The general success of the web project development fully stands upon an appropriately chosen tech stack. It breathes life in a software product, resulting in further good maintainability, scalability, and so on.
We’ve prepared this article for you to consider what a perfect tech stack is, how to select it, and picked up some examples of famous software technology stacks.
The Essence of Web Development Stack
Let’s start with a notion. A web technology stack is a set of instruments (containing programming languages or frameworks) used while developing a solution. The tech stack for every solution is divided into back-end and front-end toolsets. We’ll consider every option separately.
Tech Stack for Front-End
The front-end is a visible software part for customers’ interaction. Its building requires various front-end stack sets. Concerning the solution stack for web apps, there are several fundamental technologies that can speed up and facilitate the web development process.
The most common basic technologies for web development are:
- JavaScript
- HTML
- SCSS
- SASS
- LESS
- CSS
Such technologies have a lot of frameworks: for instance, Bootstrap is one of the most popular CSS-based frameworks. JS also contains front-end frameworks and libraries, such as Angular, React, Vue, or jQuery.
The most used programming languages for front-end coding are the following:
JavaScript is an integral part of almost every web development modern solution stack due to its variety of libraries, frameworks, and other auxiliary instruments.
CoffeeScript enables writing more compact codes and can be easily translated into JavaScript. Such JS assembly tools as Gulp, Grunt, and WebPack can also go with CoffeeScript to robotize standard processes.
TypeScript is also based on JavaScript. Angular — one of the best-known frameworks — is created with the help of TypeScript, and you can hire an Angular developer to work with it.
Tech Stack for Back-End
The back-end is the main app side, where developers design business logic, work with hostings, deploy web software, and manage databases.
You engage with the front-end stack technologies when you fill out a form to enter a website and press a button. The back-end stack technologies give you access to further use after verifying the entered data validity. The customers can’t interact with the back-end directly, and the back-end tech stack (used to create an app business logic) is also off-screen.
The back-end is made up of a server, an application, and a database. Developers design business logic, work with hostings, deploy web software, and manage databases on the server-side. The word “web application” encompasses the operating system, web server, language, and frameworks.
Let’s look at the back-end technology stack in detail:
- Operating system (OS). Before the web development process, you should pick up the OS where an app or a site would be built (e.g., Linux, Windows, etc.)
- A web server (e.g., Apache and Nginx) gets HTTP requests from the browser, processes them, and returns them backward through web pages.
- A database serves for storing and analyzing vast amounts of interconnected data such as figures, dates, and geolocations. Databases like ElasticSearch, MySQL, or MongoDB are the most popular among web developers.
- A hosting service allows website owners to publish their websites on the Internet. Firebase Hosting or Amazon EC2 (Linux) are some of the most trustworthy hosting services.
- Storage lets you save and hold large files (e.g., images) without problems. Firebase Storage or AWS S3 can serve as good storage examples.
- Web building frameworks are instruments for improving and facilitating web development. Such frameworks as Laravel, Express, or Nest.js are reliable ones to build a stable back-end.
- A programming language is used for back-end coding. Ruby, PHP, JavaScript (Node.js platform) and C# (.Net), and Java are the samples of back-end programming languages.
Now, we’ll consider several tech stack samples that are the most popular for front-end and back-end development.
Python-Django solution stack. The Python language and Django framework can be used for back-end development. Django has strong security features (protection from SQL and CSRF injections), as well as its own ORM layer for database access management. However, it is inconvenient for small websites.
The MEAN stack name originates from the first letters of MongoDB (database), Express (back-end framework), Angular, and Node.js (back-end platform). But, the devs can use different technologies: for example, MySQL instead of MongoDB, depending on what database is appropriate for a given project.
LAMP is an acronym for Linux (OS), Apache (server), MySQL (database), PHP, or Perl (back-end language). This web application technology stack allows you to launch web apps faster; however, it lacks scalability.
Tips to Choose an Ideal Tech Stack for Web Apps
Use your experience first. It’s always preferable to use the most reliable and tested building methods. For instance, you can involve Node.js devs and specialists familiar with other JavaScript technologies to design a web application.
Study project requirements. You have to determine the target audience that will use your app. It will help you think through the UX to fulfill all expectations of potential clients. Then you must decide on the project’s complexity. These steps will help you understand which tech stack is appropriate in this particular situation.
Keep scalability in mind. Your web app’s architecture should be as simple as possible and scalable as well. Scalability means that your web app may handle increased traffic and an unexpected number of users. To achieve scalability, such programming languages as JavaScript are recommended.
Don’t forget about trends. Make sure that the technologies you select will be just as popular in the future as they are now. It is much easier and reliable to use tools that are acknowledged by huge developer communities.
Think about expediency. If you believe it’s unnecessary to employ a new tech stack, you should use it for tried-and-true technologies and a similar but time-tested tech stack. Keep in mind that you should also plan the processes in advance to avoid obstacles with skills you do not possess or financial constraints.
These recommendations will assist you in deciding on a tech stack. However, you should consult a software development business vendor you intend to collaborate with (in case of outsourcing cooperation).
Technology Stack Used for Well-Known Projects
Typically, each business has its own core technology stack. Let’s look at ones that assisted in widely known projects’ building.
Slack. A corporate messenger designed to facilitate teams’ communication with one another. It has got some handy features, including searchable history, organized discussions, and connectivity with third-party apps.
Instagram is a social network intended for sharing photos and videos. Users can follow one another, so they don’t miss out on fresh photos from their friends.
Netflix is an on-demand video streaming service working on a subscription basis with a diverse selection of material such as TV shows, movies, cartoons, TV series, and more.
YouTube has become the most famous video blogging site. Users can submit videos, write comments, share videos, create playlists, and more on this video-sharing platform.
Uber connects regular drivers with clients who want to share a journey. By the way, according to the official Uber website, 14 million trips are conducted every day.
Bottom Line
A tech stack choice is challenging, especially if you’ve got no technical background. But a competent software development team can help you in this situation. The experts will consult you about all the tricky and annoying business questions and choose a perfect technology stack for your upcoming web solution to make it cost-effective, flexible, and modern.
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