How do you stack up?
Popular tech stacks in 2021
There are so many choices when it comes to choosing a particular ecosystem of frameworks and technologies to use for a project or developing a platform or service. The end result has come to be known as a tech stack, software stack or development stack. It consists of something to handle frontend, backend, and database tasks.
Considerations
Odds are most people will just have to adapt to whatever stack their company is using already. However, if you want to start your own thing or do something on the side, here are some things you might want to consider before choosing a particular stack:
- The function of your software
- Scalability
- Server capabilities
- Future software functionality
- Data Storage
- Performance
- Security
- Maintenance
Even with the multitude of choices, it’s natural that the cream rises to the top. Several stacks have come to be more popular and widely used. Here are some of the most recent trends.
MERN
A Javascript stack with robust capabilities and used for building dynamic websites and apps. It is the preferred stack for start-ups because it is very user-friendly. The rise in popularity of React for the frontend is probably why this stack has become a favorite.
Database:
- MongoDB
Frontend:
- React
- JavaScript or Typescript
Backend:
- Node.js
- Express
MEAN
Another JavaScript-based tech stack is open source and free to use. It will allow you to create scalable applications optimized for simplified cloud deployment with a built-in server. Mostly used for cloud-ready applications. It has a strong use case for its ability to manage concurrent users.
Database:
- MongoDB
Frontend:
- Angular
- Typescript
Backend:
- Node.js
- Express
MEVN
Yet another JavaScript-based software stack. Do you see a pattern here? It is basically the same as the two previous stacks but using Vue.js instead of React. In all of these, you can just plug in whatever JavaScript-based frontend you like to work with. The advantage of this stack is using Vue is faster and easier to learn.
Database:
- MongoDB
Frontend:
- Vue
- Javascript or Typescript
Backend:
- Node.js
- Express
LAMP
This time-tested stack was one of the first to be open-source. It is still pretty commonly used and some consider it to be the stack of choice for building a custom web application. It is notable that Wordpress runs on LAMP.
Development:
- Linux
- Apache
- PHP
- Pearl
- Python
Database:
- My SQL
PERN
The PERN stack is another adaptation to the MERN stack, replacing the MongoDB database functionality with PostgreSQL. It is extensible and has many features to safely store and scale some of the most complicated of workloads.
Database:
- PostgreSQL
Frontend:
- React
- JavaScript or Typescript
Backend:
- Node.js
- Express
Conclusion
In the end, choosing which stack to work with probably depends on what you and your team of developers are comfortable with. Definitely do your research on what similar projects have used to see what has had success or failure.
Hopefully, this has been helpful for anyone making a decision on what stack may be right for them. Feel free to check out some of my other blogs and connect with me on LinkedIn or come check out my website. Cheers!
