What the fuck is Angular?
Remember when cars changed from leaded gas to unleaded? Yeah, me neither. While they had completely different (and certainly not interchangeable) fuel, they were still cars. That type of difference is similar to the difference between Angular and AngularJS.
Google invented AngularJS as a reactive Javascript framework. When a major upgrade came around, they completely changed the way you used their framework and changed the name to Angular. So, programmers might know AngularJS, or they might know Angular. But they’re not the same thing. But they’re related. Shit.
Angular is classified as a reactive framework. Most other tools and libraries require you to proactively change the user interface when data changes. Angular, and other reactive libraries/frameworks, “react” to data changes and update the interface automatically.
Angular is called a framework (and not a library), because it requires you to build your complete Javascript application according to its rules. Whereas libraries can be hooked together to create a full application, a framework pretty much dictates everything and removes your choice. When you compare the top three reactive libraries/frameworks, React) is the most flexible but has the largest amount of developer and skill fragmentation. Vue is in the middle (some choice, some forced configuration), and then there is Angular which basically says “my way or the highway.” The nice thing, though, is that when someone “knows Angular” they’re a lot likely to know the same things as other Angular programmers.
Angular is equally used between open source and proprietary projects.
Because Angular is a framework on top of Javascript, it’s likely that a programmer who knows Angular knows Javascript. But, that shit isn’t guaranteed. There are some Angular programmers who just royally fuck up plain Javascript. I guess the lack of rules and ceremony just isn’t their bag.