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Discussion on: MERN, MEAN OR FERN stack?

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pclundaahl profile image
Patrick Charles-Lundaahl

Okay, so perhaps a bit of a rant answer, but:

I really hope firebase isn't taking over... Google owns enough of your things already. Regarding best or worst, I don't think there is a best here, at all.

First off, all of these are essentially the same: a NoSQL database, a node JS backend, and either Angular or React on the frontend. I think this misses out on a lot of other important aspects, such as:

  • Relational databases
  • Static site generators (whether it's Gatsby or something like Jekyll, that foregoes a JS framework)
  • Svelte, Vue, etc.
  • Not writing an SPA

Second, engineering is largely about making tradeoffs. Every element of your stack comes with pros and cons. Weighing those is part of being a responsible developer. Blindly picking one stack as best is doing a disservice to your customers.

For example, there's no need to force your users to download react and waste battery life to read a personal blog that's updated once or twice a week. However, if you're building a Kanban app, React or Angular are probably great choices, as maintaining an app that does that in vanilla JS is going to be expensive and error-prone. Likewise, mongo might be a stellar choice if you need really high throughput, but if you're writing an ecommerce engine, you probably want the ACID guarantees that come with a relational database.

I'd say keep your options open! Learn things outside the JavaScript bubble.

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jamesthomson profile image
James Thomson

This. There is no best stack, there is simply the stack that is best suitable for the product you are developing.