A “tech stack” is a term often used in the world of software development and refers to the combination of technologies, tools, and frameworks used to build and run a software application. It’s essentially the list of all the building blocks that developers use to create a functioning product.
When you hear the term “tech stack”, it’s essentially about the combination of technologies you’re using to build your application. It’s a crucial decision that can affect not just the development process, but also the future scalability, performance, and maintainability of your application.
Technology stack explained
A “Technology Stack” is a term that describes the collection of software platforms, tools, services, hardware, and network devices used to create a software application. These elements are the building blocks that developers use to build and manage an application.
Developers in a company are expected to be skilled in using these components. A developer who has skills that cover the entire technology stack is often referred to as a “Full Stack Developer.”
One of the main benefits of a technology stack is its layered structure. This means that one layer can be updated or changed without affecting the others. The success of the application depends on how well these layers work together. If they integrate smoothly and seamlessly, the application is more likely to be successful.
choosing a Technology Stack for a product/application?
Deciding on a Technology Stack for a product or application is a crucial step. Often, companies might make this choice based on the existing skills of their employees or legacy technologies they already have. However, this might not always be the best approach.
Here are some key factors to consider when choosing a technology stack:
Product Requirements: The technology stack should be chosen based on what the product needs to do. If a simple Python package can fulfill the requirements, there’s no need to use a more complex service framework. However, the chosen technology stack should also be able to accommodate future growth and additional features.
Available Resources: The chosen technology stack should align with the company’s resources, including human resources, funding, and timeline. But before starting development, companies should carefully evaluate whether their chosen technologies are the most effective ones.
User Compatibility: For B2B products and platform development projects, the users of the product will also interact with the technology stack, perhaps through APIs, add-ons, or extensions. In these cases, it’s important to ensure that the exposed part of the stack is compatible with the user’s environment. For example, a networking software platform once used proprietary protocols in their APIs that telecom service providers couldn’t use, leading to the project’s failure.
In summary, choosing a technology stack is a strategic decision that should be based on the product’s needs, the company’s resources, and the end user’s environment.
Technology Stack used in popular IT applications
Choosing the right technology stack for your product or application is like picking the right tools for a job. You need to consider what you’re trying to build and what tools will best help you achieve your goal.
To give you an idea of what this looks like in practice, let’s look at the technology stacks used by some of the biggest names in the tech industry:
Facebook: Facebook uses a mix of different technologies. This includes PHP and React for building user interfaces, GraphQL for querying data, Memcached for caching, Cassandra and MySQL for databases, and Hadoop for data processing. They also use Swift and C++ for mobile app development, and JavaScript, JSON, HTML, and CSS for web development.
Amazon: Amazon’s tech stack includes Java and Perl for backend development, Angular JS for frontend development, and MySQL for their database. They also use a variety of their own services, like the Amazon EC2 container service and DynamoDB for database management.
Google: Google uses a range of technologies, including Python and Java for backend development, the Android SDK for mobile app development, and Go and C++ for system tasks. They also use Preact and Angular JS for building user interfaces, Kubernetes for managing their services, and TensorFlow for machine learning tasks.
These examples show that there’s no one-size-fits-all tech stack. The best stack for your product or application will depend on what you’re trying to build, the skills of your team, and your specific requirements.
