the company’s internal browser-based management system.