What is Angular?
Answer
Angular is a TypeScript-based open-source web application framework developed and maintained by Google. It is a complete rewrite of AngularJS (Angular 1.x), released as Angular 2 in 2016. Angular is a full-featured, opinionated platform for building dynamic single-page applications (SPAs). Key characteristics: (1) TypeScript first: Angular is written in and strongly encourages TypeScript — static typing, decorators, and class-based OOP; (2) Component-based architecture: applications are built as a tree of reusable components; (3) Dependency Injection (DI): powerful built-in DI system for managing services and dependencies; (4) Two-way data binding: synchronizes the model (TypeScript) and view (HTML template) automatically; (5) RxJS/Reactive: uses Reactive Extensions for JavaScript (RxJS) for asynchronous programming with Observables; (6) Angular CLI: powerful command-line tool for scaffolding, building, testing, and deploying; (7) Module system (NgModules): organizes application into cohesive blocks of functionality. Angular is an enterprise-favorite — used by Google products, Microsoft, Samsung, and many large organizations. It has a steeper learning curve than React/Vue but provides more structure and conventions for large teams.