2. Getting Started with AngularJS

AngularJS is a JavaScript framework that provides a very structured method of creating websites and web applications. Essentially, AngularJS is a JavaScript library that is built on a lightweight version of jQuery—a combination that enables AngularJS to provide the best of JavaScript and jQuery and at the same time enforce a structured Model View Controller (MVC) framework.

AngularJS is a perfect client-side library for most web applications because it provides a very clean and structured approach. With a clean, structured front end, you will find that it is much easier to implement clean, well-structured server-side logic.

This chapter introduces you to AngularJS as well as the major components involved in an AngularJS application. Understanding these components is critical before you try to implement an AngularJS application because the framework is different from more traditional JavaScript web application programming.

After you have a good grasp of the components and the life cycle of an AngularJS application, you’ll learn how to construct a basic AngularJS application, step-by-step. This should prepare you to jump into the following chapters, which provide much more detail on implementing AngularJS.