What makes up a company’s technology stack are the technologies that go into the creation and maintenance of an application or project. So, a technology stack or a tech stack is a multi-layered set of technologies that can be clubbed or integrated together to solve a purpose, create an application or even maintain existing ones. This read is about combining different technology stacks, examples of technology stacks and much more.
Layers of a Technology Stack
So, a technology stack has multiple layers that in unison solve a problem. Let us look at the multiple layers down below along with technology stack examples:
Front-end
The front-end of a website or an application refers to the section that the user sees and uses. The ‘client side’ of an application is another name for the front-end.
Programming Language
The main programming languages used for developing the front-end of a website are HTML, CSS and JavaScript.
- HTML: HTML is the standard markup language for texts intended for display in a web browser.
- CSS: CSS or Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the visual appearance of a document encoded in a markup language like HTML or XML.
- JavaScript: JavaScript is a popular programming language that can do wonders for a website’s user experience. It’s a great way to add interactive elements to a website, such as web-based applications. JavaScript is essential for every serious developer because of its versatility.
Frameworks
A front-end framework is a collection of pre-existing JavaScript code that can be imported into your project to facilitate rapid development. A few examples of front-end frameworks are React.js, Angular.js and Vue.js.
Back-end
The website’s back-end is the server-based portion of the site. It maintains the website’s client-side functionality by storing and organising data that you do not view or have access to on the internet. It is the part of the program that consumers don’t see or interact with.
Programming Language
Programmers employ back-end languages to build the app’s inner workings. Features included in back-end code streamline the transmission of data and information between a server and a client using an internet-connected computer or device. The most popular programming languages used for back-end development are PHP, Java, Python, and C++.
Frameworks
When constructing a website’s underlying infrastructure, developers often turn to back-end frameworks, which are essentially language libraries for use with servers. It is possible to create a fully functional, interactive website with the help of pre-built components provided by back-end frameworks.
Databases
A back-end database is a database that users access indirectly via an external application (created by frameworks) rather than through application code stored inside the database itself or by low-level manipulation of the data. This kind of database is also known as an application-level database. Examples of databases include MongoDB, CassandraDB, MySQL and PostgreSQL.
Web Server
A website server is basically the machine on which the site’s server software and all of the site’s other files are stored. A web server is any computer that can connect to the internet and facilitate the transfer of data between devices via the network.
A web server’s software consists of many components that manage file access for visitors to the server. It is software that can process HTTP requests and recognise Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). The content of the websites stored on an HTTP server is retrieved and sent to the user’s device when the user enters the domain names of those websites into their browser. All of this is done with the help of web servers.
Operating System
An operating system is a piece of software installed on a computer that controls the system’s hardware and software resources and offers standard functions to other applications. Linux is the most widely used operating system to carry out back-end services.
Combination of Technology Stacks Used in the Real World
With the aforementioned information in this read, you definitely know the technical stack meaning. Different technologies are combined to build an application or a website. You can write the front-end code for your website using HTML, CSS and JavaScript. You can choose a framework that will help you with your front-end development, React.js for example. For your back-end development, you can choose to write your APIs using Python in Django or any back-end language you are comfortable with. You can choose to link almost any database you want and finally run it on a web server using Linux. So, you can basically combine any front-end and back-end technological stack you are comfortable with.
The most widely known technology stack examples are the MEAN and the MERN stack.
MEAN Stack
To create web apps, developers use the MEAN Stack, which is written in JavaScript. MEAN is an acronym for “MongoDB, Express, Angular and Node,” which are the four main technologies that make up the stack’s layers.
- MongoDB as a database
- Express as a web application back-end framework
- Angular as a front-end application back-end framework
- Node for building back-end services
MERN Stack
You can build full-stack web apps relatively easily using MERN Stack, as the learning curve for React is lower than Angular in the MEAN Stack. MongoDB, Express, React and Node are the four technologies that make up the MERN Stack.
- MongoDB as a database
- Express as a web application back-end framework
- React as a front-end application back-end framework
- Node for building back-end services
Conclusion
Many aspects of an organisation’s business depend on how it constructs its tech stack, meaning that the simple choice of a tech stack affects outcomes such as including the kind of products or apps to be developed, the ability to operate quickly and even the engineers that they recruit. Hoping that this read has helped you find an answer to “what is a tech stack and how does it work?” The next question that arises is “how to choose a tech stack for my website or my web-based application?” To get answers to your questions and many more, you can check out the FullStack Development Certification Program.
Also Read: Full Stack Development Projects to Make Your Resume Stand Out
