The importance of choosing the right technology stack

The use of the right technology stack is the essence of a successful digital product. But choosing the right blend of technology is always tricky. 

At GoodWorkLabs, we offer an expert tech consultation that is unique for every digital product in question. In this post, we have given a more generalized road to help you choose the right tech stack for your application. We are laying down all the possible options for your reference so that you can manifest the right blend for your brand.

Technology stack: Definition & Popular Technology

In layman’s language, web app development requires a database, a server, HTML+CSS, and programming language. All these layers put together, form a tech stack for web development.

Technically, a technology stack is a combination of components which satisfies all the layers of mobile or web application and can directly affect the app functionality. The anatomy here is very simple with two major layers:

• the client-side (frontend; the presentation, what the user sees)
• server-side (backend; the website’s functionality, processes)

Frontend frameworks and libraries:

1) Bootstrap:

• Customizable, saves time, easy to use with a bunch of other helpful components.
• Recommended when you are opting for a ‘mobile first’ application.

2) Angular:

• JS-based framework, good for projects with easy code integration
• New Angular 5 makes it easy to reduce the runtime with the built-in code optimizer
• It is recommended for developing single-page web applications, cross-platform mobile apps, landing pages, and common websites.
• Already used by Google, PayPal, and Upwork

3) Vue.js:

• JS framework which easily integrates with JS libraries
• It is recommended for large-scale and single-page projects.
• Already used by Alibaba, WizzAir, Grammarly

4) React:

• JS library for making user interfaces (UI)
• Active community with numerous ready-made components
• Quick development
• It is recommended for web applications or platforms which require a very responsive UI.
• Already used by Facebook, Reddit, Netflix

5) JQuery:

• JS library that is used for code optimization

Programming Languages:

• PHP:

PHP is particularly designed for web development and creating dynamic web pages. Though it had certain vulnerabilities, it is considered to be the most popular language. Also, as PHP based apps are easy to code, it means that you can cut greatly on expenses by saving time.

• JavaScript (JS):

JavaScript is a convenient, versatile and effective high-level programming language which can be used for both server-side and client-side code. It is recommended for dynamic, agile and modern websites.

• Java:

Java is well-documented and supports numerous libraries. It is used widely for both complex website and dynamic mobile apps. The popular frameworks are Hibernate, Grails, Spring, Dropwizard, and Apache Wicket.

• C#:

With the capability of processing heavy data flow and the flexibility to create all kinds of application, C# is a popular cross-platform technology among developers.

Backend frameworks:

1) Ruby on Rails:

• One of the popular tech stack among startups, ROR is perfect for all kinds of apps from basic web pages to high-traffic web portals. 
• For developers, ROR is very easy to learn and use
• It is fast and scalable
• It uses DRY (“don’t repeat yourself”) design pattern and MVC concept (“model-view-controller”)
• RoR is already used by Airbnb, Basecamp, Twitch, Shopify,  and Zendesk.

2) Django:

• Django is versatile and can be used for startups, medium-sized projects, and high-loaded websites. It is a clean, secure, fast, and scalable framework for rapid development. Along with being well-documented,  it comes with its own lightweight server.
• Already used by Discus, Mozilla, Instagram, and National Geographic.

3) .NET:

• .NET allows developing any type of web app faster and making it scalable. It is very easy to add APIs and live communication features. It has an active community and is extensively documented.
• Already used by Xbox.com, Microsoft, Stack Overflow

4) Node.js:

• Node.js allows optimizing code on complex, high-performance, and data-intensive real-time apps. It is simple, fast, and expressive. It is recommended for apps that involve real-time streaming, collaboration tools, and chatting.

5) Express.js:

• As the name suggests Express.js is a minimalist, flexible, and resource-efficient framework which uses templates and requires minimum efforts. It is recommended for APIs and simple web and mobile services.

6) Flask:

• Flask is another well-documented framework with a highly active community. It is recommended when the client requires to build a service on a resource-constrained system. Also, it is good for serious websites and RESTful APIs.

Databases

1) MongoDB:

• MongoDB is a NoSQL, document-based database which can be used for storing large volumes of unstructured data. It can also be used in a cloud-based environment.

2) PostgreSQL:

• PostgreSQL has multi-version control and supports custom data types. Basically, it is an object-relational database with NoSQL features and is used for storing a gigantic volume of data (up to 32 TB per table).

3) MySql:

• The plus points of this most popular relational database are that MySql is highly scalable, easy to set up, cloud-reafy and is platform independent.

