Top Benefits of JavaScript Full Stack Development You Should Know

JavaScript is a dominant player in the web development arena. It has gained popularity in the past 20 years and continues to do so. Initially developed for front end engineering, the language can now be used even for server-side programming. But in spite of all this, there has been a lot of debate going on about the use of full-stack JavaScript.

After reading this blog, you’ll understand why full-stack JavaScript would be a good option for your next web project. Before we start discussing its benefits, let’s know something about full-stack development in general. 

A Brief Overview of Full Stack Development

Ask any full stack development company or full stack java developer and you’ll understand that it’s almost impossible to create a full-fledged digital product using just one technology. You have to use what is known as a tech stack i.e. standard combinations of different tools and programming languages. All software products are composed of a client-side and a server-side. Your project will usually require two separate stacks to cover each of the layers. However, there are approaches that can build web or mobile applications using a single stack, which we call full-stack development.

Accordingly, a software developer who has broad knowledge and skills in all aspects of product engineering is known as a full-stack developer. They are in high demand in companies like Facebook, eBay, Tinder, and others.

We’ll now take a look at two of the popular tech stacks preferred by full-stack developers. 

LAMP Stack: Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP

LAMP is open-source and Linux-friendly. Recently, the LAMP stack can be seen slowly transforming into LEMP, with more and more developers replacing Apache web server with NGINX. 

The LAMP/LEMP stack can be easily modified and secure. It’s the best option for enterprise apps and prototypes requiring a high level of customization. Along with complete access to the source code, it also has an ability to mix and match various components of the stack. This gives developers great flexibility and they can make custom choices depending on each application’s requirements.

MEAN Stack: MongoDB, Express, AngularJS, and Node.js

It’s a versatile stack running on a uniform language and is preferred by startups. We can call it an evolved version of LAMP. Companies that are using the MEAN approach are Uber, Netflix, Google, and PayPal. 

Besides choosing such existing software packages, you can also create your own stack by knowing the technology used by popular websites. For example, you can check out portals like TechStacks and StackShare to get a list of all the main technologies applied.

Now, let’s come to the crux of this article. We’ll discuss the benefits of full-stack JavaScript development in the further sections.

What Is Full Stack Javascript Development?

As a layman, you can consider full-stack JavaScript as using different technologies built on the same programming language. 

Server-side JavaScript programming with Node.js and Express web framework is a popular technology choice. Alternatively, experts tend to use other Node.js-based tools, such as Sails.js, Meteor, Restify, Koa, or Keystone.js.

There are even more choices of frameworks for the front end JavaScript. Apart from traditional AngularJS or AngularJS 2.0 frameworks, there are numerous libraries, such as Vue.js, React, Knockout.js, or Backbone.js.

If we talk about the database, almost any MongoDB alternative can be used. These are PostgreSQL, MySQL, Apache CouchDB or Apache Cassandra.

Good Things About Full Stack Javascript Development

Common language and better team efficiency with lesser resources

Writing all parts of your web application in JavaScript helps the team to better understand the source code. Thus, there will be no gap between front and back end engineering when two teams work separately using different technologies. This also reduces the overall cost and effort of finding and retaining more resources. Such a cross-functional team is of great help when following Agile methodologies.

Extensive code reuse

By vouching for full-stack JavaScript, you save an enormous amount of time in code reuse and sharing. It helps you follow the “don’t repeat yourself” (DRY) principle and you can reduce the effort by reusing the parts of the code or sharing libraries, templates, and models. Ultimately, you can reduce the number of lines of code by up to 40 percent when refactoring and maintaining the source code.

High performance and speed

Node.js uses an event-driven, non-blocking IO model. This makes it faster and lightweight compared to other back end technologies. PayPal proved this by publishing a comprehensive report on the results they saw when migrating from Java to full-stack JavaScript. The development became almost 2 times faster. Moreover, they noticed a dramatic improvement in performance. The number of requests completed per second doubled and decreased the average response time by 35 percent for the same page. The pages can load 200ms faster, which is definitely commendable.

Extensive knowledge base

JavaScript is backed by giants like Facebook and Google and has a powerful and fast-growing community. A survey done by Stack Overflow in 2016 says the language tops the list of the most popular technologies on their website with 62,588 votes. It currently has nearly 1,543,025 questions tagged “JavaScript”, which indicates the huge amount of valuable information that can be found there.

Use Full Stack Javascript for Your Next Web Project

Choosing a tech stack for your next project shouldn’t be difficult now. This article has told you most of the things you need to know to make a decision. As mentioned earlier, most of the JavaScript tools are open-sourced. They are updated regularly and evolving rapidly due to the active community contributions. You can pick from more than 475,000 tools hosted by the NPM, the largest JavaScript modules registry in the world. Good luck!

Author Bio

Bharat Patel, who heads the digital marketing team at Brainvire Infotech, is armed with over 12 years of experience in the fields of online marketing and project management. He is extremely proactive in implementing the latest technological innovations in his projects. Bharat’s core expertise lies in search engine optimization (SEO), social media marketing, and conversion rate optimization, among other things. His immense flare of writing encourages him to consistently pen down words revolving around current trends and innovations that relate to his fields of interest.