Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

AngularUI VS Underscore.js

Compare AngularUI VS Underscore.js and see what are their differences

AngularUI logo AngularUI

Native AngularJS directives for Bootstrap.

Underscore.js logo Underscore.js

Underscore is a utility-belt library for JavaScript that provides a lot of the functional...
  • AngularUI Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-05-05
  • Underscore.js Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-12-17

AngularUI features and specs

  • Rich Component Library
    AngularUI provides a dense library of user interface components, including modals, custom select boxes, and sliders, reducing the amount of code you need to write and speeding up development.
  • Native to AngularJS
    Designed to work seamlessly with AngularJS, AngularUI widgets and directives integrate naturally with AngularJS, offering a more consistent and performant solution compared to external libraries.
  • Extensive Documentation
    AngularUI has comprehensive documentation, making it easier for developers to understand how to integrate and utilize components, which reduces the learning curve.
  • Active Community
    There is an active and supportive community surrounding AngularUI, ensuring that developers can find help and resources quickly.

Possible disadvantages of AngularUI

  • Dependency on AngularJS
    AngularUI is built for AngularJS, and it is not compatible with Angular (the newer version of AngularJS). This limits its usability for new projects that prefer to use the more recent frameworks.
  • Performance Overhead
    In some cases, the additional features and abstractions provided by AngularUI can introduce performance overhead, particularly in large or complex applications.
  • Stagnation Risk
    As AngularJS is an older framework, there's a risk that AngularUI will not receive as much support or updates in the future, leading to potential issues with maintainability and compatibility.
  • Limited Integration
    AngularUI may have limitations when integrating with other tools or libraries that are not within its ecosystem, which could lead to additional effort in making these work together.

Underscore.js features and specs

  • Utility Functions
    Underscore.js provides a wealth of utility functions for common tasks such as map, reduce, filter, and more, making it easier to perform operations on arrays, objects, and collections.
  • Consistency
    The library offers a consistent API, which can make your code more readable and maintainable by providing a standard way to perform common programming tasks.
  • Lightweight
    Underscore.js is lightweight compared to full-featured libraries like Lodash, which can be a benefit if you're looking to minimize your application's footprint.
  • Browser Compatibility
    It supports a wide range of JavaScript environments, making it a good choice for projects that need to work across different browsers and Node.js.
  • Quick to Learn
    Easy to pick up for developers with even a basic understanding of JavaScript, due to its straightforward documentation and familiar function names.

Possible disadvantages of Underscore.js

  • Performance
    Underscore.js may not offer the same level of performance optimizations as more modern utility libraries like Lodash, potentially leading to slower execution for some tasks.
  • Limited Functionality
    While it covers many basic utility functions, its feature set is not as extensive as Lodash or other similar libraries, which provide a broader range of capabilities.
  • Outdated
    With the advent of ECMAScript 5 and later versions, many of the functions provided by Underscore.js are now natively available in JavaScript, reducing its necessity.
  • No Modularization
    Underscore does not support modular builds in the same way Lodash does, meaning you might end up including the entire library even if you only need a few functions.
  • Community and Maintenance
    While still maintained, Underscore.js has seen less active development and contributions compared to newer libraries, which could impact its long-term viability and support.

Analysis of AngularUI

Overall verdict

  • AngularUI is generally considered a good choice for developers working with AngularJS due to its robust component set and strong community support. However, it's essential to note that AngularJS and its associated libraries, including AngularUI, have been succeeded by more modern frameworks such as Angular (Angular 2+) and React. For new projects, evaluating whether AngularJS or its libraries are the right choice, given their outdated status, is crucial.

Why this product is good

  • AngularUI, now part of the Angular ecosystem, provides a set of UI components that are highly modular and work well with AngularJS applications. It simplifies the development process by offering ready-to-use UI components like UI-Router and UI-Bootstrap, allowing developers to focus more on the application logic rather than the UI boilerplate. Its collaborative nature leverages the contributions from a large community, which ensures that it continuously evolves and adapts to modern development standards.

