What’s your tech stack for the next project?

Launching any IT application requires pre-planning and decision-making at the initial stages of its development. For the customer, this project must be effective and deliver the end value. To score maximum effectiveness, your development team has to factor in lots of factors that influence the end success of your project.

The technological stack is the key criterion for making your solution effective and competitive. If you are new to tech lingo then the tech stack is the bit of jargon that you might come across when you start to learn more about software development. So what is a tech stack? This blog will look at the tech stack and who is using it.

A closer look at the technological stack

In short, a tech stack is a collection of technologies that you use to build a product. In other words, it’s a complex combination including programming languages, software, and the range of frameworks used to develop an IT project. It is important for startups to evaluate and understand their tech stack so that they can improve their products and manage their costs as they develop their products.

The technology stack dramatically affects any IT project. In particular, it influences development speed, time-to-market, quality, and overall pricing. Moreover, it affects scalability, so if the project was developed on a wrong chosen technology stack, it can backfire when your business grows.

What’s your front-end? Top technologies

The architecture of any web application includes two sides – the client-side and the server-side.

The client-side is everything that is available to users on the display. The structure of this area is represented by the following basic components:

• programming language, which is responsible for the interactive part of the web project (JavaScript);
• markup language documentation, allowing a reliable display of the content of sites in the browser (HTML);
• a formal language that allows the content to be styled properly (CSS);
• UI frameworks and libraries (jQuery, Angular).

If we look at the heat index of front-end technologies, we’ll find React, Next.js, Vue, and Angular sitting at the top. It also means that component-driven development is in its prime at the moment.

Moreover, according to the statistics, most developers opt for cloud hosting to move away from expensive and bulky on-site servers. Thus, 64% of developers move the front end to the cloud. Amazon Web Services is leading, with around 45% AWS enthusiasts.

What’s your back-end? Top technologies

The server side of the web portal, which is not visible to its visitors, is provided by the data of the client-side, built on top of it. Therefore, it’s a combination of behind-the-scenes technologies that fuel the application and its interface.

Server-side makeup is an extensive one and includes:

• databases (e.g., MongoDB, Neo4j);
• backend programming language (such as C #, Python, or Java);
• frameworks built on top of programming languages (NET or Spring);
• web server (an option may be a project with a serverless architecture);
• cloud infrastructures and services (Microsoft Azure, Heroku).

As for the leading technologies, your choice should be based on your solution’s requirements and business objectives. On a high level, MySQL is a top database option chosen by nearly 40 percent of respondents. As for programming languages, Python, Java, C, and C++ are sitting comfortably on top, according to the TIOBE index. Let’s see what applications can be powered by the popular coding languages.

Top coding languages: how to choose yours

Deciding on the main technology is what can make or break your project. Therefore, this choice should be based on your unique project needs, present team skills, and budget. Let’s see what each popular language is capable of.

Python

No top list of technologies is complete without Python. A swiss army knife, Python is a general-purpose, high-level, dynamic programming language that can be used for many kinds of software development. It provides constructs that enable clear programming on both small and large scales.

While Python may not be used as much in the industry as other languages such as C++ or Java, it is nevertheless widely used in web development, game development, data science, and machine learning applications such as YouTube’s recommendation engine.

Java

Java is a technology created by Sun Microsystems in the 1990s. It is used to develop applications for mobile devices, desktop computers, and servers. Java is platform-independent, which means it can run on any operating system without having to be recompiled.

Java is available on most devices — including desktop computers, smartphones, tablets, embedded devices (like routers), etc. Because Java offers a consistent way to write code across all platforms, it has also become very popular as a development platform for creating mobile apps or games.

Since Java has laid the ground for a lot of other coding languages, it is compatible with a lot of technologies. Therefore, Java is used for building a wide range of applications and provides a set of APIs for building effective and powerful cross-platform applications.

C++

C++ is one of the most popular programming languages of all time. It was developed from C by adding new features to make it suitable for large applications. C++ is used for many different types of programs and applications, including operating systems, device drivers, commercial software, games, and web browsers. It’s also widely used in scientific computing because of its speed and flexibility.

С

C is a general-purpose coding language that was originally designed for writing system software but has since become popular for a wide variety of applications, including operating systems such as Windows, advanced programs such as the Oracle database, Git, and games. C has also influenced many other popular languages such as C#, Java, and JavaScript.

How to choose your top technologies?

Securing the right set of technologies is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as an entrepreneur. It affects everything from how easy it is to find developers to how much money you’ll spend on hosting costs.

To help you make this decision, we’ve put together five questions that will help you figure out which technology is right for your business.

The size of the project

The complexity and size of the project are the main two factors that influence the selection of technologies. The larger your project is, the more complex combination of technologies it needs. Therefore, large projects call for more extensive stacks, APIs, and robust infrastructures. Also, your core framework should be able to accommodate a large number of users.

If you have a big project with lots of features, then you need to choose an appropriate framework or library. For example, if your project uses ReactJS, then it’s better to use another library like Redux or MobX to manage data flow. Some other libraries like Flux and Redux help developers avoid writing boilerplate code by providing ready-to-use solutions for common tasks in web development.

Medium-sized web applications of online shopping sites or similar commercial portals need stacks of greater complexity, including several levels of programming languages and several frameworks. Large projects require the largest stack that can handle significant amounts of data, and maintain the required level of performance of web applications and their integrity.

Application development time

It is important for developers to choose the right set of technology stacks so that they can meet their deadlines and deliver a quality product within budget. If you have a strict deadline, then it would be better to go for technologies that are mature and stable as they offer greater stability compared to newer technologies which may be buggy or unstable due to lack of maturity in their development cycle.

The longer it takes, the more expensive it gets because developers need time to work on other projects as well as yours. That’s why companies often try to optimize their development process by creating reusable code libraries or using third-party solutions that are already available on the market (like Ruby on Rails or AngularJS). You can also opt for cross-platform technologies such as Flutter, React Native, Angular, and others.

Security of your application

If you are building an app in the healthcare or financial niche, you should keep the security bar high. Since your application handles sensitive data, it should meet regulatory standards. These influence the final choice of technologies as well.

Application scalability and maintenance

As your business grows, your application will need to accommodate new users. It means that your solution should be easily scalable and highly performant. Microservices and cloud storage are common options to enable scalability and flexibility. Node.js and Angular are also well known for their superb scalability abilities.

Factor in your team’s skills

Finally, the existing knowledge base of your company is what should help you make the right call. For example, if your team is well-versed in .Net or MEAN stacks, you should choose a project stack that is compatible with those combinations. However, mind that legacy software isn’t the best option even if they are battle-tested. They can reduce the efficiency of the application and lead to difficulties related to technical support.

The final word

Choosing the powerful combo of technologies is the first and foremost step towards project excellence. Your choice should be based on the complexity of your application, security, scalability as well as current team expertise. If you still struggle to make the right choice, consider contacting a team of professionals to get an added tailwind to your solution.