Forgive me readers for it’s been a while since my last post and I would love to say that I have been diligently working using Angular in the interim, but that wouldn’t be a very accurate reflection. However, I have been tinkering away in the background and I have some further observations as a result.
Firstly, and I know this will come as a surprise, but Angular JS is not the only language, nor is it a unifying force that will bring harmony to the world of coding. It will not provide the last language you will ever need. It’s a shock, I know, but there it is. This was underlined to me when I almost got seduced by React JS, but after some investigation, I resisted. What it taught me was that languages all have their strengths and weaknesses, but moreover, the effort required to learn and effectively use a language is inversely proportional to the flexibility provided by that language. When I read the comparisons between Angular and React that message came through loud and clear; the learning curve with Angular would be steeper, but the result would provide greater flexibility and would provide a more rounded capability. I am sure this is self-evident to most and follows logically, after all, the amount of options and variability in what you need to know, the more able it will be to fit a wide variety of requirements and, consequently, the more you have to learn to take advantage of those options. Obvious really.
Secondly, I have began to see the significant range and level of capabilities afforded by Firebase. So far it appears to offer pretty much everything needed to deliver all the supporting functionality needed to deliver a web application. I am not left with the impression that it is completely plug and play, without any baseline knowledge or understanding, but it is certainly incredibly feature rich for something that is essentially free, at least to start with. How cost effective it remains if you have a successful app I can’t say, but it certainly enables you to get up and running quickly to prove a concept. This is definitely a genuine step forward.
As I get back into the swing of things in this New Year, I have renewed optimism that this will be the year I finally get an app delivered and that Angular JS and Firebase are the way forward. Now I need to put the best intentions into action.