What is A Tech Stack?

[nelson]

A tech stack combines technologies, programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and tools used to build and execute an application or software project. A typical tech stack includes front-end and back-end technologies, databases, development tools, and often third-party services.

Frontend Development

Frontend development is often referred to as "client-side" development. It involves the creation of the visual parts of a web application that users interact with directly. It includes everything a user sees and experiences in their browsers.

Responsibilities:

•Designing UI that looks good and is easy to use.

•Implement a responsive design that works well on desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

•Ensuring the access for people with disabilities.

•Handling user interactions and behaviors using JavaScript.

Technologies Used

1. HTML: Hypertext Markup Language is the standard language used to create web pages. It provides a way to structure the web content.

2. CSS: Cascading Style Sheets are a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in HTML or XML. It is for maintaining the layout, colors, fonts, and other aesthetics.

3. JavaScript: A programming language that enables dynamic webpage content, making a website interactive. Things like forms, animations, and real-time updates make it interactive.

4. Frontend Frameworks/Libraries

React: A JavaScript library for creating user interfaces, particularly single-page applications.

Angular: A TypeScript-based framework for building dynamic web applications.

Vue.js: A progressive JavaScript framework for building user interfaces.

Tools

• Version Control: Git is used to monitor code changes.

• Build Tools: Webpack, Gulp, and Parcel for optimization and bundling of frontend resources.

• CSS Preprocessors: SASS or LESS are used for efficient CSS writing.

Common Challenges

• Cross-browser compatibility: This is the consistency of the web application across different browsers.

• Performance Optimization: Trying to reduce the time taken to load and enhance responsiveness.

• Responsive Design: Creating a consistent user experience with various sizes and types of screens.

 

Back-end Development

The back-end development, in general, is also referred to as the "server-side" development. It builds the server, application logic, and database interactions that power the web application. It includes data processing and handling business logic and servers.

Primary Responsibilities

• Database Interaction Management- CRUD operations create, read, update, and delete.

• Business Logic Implementation with server-side functionality.

• API creation to serve as an intermediary for both frontend and back-end interactions.

• Security authentication and authorization of users.

Technologies Used

1.Programming Languages

Node.js: Allows one to take up JavaScript on the server side.

Python: Generally taken up along with either Django or Flask for web development.

Ruby: Taken up along with the Ruby on Rails framework.

Java is commonly used in enterprise applications; often, applications are mixed with the Spring framework.

PHP is a prevalent language in web development and is generally used with frameworks like Laravel.

2. Databases

SQL Databases: MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite for relational data storage.

NoSQL Databases: MongoDB, Cassandra, Redis for non-relational data storage.

3. Web servers

Apache: This is one of the most used web server software.

Nginx: A high-performance web server that can act as a reverse proxy.

Tools

• API Development: Postman is generally used to test APIs; Swagger represents API documentation.

• Version Control: Git is used to manage changes made in code.

Deployment: Docker for containerization; hosting applications on cloud services such as AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. Common Challenges include Scalability, which supports vast amounts of traffic and data.

Security: Vulnerability and unauthorized access. Data Management: Ingestion, analysis, and querying of large volumes of data.

How the Frontend Interacts with the Backend

1. Data Exchange: The interaction between the front and back ends happens while the former requests data from the latter, which generally uses APIs over HTTP/HTTPS protocols.

2. RESTful Services: Most modern web applications use RESTful APIs to enable collaborative interaction between the front and back ends collaboratively.

3. Response Handling: The back end processes the requests, communicates with the database, and returns the answers (close to all in JSON format), which the front end can parse and display to the user.

4. Status Management: The front can manage the state, such as user sessions, using libraries such as Redux for React and Vuex for Vue.js. The persistence of this status is left to the back-end using a database.

 

Top 8 Tech Stack commonly used in Web Development.

1. LAMP Stack

Components

Linux: An open-source operating system that serves as the foundation.

Apache: A widely-used web server software that serves web content.

