MEAN STACK

One of the most common examples of these "standardized building blocks" is called the MEAN stack. Discover what the MEAN stack is, how it works, the advantages and disadvantages of the MEAN stack, and how it's commonly used.

The MEAN stack is a JavaScript-based framework for developing scalable web applications. The term MEAN is an acronym for MongoDB, Express, Angular, and Node — the four key technologies that make up the layers of the technology stack.

MongoDB: A NoSQL, object-oriented database designed for use with cloud applications

Express(.js): A web application framework for Node(.js) that supports interactions between the front end (e.g., the client side) and the database

Angular(.js): Often referred to as the “front end"; a client-side JavaScript framework used to create dynamic web applications to work with interactive user interfaces

Node(.js): The premier JavaScript web server used to build scalable network applications

Benefits of MEAN stack:

When building an application from scratch, employing a consistent, standardized software stack is vital. Creating your back end with a set of tools designed to work together reduces development time and streamlines resources.

However, the stack field is getting crowded. From LAMP to Ruby on Rails, there are a number of options. Each stack has its benefits and downsides and is geared for different projects. There’s no one-size-fits-all stack for development.

MEAN is an open source web stack that is mainly used to create cloud-hosted applications. MEAN stack applications are flexible, scalable and extensible, making them the perfect candidate for cloud hosting.

The stack includes its own web server so it can be deployed easily and the database can be scaled on demand to accommodate temporary usage spikes. A MEAN application enters the world optimized to take advantage of all the cost savings and performance improvements of the cloud.

JavaScript has long been a popular language for front-end web development—it’s flexible, dynamic and easy to use. But it has been an option only for back end and database development for a few years, allowing developers to create applications that use end-to-end JavaScript. Because every part of MEAN uses the same language, you can streamline your development teams.

MEAN removes the need to hire different specialists to develop each part of an application. Instead, you can use a single pool of JavaScript developers to work adaptively, where and when needed. Standardizing on JavaScript also provides an opportunity to reuse code across the entire application, reducing unnecessary reinvention.