I am a child of Angular signals
A few years ago, I started re-learning Angular by diving into various tutorials and building projects. My biggest side project was Awareness Color, which I built using Angular 14.
Over the summer, after wrapping up a work project, I felt it was time to re-re-learn Angular and began with the tutorials again. If you’re considering this path, I highly recommend Maximilian Scharzmeller. Wow, what a difference a few versions make! I’m looking at you, signals.
Since signals were introduced in the latest version, here are some insights I gained while trying to understand them better:
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The best and most up-to-date documentation about signals is the official Angular documentation. Many articles discussing signals are based on the preview version. Some methods, notably
mutate
, were not promoted to production (it appearscompute
is the preferred alternative). -
I realize I’ll need to learn more about observables one day, probably sooner rather than later, as most of the people I work with are slow to upgrade. Observables are still considered the most flexible way, or so they tell me, but I am through and through a child of signals. I’ll resist looking backward until my job depends on it.
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Upgrading AwarenessColor.com from Angular 14 to 17 was not trivial. It may be because the project is a bit of a mess, but I eventually gave up and started fresh. I’m kind of glad I did, as it gave me the opportunity to revisit some data structures, apply new concepts I’ve learned, and switch out several architectural directives.
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Deborah Kurata has a good series on signals.
In conclusion, upgrade to the newest angular! Please.