We’ve launched our official Meetup Group, creating spaces to discuss innovative technologies with the wider tech community and allowing us to share our expertise. In our first Meetup, developers came together to give their insights into the web application platform, Angular, Nativescript and Redux, and their place in the modern day technological ecosystem.

First up, Natalia Venditto (@AnfibiaCreativa) shared insights as a Frontend Tech Lead into how to upgrade an enterprise scale application across multiple versions of Angular.

• Angular’s opinionated framework and strict implementation patterns are advantageous to enterprise scale development that can involve many collaborators and tight deadlines.
• There’s potential for the use of an online tool designed for developers to elaborate a roadmap for before, during and after the upgrade. Check out Angular's tool here.
• There are important elements to bear in mind, such as incompatible features like OpaqueToken.
• Developers should consider migrating to HTTP Client Module due to the enhanced testability features, well-designed HTTP API, improved error handling, typed responses and requests, and the ability to implement interceptors for authentication and headers.
• The concept of ‘lazy loading’ also brings with it important performance and testability advantages.

Next, Evan Payne (@evanfuture) shared his expertise as Senior Frontend Software Engineer. He spoke about leveraging Angular and NativeScript to build native apps for iOS and Android.  

• New developers should embrace the GridLayout element that’s unique to NativeScript.  Native devices display your elements within your view in a series of measurement and layout passes, and the GridLayout is the fastest way to get precise results in your own Angular views and components.
• There are great benefits to employing Attribute Selectors instead of Element Selectors.  Element selectors are significantly preferred on the web (written as <my-custom-component><img/></my-custom-component>` in the template). However, since each element on the page requires a measuring and layout pass, and having extra decorative elements isn’t great for performance, Attribute Selectors are preferable in NativeScript apps (written as `<img my-custom-component/>`).
• It’s crucial to get your API design right. You’ll need an API that can deliver the smallest possible payloads. Therefore, structure your API so the app can request specific data, meaning the data can come through in a small bit of JSON.  Your end users will thank for this!

Finally, Dragan Filipovic (@draganfill) shared his input as a Frontend Software Engineer into data management in JavaScript applications with Redux.

• One of the greatest problems for modern web applications is data arriving from different API’s. Redux helps to simplify data flow, so you can easily track changes and user actions.
• The Redux Dev Tool enables you to visually explore Redux and data flow in browsers. It provides you with a way to debug a specific part of the app with high level of detail.
• It’s crucial to consider the ecosystem around Redux, as well as its implementation. This means a knowledge of the most useful plugins; HTTP requests with Redux Thunk; managing state with Immutable Js; fast selecting with ReSelect.

Stay tuned for more groundbreaking meetups to come, on topics such as UX Design, Advanced Javascript, Mobile Performance, NativeScript, Vue and React. They’ll will be taking place across Netcentric’s office locations across Europe, and will provide unique opportunities to share our knowledge and experiences.