The article is on pretty much on spot when it comes to the corporate cargo cult aspect of AngularJS. But this should not be news to anyone working in an enterprise environment. This is actually the rule, technology is not necessarily chosen because of its adequacy for the task, but because of its reputation of being a sound tool (often this extends to expectations of customers, too). I suspect the percentage in the army of enterprise backend devs whose relationship with Java is red-hot love affair is pretty small.
The alternatives to AngularJS on the frontend in this arena are, mind you, indeed JSF and Ext f*cking JS. Interested parties seriously portrait using AngularJS as a risky endeavour because it does *not* provide you with everything you need on the frontend (http://www.sencha.com/blog/4-questions-to-ask-before-choosing-a-javascript-framework/),
Furthermore what the author is writing about the lack of AngularJS talent, seems quite ironic to me. AngularJS is about the only frontend technology, for which you can recruit somewhat skilled people (maybe that's specific to the situation in germany). In 2014 I took part in a lot of interviews for frontend jobs and it's 95% jQuery and 5% AngularJS, i've never had anyone applying who was proficient in Backbone, Ember, Knockout, or *gosh* React.
I mean, no one has the slightest clue about functional programming. While the progress in frontend technology is indeed breathtaking, the actual real-world frontend engineering is still rather depressing. So, looking at the alternatives i'm pretty grateful for AngularJS.
mkulke 3628 days ago. link 2 points ▲ ▼