React and AngularJS (1.x) are both popular technologies used for building interactive single-page applications (SPAs), but they have several key differences:
Conceptual Approach
React is a JavaScript library that focuses on building user interface components. It adopts a declarative approach to UI development, where developers describe how the UI should look, and React handles the underlying rendering logic. This makes it easier to build reusable UI components[1][2].
AngularJS (1.x) is a full-fledged Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework that extends HTML with new attributes and binds data to HTML with Expressions. It is designed for developing dynamic web applications and includes built-in services, directives, and filters to facilitate development[1][3].
Data Binding
React uses one-way data binding, where the flow of data is in a single direction, making the state management more predictable and easier to debug. This approach requires additional tools like Flux or Redux to manage the application's state[1][2].
AngularJS employs two-way data binding, which automatically synchronizes data between the model and the view. While this can make it easier to build dynamic applications, it can also lead to more complex code that is harder to debug[1][2].
DOM Manipulation
React introduces the concept of the Virtual DOM, which is a lightweight copy of the actual DOM. It updates the Virtual DOM and then efficiently reflects these changes in the real DOM, leading to improved performance, especially in applications with complex UIs[1][2].
AngularJS interacts with the real DOM directly, which can be less efficient and slower, particularly as the application grows in complexity and size[1][2].
Language and Syntax
React uses JSX, a syntax extension that allows developers to write HTML-like code within JavaScript. This can make the code more readable and easier to write, but it may also require a learning curve for developers not familiar with JSX[1][2].
AngularJS combines JavaScript with HTML, using directives to add functionality to HTML elements. It also introduces an expression syntax to bind data to HTML[1].
