The Best Angular and AngularJS Tutorials: A Comprehensive Guide

Angular is one of the most popular web development frameworks today, and for good reason. Developed and maintained by Google, Angular powers many of the web‘s most sophisticated applications, from Google‘s own G Suite productivity tools to Forbes, Samsung, and Deutsche Bank.

As a full-stack developer who has worked extensively with Angular and its predecessor AngularJS, I know firsthand how valuable this skill set is in the job market. The learning curve can be steep, but with the wealth of Angular tutorials and resources available online, mastering this powerful TypeScript-based framework is within reach for developers of all skill levels.

In this guide, I‘ll share the best Angular and AngularJS learning resources based on my experience and research. Whether you‘re a beginner building your first Angular app or an advanced dev looking to deepen your knowledge, you‘ll find top-notch tutorials, courses, and guides below.

Let‘s start with an overview of Angular‘s growth and current status among web frameworks.

The Rise of Angular

First released in 2010 as AngularJS, a JavaScript-based framework, Angular has rapidly evolved and increased in popularity over the past decade. Its subsequent releases (Angular 2 and up) have adopted TypeScript and a host of powerful new features for improved performance, tooling, and scalability.

According to the 2020 StackOverflow Developer Survey, Angular ranks as the third most popular web framework behind only jQuery and React. 25.1% of professional developers use Angular extensively.

Image Source: StackOverflow

Its usage is even higher among professional developers who identify as full-stack, coming in at 30.7%. This aligns with my experience—as a full-stack dev, I‘ve found Angular invaluable for building large-scale, data-driven applications efficiently.

Other notable statistics on Angular‘s usage and popularity:

• Angular is used by over 600,000 developers worldwide (Source)
• Angular powers over 97,000 websites, including many Fortune 500 companies (Source)
• Interest in Angular has grown by over 5X in the past 5 years, per Google Trends:

Image Source: Google Trends

So what has driven Angular‘s rapid rise compared to other popular frameworks? Let‘s examine its key advantages.

Why Learn Angular?

Having worked on large enterprise apps with both AngularJS and Angular 2+, I‘ve experienced the framework‘s benefits firsthand. Some of the biggest reasons to learn Angular include:

1. Powerful CLI and Development Tooling: The Angular CLI makes it easy to initialize, develop, scaffold, and maintain Angular apps from the command line. It offers code generation, simple dependency injection, and powerful built-in testing tools.

2. Cross-Platform Development: Angular‘s component-based architecture allows developers to build performant progressive web apps (PWAs), native mobile apps, and desktop apps all from the same codebase using frameworks like Ionic, NativeScript, and Electron.

3. Comprehensive Ecosystem: Angular offers a robust set of official libraries for almost everything you need to build a complete application, including routing, forms management, HTTP communication, and animation. It also integrates with popular third-party libraries like NgRx for more complex state management.

4. Excellent Type Checking with TypeScript: Angular is built with TypeScript, which offers strong typing, interfaces, advanced refactoring, and improved tooling support over JavaScript. TypeScript helps catch errors at compile time rather than runtime, making it easier to write cleaner code.

5. Improved Performance with Ivy Renderer: Angular 9 introduced the Ivy renderer, a complete rewrite of Angular‘s rendering engine. Ivy offers faster build times, decreased bundle sizes, and improved debugging, plus the potential for dynamic loading of components.

6. Popularity and High Demand: As evidenced by the earlier data, Angular remains one of the most popular and widely used web development frameworks. That means knowing Angular can open up many job opportunities, especially for full-stack developer roles.

Of course, Angular isn‘t without its challenges. It has a steeper learning curve than some other frameworks, and its complexity can be overkill for smaller projects. But for developers who put in the time to learn Angular‘s concepts and best practices, the payoff in terms of efficiency and opportunities is undeniable.

Now that we‘ve covered the "why" of learning Angular, let‘s dive into the best resources to master it.

Top Angular Tutorials and Courses

As a professional developer, I‘m always looking for the highest-quality learning resources to improve my Angular skills and stay up to date with new features. Here are some of the best tutorials and courses for learning Angular, broken down by skill level.

Beginner

If you‘re new to Angular, these resources offer a gentle introduction to the framework‘s fundamentals:

1. Angular for Beginners by Asim Hussain: A free, hands-on course that guides you through building your first Angular app with the Angular CLI. Asim does a great job of explaining key concepts like components, services, and dependency injection in an approachable way. I recommend this course for developers who learn best by doing—you‘ll be coding within minutes.

2. Getting Started with Angular by Deborah Kurata on Pluralsight: A comprehensive, 7-hour video course that dives deep into Angular essentials. Deborah, a Google Developer Expert and Angular contributor, walks you through everything from setting up your environment to displaying data and handling user input. Clear explanations and examples make this an excellent starting point for aspiring Angular devs.

Intermediate

Already comfortable with Angular basics? These intermediate courses will take your skills to the next level:

1. Angular Fundamentals by Todd Motto: A premium video course that covers key Angular concepts in depth, including components and modules, rendering flows, dependency injection, change detection, and unit testing. Todd, a GDE and popular Angular trainer, shares expert tips and best practices throughout. I‘ve found this course especially helpful for understanding Angular‘s underlying architecture.