Recommended for

    AngularUI is recommended for developers maintaining legacy AngularJS applications that require enhancements and UI component implementations without adopting a completely new framework. It's also suitable for smaller projects where AngularJS is still preferred due to an organization's existing knowledge base. However, for new projects, one might consider more contemporary frameworks unless specific constraints necessitate using AngularJS.

Analysis of Underscore.js

Overall verdict

  • Underscore.js is a reasonable choice if you need a lightweight library for concise, functional programming helpers. While newer libraries or vanilla JavaScript have made some of its functions less essential, Underscore.js remains useful for its simplicity and comprehensive utility set.

Why this product is good

  • Underscore.js is a popular JavaScript library that provides a comprehensive set of utility functions for common programming tasks. It is valued for its simplicity and ease of integration, especially in projects that require functional programming patterns but do not need the full capabilities of larger libraries like Lodash. Underscore.js is lightweight and can significantly enhance productivity by offering functions for tasks such as object manipulation, array operations, and function binding, making code more readable and maintainable.

Recommended for

    Developers working on smaller projects or legacy codebases that require a reliable utility library with functional programming techniques. Itโ€™s also suitable for those who prefer a minimalistic approach and donโ€™t require the extensive features of heavier alternatives.

AngularUI videos

Introduction to AngularUI and UI Bootstrap

More videos:

  • Review - Introduction to AngularUI and UI Bootstrap

Underscore.js videos

Introduction to Underscore.JS

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to AngularUI and Underscore.js)
Development Tools
24 24%
76% 76
Javascript UI Libraries
22 22%
78% 78
Libraries And Widgets
19 19%
81% 81
JavaScript Framework
26 26%
74% 74

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Underscore.js seems to be a lot more popular than AngularUI. While we know about 23 links to Underscore.js, we've tracked only 1 mention of AngularUI. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

AngularUI mentions (1)

  • AngularJS directive with default options
    I've had a look around for the way others have done this, and in the angular-ui library the ui.bootstrap.pagination seems to do something similar. Source: over 3 years ago

Underscore.js mentions (23)

  • JavaScript evolution: From Lodash and Underscore to vanilla
    Underscore was created by Jeremy Ashkenas (the creator of Backbone.js) in 2009 to provide a set of utility functions that JavaScript lacked at the time. It was also created to work with Backbone.js, but it slowly became a favorite among developers who needed utility functions that they could just call and get stuff done with without having to worry about the inner implementations and browser compatibility. - Source: dev.to / 10 months ago
  • KlongPy: High-Performance Array Programming in Python
    There was a step-change improvement for me when I tried expressing some JS patterns via `underscore.js` instead of procedurally: eg: http://underscorejs.org/#each Thinking of something as `each | map | filter | sum` is waaay less buggy than writing bespoke procedural code to do the same thing. No doubt there is a "cost" to it as well, but the _abstraction_ is valuable. Now, if there were a "compiler" which could... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • 100+ Must-Have Web Development Resources
    Underscore.js: A utility library that offers a full set of functional programming helpers without extending any built-in JavaScript objects. - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
  • Mastering Node.js
    Underscore contains just about every core utility method you want. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • 8 NPM Packages for JavaScript Beginners [2024][+tutorials]
    Not too far behind is Underscore.js, another utility library that's all about enhancing your JavaScript mojo. Whether you're dealing with arrays, objects, or strings, Underscore has got something for you. It's like Lodash's sibling, offering similar functionalities but with its own flair. The choice between them is like picking between chocolate and vanilla - it really comes down to personal taste. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing AngularUI and Underscore.js, you can also consider the following products

jQuery - The Write Less, Do More, JavaScript Library.

React Native - A framework for building native apps with React

Babel - Babel is a compiler for writing next generation JavaScript.

Composer - Composer is a tool for dependency management in PHP.

OpenSSL - OpenSSL is a free and open source software cryptography library that implements both the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocols, which are primarily used to provide secure communications between web browsers and โ€ฆ

Raven.js - Raven.js is a standalone JavaScript client for Sentry.