 

Popular technology stacks

You can also pick from already designed popular web stack. They have a solid foundation and you can easily customize them as per your requirements. The major tech stacks that have been used are LAMP(Linux-Apache-MySql-PHP), MEAN (MongoDB-Express.js-Angular-Node.js) and .NET.

LAMP alternatives:

• WAMP: Windows, Apache, MySql, PHP
• LAPP: Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL, PHP
• WISA: Windows, IIS, SQL, ASP.NET
• XAMPP: Linux, Mac OS X, Windows, Apache, MySql, PHP, Perl
• MAMP: Mac OS X, Apache, MySql, PHP

MEAN alternative:

• MEEN: MongoDB, Ember.js, Express.js, Node.js

Conclusions

The success of your project majorly depends on the tech stack that you choose in the beginning. With so many fishes in the pond, it is difficult to say which one will work best for you. But GoodWorkLabs can help!

Let’s discuss your requirements and compile the perfect tech stack for your next project. Drop us a quick message with your requirements and we will have our tech expert get in touch with you soon

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Why Ruby On Rails Is Preferred For Web Development?

Ruby On Rails has been constantly showcased as the best language for web development from the past few years. The framework has been much appreciated by developers from all over the globe and it has been in the spotlight now for too long. Let us try to understand what makes RoR a web worthy framework.

To begin with, let us understand that Rails follows a convention over configuration philosophy and has a strong focus on web application development. This means that once you have got to grips with the framework, it is generally much quicker to develop a web application than other languages. Many of the problems you are likely to face are solved elegantly by the framework.

There is a vibrant community of extremely talented people all solving problems you are likely to have and publishing gems that you can use in your application. So say for example you want to include authentication in your application there are three or four ready made solutions available for you. Furthermore because Rails is open source you can do whatever you like with it.

Do you know that the source code of Twitter, Basecamp, AirBnB, Shopify, and Dribble are made up of Ruby? Technically, Ruby on Rails is a software development framework mainly supporting Ruby programming language.Ruby follows Object-oriented Programming paradigms and uses  dynamic programming paradigms. The powerful framework Rails in ROR is becoming a powerful combination for modern programmers.

 

There are numerous qualities that render ROR as an emerging web development language.

 

Productive

Technically, Rail is a self-documenting framework. Therefore, developers from other programming platforms can pick up any project based on ROR and know what has been done to it.

Moreover, readability of code is awesome and highly comprehensive. It makes team collaboration far easier and quick. The project re-assignment is another feature in productivity improvements.

In short, Ruby on Rails helps developers to launch web apps within a short schedule and time frame. The evidence of the power of ROR is web giants including GitHub, Slideshare, and Goodreads.

Express

ROR framework can significantly boost the speed of web development because:

• ROR gives a cleaner code base with less redundant code
• It allows reuse of existing code and components so developers can avoid reinventing wheel again-and-again by developing the same from the scratch
• ROR prefers convention over configurations and saves developers to configuring files for set up
• It makes things easy when developers go from one project to another because ROR web developers can utilize the same code, architecture, structure, and programming practices
• It also makes changing developers on a project easy or more developers can join in the midst of the project if it required
• Developers need not decide on the defaults that already present, just think of tweaking them as per need
• Ruby is OOP language and open source so ROR developers can use extensive collection of source code templates available in the community ROR framework can absorb changes easily, so it is ideal for rapid application development project

Economically Viable

Writing code in Ruby means, writing in English. It increases the speed of coding and cut timeline of the ROR development project considerably. Moreover, it is open source and comes with free of charge licenses.

These attributes make ROR web development cost-effective. Rails is a powerful web development framework for SMB to enterprise level projects. It has all tools to automate tons of tasks and cut significant sections of the entire project.

Ruby on Rails helps web designers and web developers to focus on specific problems and their solutions, instead of messing into the framework itself. Thus, it speeds up development greatly.

Easily Available

It is open source project, and we know the ultimate benefits of open source. Free licensing and free to download source code are immediate attractions of ROR open source project.

It works on any operating system and browser, so compatibility is not an issue with Ruby on Rails web development project. Moreover, it has huge developer community ready to help others to resolve issues immediately.

Enough documents, forums, and blogs are learning resources besides exchanging thoughts and experiences on ROR designing and ROR programming topics.

Flexible

Ruby on Rails framework has enough tools to make modification on the existing web app. The additions of new features, changes in data models, and tweaking the project code is easy in ROR web project.

It eases updates and maintenance of ROR web app project with adequate speed and flexibility. Thus, the flexibility of ROR platform saves time and money for investors and web developers a lot.

