New technologies seem to crop by the day. Hence, the conundrum of choosing the most suitable tech stack has never been more challenging.
But despite evolving frameworks, the fundamentals of picking the right technology stay the same. New players check in, yet the game rules never change.
So today, we’ll find out how you can assemble the winning team of technologies for your next project.
What Is A Technological Stack?
A technology stack usually refers to a set of tools used when breathing life into the projects. It comprises programming languages, frameworks, database management systems, compilers, and others. Thus, to create a user-friendly website, you’ll need a tech stack of HTML, PHP, CSS, and JavaScript.Wondering how to hire javascript developers – let the mentioned information help you choose the right team.
The technology stack can get updated in response to technology shifts. Also, the majority of companies allow their software engineers to contribute to the development of the company’s technology suite. The stack may also include additional technologies for testing, analytics, and CRM. Companies may have slightly different technical stacks for web development and mobile app development.
The tools and technologies chosen as part of a company’s core stack will greatly affect that company’s ability to develop and deploy code quickly and scale easily. It’s critical to choose a tech stack with technologies that have seamless integration and a large open-source community so that your development team can build on the knowledge of others when writing code.
Defining Your Web Project Structure
When shortlisting the technologies for a web application, you should bear in mind the dual nature of web projects. Thus, all of them consist of two basic parts known as the client-side and server-side, also referred to as frontend and backend.
This separation is core since each side of the application presupposes a separate suite of programming languages and frameworks.
Front-end Technological Stack
The set of client-side technologies is responsible for the visual part of the application. The front-end aspect refers to everything you experience directly when you land on the website. It may include text colors and styles, buttons, colors, navigation menu, and others.
The winning trio of the front-end part is usually made of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript:
- HTML – allows the user to create and structure sections, paragraphs, headings, links, and blocks for web pages and applications. However, it’s not a programming language, hence it does not have the ability to create dynamic functions.
- CSS – while HTML structures the content, CSS allows you to format it to make it more appealing to the reader.
- JavaScript – adds dynamic elements to your web application.
The go-to frameworks that get coupled with the trio may include ReactJS, AngularJS, VueJS, and others.
Technological Stack For Back-End
The back-end side of the application is where developers keep their skeletons. Server-side ensures the internal operations of an application and website, thus having no direct impact on the user.
Developers use the following tools for the back end:
- Programming languages (Python, Ruby, etc)
- Frameworks (Django, Flask, and others)
- Database Management system (MySQL, and others)
- Web servers
A prominent example of a back-end tech stack is the LAMP software bundle. It’s one of the most popular solution stacks for the web’s most popular applications that includes Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.
Full Stack Sets
Full stacks are also becoming increasingly popular today. The main reason for that is the reduced project costs and seamless communication between developers. Besides, companies can easily switch between front and back end development based on their business needs. Let’s have a look at the most demanded full-stack technology sets used by senior developers:
- MERN – a set consisting of MongoDB as a database, Express.js as a framework, React as a library, Node.js as a platform. These open-source components provide a comprehensive environment for easier and faster deployment of full-stack web applications.
- MEAN – a young stack that consists of MongoDB as a database, Express.js as a framework, and Angular.js and Node.js as back-end platforms. It is mostly used for cloud-enabled applications since MEAN applications are flexible, scalable, and extensible.
- LAMP – tech stack that uses Linux as an operating system, Apache as a web server, MySQL as a DBMS, and PHP as a programming language. LAMP is used to display dynamic websites and web applications.
Now let’s go on to mobile app development and the set of software you need for that.
What Technology To Choose For Mobile Development
The choice of the right solution set determines your app’s functionality, scalability, and security. Therefore, you should pay due diligence to this dilemma and perform a rigorous screening of trending technologies.
Essentially, all mobile applications fall into:
- Android operating system
- iOS platform
- Cross-platform development
Let’s start with the first one.
A Solution Stack For Android Development
With the neck-breaking competition on the Google PlayStore and Apple’s App Store, it is not easy to win over the hearts and smartphones of new users. The time-tested suite of software can help you with that.
Java
You can never go wrong with something as bulletproof as Java. This object-oriented programming language is the acknowledged language for building Android applications. It provides an easy-to-handle and highly secure infrastructure that comes complete with open-source libraries, on-point documentation, and avid community support. Telegram, for example, relies on Java technology.
Kotlin
Kotlin comes to the rescue when you need to build an advanced mobile solution. It is the modern version of Java that was initially meant for JVM. It is well known for fewer app crashes and concise code. Trello and Coursera saw the light of the screen thanks to Kotlin.
Android Studio And Android SDK
Also, you need a development environment so that your desktop is ready to support your Android development goals. To do that, you’ll need Android Studio and the Android SDK. Android Studio is an IDE. It stands for integrated development environment, which is essentially an interface where you can enter your code (primarily Java or Kotlin) and access all the tools you need for development.
Android Studio allows you to access libraries and APIs from the Android SDK, thereby giving you access to your operating system functions.
How To Build Apps For Apple Devices
Swift
Swift is a fantastic coding language used to create applications for Apple phones, desktops, servers, and anything else that runs and works with code. Swift is a secure, fast, and interactive programming language. It combines the best ideas of modern languages with the wisdom of Apple’s engineering culture. Also, the compiler is optimized for performance, and the language is optimized for development, without compromising each other.
Objective-C
Objective-C is a compiled object-oriented programming language for creating iOS applications. Its stability and C-compatibility make this language a popular option among iOS developers.
Xcode
This development environment includes tools for creating applications for all Apple platforms. Xcode contains an interface builder that supports all modern code tools. In addition, you can test the application within the IDE.
Solution Stacks: Inspiration Board
We do not recommend copy-pasting someone’s tech stack entirely. But competitor research can help you assemble an ideal technology set for your next project.
With that said, let’s go over the most popular companies and their technologies in use.
This social bookmarking website relies on the following ecosystem:
- Python
- React
- NGINX
- Java
- MySQL
- Redis
- Amazon S3
- Django
- Objective-C
- Memcached
- Hadoop, and others.
Uber
If you’re into on-demand app development, Uber’s tech stack can give you an overview of the technologies in the niche:
- jQuery
- Python
- Node.js
- React
- NGINX
- Java
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- Redis
- Kafka
- Go
- Swift
- Objective-C
- Cassandra, and others.
Instacart
This is another on-demand solution that delivers groceries and home essentials from local stores. This application is empowered by the following suite of technologies:
- Python
- React
- NGINX
- PostgreSQL
- Redis
- Firebase
- Ubuntu
- Ruby
- Objective-C, and others.
As you see, high-end applications call for an extensive set of technologies to fuel the operations. Tech stacks of such size empower multiple levels of frameworks and programming languages, processing oceans of data. If you’re aiming for a more simple solution, you might get away with fewer technologies.
The Bottom Line
Choosing the ultimate technology stack is a paramount task for the success of your projects. You should base your decision on the project needs, current tech trends, and available talent pool. Moreover, your tech stack should stay flexible and adaptable to changes, since IT is volatile.