Stacking web technologies is a common phenomenon adopted by developers since years to gain prominence in website development. One of the earliest web stacks formed with well-known open source technologies is LAMP STACK. LAMP is the combination of four important technologies - one is an operating system called Linux, second is the Apache web server, third being MySQL, the popular database system and last but not the least, Perl ( PHP or Python) the programming language used for developing HTML web pages. Every website requires a framework, a programming language, libraries and so on for its development. When you get the right combination of all these technologies you can surely develop a good website that can offer better performance.
LAMP stack is a good but a conventional approach for website development that is now getting replaced with MEAN. There are many significant benefits that MEAN stack offers to the developers for speedy and efficient website development and hence, is becoming a prominent technology for the modern web development needs.
Hence, if you are looking for an advanced approach to replace LAMP stack for web development needs for your organization, then MEAN stack can offer you a lot of advantages which you can rely on to get ahead of the competition.
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Just like LAMP, MEAN is also a combination of four rich technologies – MongoDB, Express, AngularJS and NodeJS. If you want to get the best out of the existing JavaScript expertise in your firm, then adopting MEAN web development practices can be the best way for your organization to get along with the present day competition with lesser costs. Yes, you would not have to invest more time and costs for training existing developers or hiring new Mean stack developers for the purpose. Yet, you would be able to easily cash on the new web development technology.
However, moving from LAMP to MEAN for web development would require a developer sufficient knowledge of each and every technology of the stacks. You need to understand the pros and cons of each technology in order to get your hold over web development through stacks. Below are a few comparisons of each technology in both stacks and explains how MEAN can be really good over LAMP stack.
Comparing the Operating System:
When you prefer LAMP stack for your web development needs, you need to get your hands on Linux OS at first, which is not the case with MEAN. You can go for MEAN stack development with any operating system, just to take care that this operating system should support NodeJS.
Apache for LAMP is Node.js for MEAN:
As it is Apache for LAMP, Node.js is for MEAN stack. Node.js is not just a simple web server. With Node.js development, you are not deploying your application to a web server, instead you are including it right in your application. Hence, this makes application deployment process lot easier and efficient as you defining the desired web server version along with other runtime dependencies in your application itself.
Move Out to a Non-Relational Data Store with MongoDB:
One of the major benefits you get as you move out from LAMP to MEAN is the data storage. You can now rely on simple and easy NoSQL system rather than complex relational databases for your data storage needs. No more complex schemas, you can get your hands on JSON documents for your data storage requirements. Yes, you will now have to shift from MySQL to MongoDB. You will now not require to write complex SQL statements for performing database transactions. Just with simple map/reduce functions in JavaScript, you would be able to perform database activities easily and in less time. You can also create RESTful web services easily with MongoDB.
Migration from Server-Side Page Generation to Client Side SPAs:
One of the most important shifts that come with LAMP to MEAN migration is the shift from server-side page generation to client-side single page applications. While Express.js will handle the server-side routing, client-side views shall be handled by AngularJS. This means a shift of MVC artifacts rendering from server-side to client-side. The web page presentations and control flow tasks that were handled by PHP, Perl or Python in LAMP will be handled by Express and Angular in MEAN stack. AngularJS handles the data presentation of an application, while Express.js shall direct the application's control flow. Hence, this is a shift from synchronous to asynchronous processes and page-centric views to component-oriented views of an application.
Adding to all these factors, MEAN stack allows for responsive web development. One can build web applications which run well on desktops, laptops, smartphones, tablets etc. Mean stack web development also calls for comprehensive testing processes with world-class testing frameworks like MochaJS and KarmaJS which allow for testing through coding for your MEAN application.
Hence, MEAN web development has its own list of benefits to offer for a flexible web development organization that is looking to shift its focus from LAMP to an advanced stack technology.