As the web continues to evolve, there is an ever-growing demand for more robust architectures. Technology stacks are not a new thing.

The term stack appeared around the launch of LAMP, which is an open-source full-stack development bundle consisting of Linux, Apache Server, MySQL, and PHP.

Ever since then, different technology stacks are popping up every now and then. And now our attention is focused on MERN and MEAN. But before going any further, what is a stack anyway?

What is a Stack Anyway?

A technology stack —or tech stack for short— is a combination of different programming languages, software products, or web technologies when speaking about MERN/MEAN.

Both of them are made up of free and open-source JavaScript frameworks and libraries that can be used to build modern dynamic web applications.

They support both client and server-side to be written in the same language: JavaScript. This means that they are both full-stack. Let’s see each in more depth.

What are MERN and MEAN?

MEAN is made up of:

• MongoDB: A NoSQL document database that stores data in JSON-like documents with schemas.
• Express.js: A web application framework for Node.js used as a web server.
• Angular: The backbone of the tech stack, the web application framework used for the frontend of the application.
• Node.js: The JavaScript runtime that the whole stack runs on.

Just like MEAN, MERN is also made up of MongoDB, Express.js, and Node.js. But instead of using Angular, it uses React.

#mongodb #express #react #node #angular