MySQL: A relational database management system (RDBMS) for data storage.

PHP: A server-side scripting language designed for web development.

Strengths

Cost-effective and open-source.

Rich community support and documentation.

High performance and reliability.

Use Cases: Ideal for small to medium-sized web applications, content management systems like WordPress, and e-commerce websites.

2. MEAN Stack

Components

MongoDB: A NoSQL database used to store data akin to JSON; hence, it is flexible and scalable. 

Express.js: A Node.js web application framework making server-side development easier. 

Angular: Google-developed frontend web app framework; uses HTML templates for declarations, JavaScript for logic, and dynamic SPAs. 

Node.js: An open-source runtime environment for JS built on Chrome's V8 engine and enables the running of JS on the server. Strong Points 

Full JavaScript stack from client-side to server-side and seamless development on both. 

Actual time manipulation of data. 

Easy integration with other utilities and libraries.

Use Cases: It is ideal for SPAs, real-time applications such as chat applications, and applications requiring complex interactions.

3. MERN Stack

Components

MongoDB: The same as in the MEAN stack.

Express.js: The same as in the MEAN stack.

React: It's a frontend JavaScript library to construct user interfaces. Facebook maintains it.

Node.js: The same as in the MEAN stack.

Strengths

Component-based architecture in React encourages reusable UI components.

Virtual DOM ensures faster rendering and a better user experience.

Strong community support and a rich ecosystem of libraries.

Use Cases: Suited for Dynamic web applications, single-page applications, and applications that involve extreme interactivity.

4. Django Stack

Components

Python: A high-level interpreted language famous because of its readability and simplicity.

Django: A very potent web framework; it follows MTV - Model - Template - View as an architectural pattern.

PostgreSQL/MySQL: To store data in relational databases.

Nginx: An effective web server that usually acts as a reverse proxy.

Pros

Rapid development is due to the built-in functionalities like authentication and ORM.

High-level security features, including protection against SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).

Scalability and modularity.

Use Cases: Well-suited for complex web applications, APIs, and data-driven applications.

5. Ruby on Rails Stack

Components

Ruby: It is a dynamic, object-oriented programming language.

Rails: A configuration-free web application framework that prefers convention over configuration.

PostgreSQL/MySQL: Database in it.

Puma: A fast and concurrent web server.

Strengths

Lightning-fast development of applications by using scaffolding and convention over configuration.

The power of community and many libraries are available - gems.

Following the best practices and clean code.

Use Cases: Often used for startups, MVPs, and web applications that need to be deployed concisely.

6. Serverless Stack

Components

AWS Lambda: Event-driven, serverless computation service that runs your code in response to events.

API Gateway: Build, deploy, and secure APIs for your apps.

DynamoDB: Fully managed AWS NoSQL database service.

Frontend Framework: It can be any modern JavaScript framework like React, Vue.js, or Angular.

Strengths

No server management; you pay for only what you use.

Scales automatically to handle changing loads.

Enables fast deployment and iteration.

Use Cases: It is suitable for microservices, APIs, mobile backends, and highly scalable applications.

7. .NET Stack

Components

Windows: The operating system on which the .NET applications run.

.NET Framework: A software development framework with an extensive class library supporting an expansive range of programming languages.

C#: The name of a programming language designed for .NET development.

Microsoft SQL Server: This is a relational database management system.

Strengths

Tight integration with Microsoft tools and services.

High performance and security.

Extensive libraries and support for various types of applications: web, desktop, mobile.

Use Cases: Generally used for enterprise applications, e-commerce sites, and complex web applications.

8. Jamstack

Components

JavaScript: dynamic functionalities.

APIs: These are used when accessing data and services, such as third-party services or headless CMS.

Markup: Static site generators like Gatsby or Next.js produce static websites. Advantages: Performance boost because of serving static files; better security since no server will compromise.

Scalability via CDNs - Content Delivery Networks.

Use Cases: Blogs, e-commerce sites, documentation sites, and any other application that could take advantage of fast loading times and better security.