Learning AngularJS

by Brad Dayley

Learning AngularJS Get started with AngularJS web development fast AngularJS is one of the most exciting and innovative new technologies emerging in the world of web development. Designed to simplify the development and testing of web applications, it also provides structure for the entire development process. Websites are no longer simple static content–instead, websites have become much more dynamic, with a single page often serving as the entire site or application. And AngularJS allows web developers to build the necessary programming logic for such applications directly into a web page, binding the data model for the client web application to backend services and databases. AngularJS also allows the extension of HTML so that the UI design logic can be expressed easily in an HTML template file. Learning AngularJS shows you how to create powerful, interactive web applications that have a well-structured, reusable code base that will be easy to maintain. You’ll also learn how to leverage AngularJS’s innovative MVC approach to implement well-designed and well-structured web pages and web applications. Understand how AngularJS is organized and learn best practices for designing AngularJS applications Find out how to define modules and utilize dependency injection Quickly build AngularJS templates with built-in directives that enhance the user experience Bind UI elements to your data model, so changes to your model and UI occur automatically in tandem Define custom AngularJS directives that extend HTML Implement zoomable images, expandable lists, and other rich UI components Implement client-side services that interact with web servers Build dynamic browser views to provide even richer user interaction Create custom services you can easily reuse Design unit and end-to-end tests for AngularJS applications Contents at a Glance 1  Jumping Into JavaScript Setting Up a JavaScript Development Environment Using Node.js  Defining Variables Understanding JavaScript Data Types Using Operators Implementing Looping Creating Functions Understanding Variable Scope Using JavaScript Objects Manipulating Strings Working with Arrays Adding Error Handling 2  Getting Started with AngularJS Why AngularJS? Understanding AngularJS An Overview of the AngularJS Life Cycle Separation of Responsibilities Integrating AngularJS with Existing JavaScript and jQuery Adding AngularJS to Your Environment Bootstrapping AngularJS in an HTML Document Using the Global APIs Creating a Basic AngularJS Application Using jQuery or jQuery Lite in AngularJS Applications 3  Understanding AngularJS Application Dynamics Looking at Modules and Dependency Injection Defining an AngularJS Module Object Creating Providers in AngularJS Modules Implementing Providers and Dependency Injection Applying Configuration and Run Blocks to Modules 4  Implementing the Scope as a Data Model Understanding Scopes Implementing Scope Hierarchy 5  Using AngularJS Templates to Create Views Understanding Templates Using Expressions Using Filters Creating Custom Filters 6  Implementing Directives in AngularJS Views Understanding Directives Using Built-in Directives 7  Creating Your Own Custom Directives to Extend HTML Understanding Custom Directive Definitions Implementing Custom Directives 8  Using Events to Interact with Data in the Model Browser Events User Interaction Events Adding $watches to Track Scope Change Events Emitting and Broadcasting Custom Events 9  Implementing AngularJS Services in Web Applications Understanding AngularJS Services Using the Built-in Services Using the $q Service to Provide Deferred Responses 10  Creating Your Own Custom AngularJS Services Understanding Custom AngularJS Services Integrating Custom Services into Your AngularJS Applications 11  Creating Rich Web Application Components the AngularJS Way Building a Tabbed View Implementing Draggable and Droppable Elements 204 Adding a Zoom Vi

698 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 25, 2014

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid, concise resource that you can actually read through and use, as opposed to one of those giant reference manuals that collects dust on your bookshelf.

Was great for learning Angular 1.x. Unfortunately it was out-of-date upon arrival, as Angular hopped to version 2--and then to version 4 quickly thereafter.

Still a good resource if you find yourself supporting a legacy Angular 1.x codebase.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty thorough overview, but not quite enough depth to make it more than a beginner's book. Biggest ding on this book (worth docking it two stars) is not being current. The examples provided are not large or complicated enough for it to happen, but if the patterns he outlines are followed by new Angular devs into large/complicated projects would result in scope soup. Not once does he hint at the changes coming to Angular 2.0 and prepare developers by instructing them on it. Too much emphasis on $scope and barely even a footnote on bindToController and he just is not teaching in sync with the way Angular is transitioning. A big reason why there haven't been many new books written on Angular in the last 6 months is because authors don't want to publish something that will be instantly out-of-date when Angular 2.0 (and even 1.4 for that matter) is finalized.

The fact that this book was published a month or so ago and is teaching the material as if nothing in the Angular world between spring of 2014 and now have happened is without excuse. Several of the concepts being taught in this new book are not only out of fashion but are falling into the territory of "anti-patterns" in the Angular world. If you've got time to kill in a bookstore and feel like reading this or if you get this book for free, it's probably worth the read (I admit I did learn several new things), however if you're new to Angular I would advise you to either wait a couple more months until newer Angular books start being released, or find some good online articles instead

On the positive side of things, he is very thorough. I doubt there are any other Angular books out there that list and describe as many of the options and intended usages of built-in Angular services as this one does. Sure, you could go online to the Angular docs to see each method and method parameter listed and their intended usages for something like the $location service, but it's nice to see it in print form and paraphrased as well as this author does. It's certainly worth the extra length to the book to have that more usable reference material.