When building software, choosing the right tech stack ensures the project is less costly and the development successful. This is especially crucial for start-ups and small businesses because their budgets and resources are limited. Tech stacks have an impact on the scalability, functionality, and design of software making the choice of the right one even more crucial.

In this article, we discuss what tech stacks are and share with you the best six in the market.

What is a technology stack?

Also known as a development stack or a software stack, a technology stack refers to a group of programming languages, frameworks, tools, libraries, and other technologies that make up digital products or solutions like websites, web, and mobile apps.

Coming up with a tech stack can be equated to building a house. You have to have the right materials, appropriate tools, and skilled and qualified workers. Individually these different components may be of no value. But when brought together they create a home. This is the same way choosing the right components when creating a digital product will ensure the end product is valuable to the developers and end users.

Components of a tech stack

A tech stack consists of two components. The frontend and backend stacks. Let’s look deeper into each.

Frontend tech stack

This refers to the client’s side of the application. It is anything the user can interact with and see. In short, it is responsible for the format, design, and navigation of the website or app. The main concern of the front end is to create an amazing user interface, user experience, and be user-friendly in a way that the internal structures are straightforward.

A frontend stack has three main elements namely:

• HTML (Hypertext Markup Language): It is used for creating and displaying web content. It is responsible for positioning and aligning the web content that is displayed on the screen.
• CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): It is responsible for the style presentation of content on a website or app. This includes the layout, color, sizes, and style among other components. Frameworks like SASS and LESS make CSS more dynamic and manageable.
• JavaScript: It is deployed to make web pages more interactive and allows the implementation of dynamic features on the web pages. Although many modern developers prefer to use TypeScript as opposed to basic JavaScript.

There is a large group of developers who have specialized only in frontend stack and they have earned a name as front end developers. Most specialize in Angularjs or Reactjs.

Backend tech stack

This refers to the server end of software development. These are the inner workings of a website or app that users cannot see. It gives instructions to the frontend on what to do and ensures the smooth running of the application.

It is made up of four elements:

• • Programming languages: It creates logic for apps and websites by creating codes that link them to a web or database. Examples include JavaScript, PHP, and Python.
  • Frameworks: Provide support to applications using a single programming language. Most modern developers are using the MVC style framework.
  • Web Servers: These are backend servers that manage clients’ requests. For example,  when a user clicks on a button on an application, the server manages that request and ensures appropriate action is carried out.

• Databases: They store data for the application digitally.

All these programming languages, technologies, frameworks, databases, and servers are built on top of each other hence the name tech stacks. Together they ensure an application runs smoothly.

Importantly, our software development company Aalpha implements the right technology stack to develop a software for your business according to your requirements. Consider to connect with us.

The top six tech stacks

To save money and time, it is prudent to use proven tech stack models. This is because there is already an available knowledge base. Their components may be regularly updated but their principles are still the same. Let’s look at six of the best available models:

LAMP stack

This is a time-tested stack of technologies and is referred to as an industry standard when it comes to tech stack models. It delivers the best flexibility, cost efficiency, and performance in web development.

LAMP stands for:

• Linux (Operating system)
• Apache (HTTP server)
• MySQL (database management)
• PHP (Programming language)

It can run on any operating system and these stack layers are open-source and free.

MEAN stack

This is one of the most popular tech stacks. It has many benefits to developers among them being the use of a single language which is JavaScript and the underlying being open source and free. Applications of MEAN stack are ideal for cloud storage since they are scalable, flexible, and extensible.

MEAN consists of:

• MongoDB (NOSQL database).
• Express.js backend web framework.
• Angular.js frontend framework.
• Node.js server-side JavaScript.

Its approach is practical in creating highly efficient and fast apps.

MERN stack

MERN is similar to MEAN only that REACT replaces Angular at the frontend. This makes changes to be easily implemented since REACT uses Virtual DOM. React is popular for building high-end, single page applications. However, since it’s a library and not a framework, developers have to deal with its limited core functionality. Making them resort to third parties.

Good read: MERN stack advantages

MEAN stack

Here Angular is replaced with Vue.js as the frontend framework. This stack has experienced immense popularity in recent years and this is expected to continue since its a lightweight solution. Third-party services can help expand its functionality. It brings together the best features of Angular and REACT.

Ruby on Rails

It’s a common choice among developers. It uses its own dynamic programming language, Ruby. If you are looking to simplify your development process then it is your go-to stack. It requires less knowledge to write as compared to other stacks. 

Serverless stack

2024 is the best time to go serverless and opt for cloud infrastructure. The cloud infrastructure provides all the tools and services and brings among other benefits its scalability. Infrastructure management is also much simpler.

Conclusion

It can be challenging to choose the right tech stack. Don’t just go for one because they work for other companies. Weigh their pros and cons and choose one that aligns with your project’s objectives. This will not only save you money but also time.

Finally, to know more tech stack for software development, feel free to get in touch with us today!