One Year of Angular: From Modules to Standalone Magic

Hey Angular enthusiasts

Today marks one year since I embarked on my Angular journey, and reflecting on how much I've grown fills me with a sense of accomplishment.

When I first started, one of the earliest lessons was breaking down projects into smaller, manageable components. It quickly became clear that organizing the application into distinct parts made the codebase far more approachable. Dividing the layout into components, each with a specific role, not only added structure but also made the project more enjoyable to work on.

Initially, I had to get used to importing the CommonModule everywhere to access essential directives like ngIf and ngFor. At first, it felt repetitive, but as I understood Angular’s modular architecture, it became evident how this approach kept everything organized. I soon found myself creating feature, shared, and core modules to manage different aspects of the application, which paved the way for using lazy loading to optimize performance.

Managing component interactions was a significant milestone. Learning how to use @Input() and @Output() bindings to establish communication between parent and child components brought a new level of organization to the app. This was complemented by mastering lifecycle hooks like ngOnInit and ngAfterViewInit, which gave me control over what happened at different stages of a component's life.

As I grew more comfortable, reusing shared components and modules became second nature. This practice helped me avoid code duplication, maintain consistency, and keep the project clean. It felt rewarding to see how these seemingly small habits contributed to building more polished and efficient applications.

Then came February 2024, when a new project gave me the perfect opportunity to explore Angular 17 and its standalone components.

I was excited to ditch the traditional module-based structure and embrace a more streamlined approach. Standalone components allowed me to skip the extra setup and get straight to defining components, directives, and pipes. The flexibility felt liberating, letting me focus on building features without getting bogged down in managing multiple module imports.

Of course, there were challenges—especially when dealing with libraries that still relied on the old module system. But overcoming these problems only deepened my understanding of Angular’s evolving architecture. It was a rewarding experience that pushed me to think creatively about how I organized my projects.

Using Angular 17's standalone features not only sped up my development but also provided a glimpse into the future of the framework. Reflecting on my journey, I’m grateful for the opportunities to learn, adapt, and grow. The past year has laid a solid foundation for me to tackle even more complex projects, and I’m excited to see where my Angular path will lead next.