2. Angular Routing by Asim Hussain: Another great free course from Asim that focuses on one of Angular‘s most powerful features: its router. From basic configuration to child routes, route guards, and lazy loading, this course covers everything you need to know to implement navigation in a real-world Angular app.

3. Angular Material Masterclass by Angular University: To build professional-looking and accessible Angular apps, you need to know Angular Material. This course teaches you how to use Material‘s pre-built UI components, responsive layout system, and theming tools. You‘ll build a complete Angular app with Material step-by-step.

Advanced

For experienced Angular devs looking to master advanced topics and patterns, check out these resources:

1. Advanced Angular by Minko Gechev: A deep dive video course on Angular internals, advanced dependency injection, dynamic components, and more. Minko, an Angular core team member, reveals what‘s happening under the hood of Angular. A great resource for devs who want to maximize their understanding of the framework.

2. NgRx Workshop by Todd Motto: NgRx is the most popular state management library for Angular, based on the Redux pattern. Todd‘s course breaks down the core concepts of NgRx and shows you how to manage complex application state in a real-world Angular app. Essential for large-scale Angular projects.

3. Testing Angular 4 (formerly Angular 2) Apps with Jasmine on Pluralsight: Writing unit and integration tests is critical for building reliable Angular apps, but it‘s often an afterthought. This course teaches you how to use the Jasmine testing framework to design and run automated tests for your Angular code. A must-watch for any professional Angular dev.

Beyond these courses, the official Angular Docs remain one of the best free resources for all skill levels. The docs team does an excellent job of keeping tutorials and guides up to date with the latest Angular releases. I regularly reference their API docs and examples.

To go deeper on specific Angular topics like performance, PWAs, internationalization, and security, check out my recommended learning path for angular devs:

Angular Learning Roadmap by roadmap.sh

Remember, the key to mastering Angular is consistent practice. As you progress through tutorials and courses, apply what you‘ve learned by building your own Angular projects. Solving real-world problems is the best way to cement your understanding of the framework.

AngularJS Resources

As mentioned earlier, Angular 2+ differs quite a bit from the original AngularJS framework. AngularJS is not recommended for new projects, but it‘s still widely used in legacy apps. If you need to support an AngularJS codebase, here are some top resources:

1. AngularJS Official Docs: Comprehensive and well-maintained, the official AngularJS docs should be your first stop. Their step-by-step tutorial is great for getting up to speed quickly.

2. Egghead.io AngularJS Courses: Egghead.io offers dozens of bitesize video courses on AngularJS, from fundamentals to advanced topics like directives and testing. Perfect for busy devs who want to learn in short bursts.

3. Ultimate AngularJS by Todd Motto: An 7-course series that dives deep into every aspect of AngularJS development, including MVC architecture, dependency injection, services, routing, forms, and authentication. Todd is an excellent teacher and breaks down even the most complex topics.

Migrating from AngularJS to Angular

At some point, all AngularJS developers will need to migrate their apps to the newer Angular framework. Fortunately, the Angular team has provided an incremental migration path that allows you to upgrade an app piece by piece rather than all at once.

I recommend watching Migrating Applications From AngularJS to Angular, a step-by-step video course on Pluralsight. It walks you through the process of preparing and migrating an AngularJS app to Angular, including using the Angular CLI to bootstrap new components and services.

The Future of Angular

As a professional Angular developer, I‘m excited about the future of this powerful framework. The Angular team at Google is constantly working on ways to improve performance, productivity, and cross-platform support.

One of the most significant recent advancements is Angular Ivy, a major rewrite of Angular‘s rendering pipeline. With Ivy (now the default in Angular 9+), apps can take advantage of smaller build sizes, improved debugging, and more flexible compilation and rendering.

Angular Ivy (Angular.io)

Other exciting developments in the Angular ecosystem include:

• Improved Angular Material components and theming
• Enhanced PWA support and performance optimizations
• First-class Bazel support for faster and more flexible builds
• Possible future support of React-style Hooks API

Of course, these are just possibilities and the Angular team has not confirmed all of these updates. But they paint a picture of where the framework is headed: toward even greater performance, flexibility, and ease of use across platforms.

As an Angular developer, staying on top of these future advancements is key to remaining competitive in the job market. I recommend following the official Angular Blog, signing up for the Angular Weekly newsletter, and attending Angular conferences like ng-conf to get insights directly from the Angular team and top experts.

Conclusion

As you can see, Angular offers a wealth of learning resources for developers of all levels, from official docs and beginner tutorials to advanced video courses. As a professional full-stack developer who uses Angular daily, I‘ve personally benefited from many of these resources in building my skills.

But remember, simply watching tutorials is not enough—the key to mastering Angular is to build real projects. Start small by creating a basic app, then gradually add more advanced features like lazy loading, reactive forms, and NgRx for state management.

Don‘t be afraid to reference the docs and expert resources when you get stuck. Angular has a large and supportive community, and chances are someone has encountered the same problem before.

Finally, keep an eye on Angular‘s future direction, including advancements like Angular Ivy, PWA support, and potential new APIs. Staying up to date with the latest Angular features will make you a stronger developer and a more competitive job candidate.

With the right learning resources and consistent practice, you‘ll be well on your way to mastering this powerful framework. Best of luck on your Angular learning journey!