Uncomplicated

Ruby has simple English-like syntax. It is very native and logical, so any level of software developer can grasp its fundamental and start coding. It has great readability that makes ROR almost self-documenting.

It helps developers to avoid writing separate comments or help texts. Moreover, ROR prefers conventions over configuration, so it saves developers to remember the details regarding configuration files and code.

Powerful

ROR is a powerful framework because it provides the best ways to do web design and programming. Rails follow Representational State Transfer (REST), so it helps developers to organize application around the resources and standard HTTP verbs. ROR follows responsible development practices. Thus, developers can start with a manageable chunk of code, share ownership, deal with vertical slices, and focus on three “Cs”-Compact, Clean, and Comprehensive coding practices.

Excellent Framework

ROR is emphasizing DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) programming practices and prevent ROR developers to reinventing the wheel again-and-again.

For instance, ROR encouraging automated testing over manual testing, which is repetitive in nature. Thus, it saves time, resources, and money spends on ROR project.

Extended Community

The supports on a proprietary programming language is a costly affair while on open source, it is totally free of charge experience. ROR has a large developer community to support willingly and through a variety of ways.

ROR community helps you through email, forums, blogs, live chats, social media, and on instant messengers.

 

Ruby On Rails is comprehensive and allows web developers to be more agile and expressive. Apart from being speedy, it allows robust web development which is facilitated by the constant support across the community. Being an open source platform, it provides an opportunity for everyone, every single time.

 

Why Ruby On Rails Is Still Preferred?

 

The same reasons why it was a worthy framework in 2004. The more things change, the more they stay the same. While we’ve seen a lot a progress in the JavaScript world, we’ve also seen a regression to the complexity-laden world that Rails offered refuge from in the early days.

The core premise of Rails remains in many ways as controversial today as it was when it premiered. That by formalizing conventions, eliminating valueless choices, and offering a full-stack framework that provides great defaults for anyone who wants to create a complete application, we can make dramatic strides of productivity.

Rails has an incredibly ambitious mission. In the full-stack goal lies a pursuit to deal with just about every piece of code needed to connect databases and no-sql stores to a business domain model written in Ruby to a set of controllers that expose that model via REST and then, yes, finally to HTML. But that last step is a small minority of the code and focus of Rails.

So if you think that client-side depends on  MVC, React, Angular, or whatever is The Future, then you’re still squarely in the target audience for using Rails. Because the bits you use to design your HTML/JavaScript-based UI still needs to connect to a back-end domain model that saves stuff to the databases, computes things, enqueues jobs for later processing, sends out emails, triggers push notifications, and all the other stuff that real apps need to do.

What makes Rails still a force to reckon with:

 

Stability & Consistency

Rails has been around for over a decade, and while it sees commit activity on a daily basis, most updates are incremental and non-breaking. This means Rails developers have the security of knowing their knowledge will remain applicable and their apps will not suddenly be running on abandoned dependencies. For new developers, it’s a safe bet, which is more than can be said for many web frameworks.

Knowledgeable Community

WordPress is undisputed in its position as the most-used “framework” for building a new website. One of the pitfalls of immense popularity and ease of use is the tendency to attract inexperienced developers. While there are plenty of poorly developed Rails apps and gems, there’s a higher-than-average quality-level across Ruby-based tools.

When you need help, the expertise of the community is important, too. Take a look through questions tagged Ruby or Ruby on Rails on Stack Overflow, and you’ll quickly get a sense of the depth of knowledge there.

Enjoyment

Rails follows in the footsteps of Ruby by valuing the enjoyment of the developer. It shows in features that go out of their way to behave the way that you would intuitively expect, even when it violates soft rule of programming.

 

The cherry is that you get to use Ruby, which, even in a world that has rediscovered the benefits of functional programming and immutability, remains the most extraordinarily beautiful and luxurious language you will ever encounter. Just look at some code. 

We dare you not to fall in love.

 

Top Websites built on Ruby on Rails Technology

Ruby is an active, object-oriented programming language. Rails is a web application for framework development and Ruby is the language written in it. Now that we are clearly informed about the basics, let’s take a look at some of the amazing projects developed on it, shall we?

 

1.     Airbnb

Shocked? Me too. If you are an avid traveler, you will be familiar with this company. Airbnb is a platform for people to easily find accommodation in a location they are visiting. Now, these aren’t hotels but rather houses and apartments offered by the owners or agencies. Airbnb was founded 9 years ago when three guys went from renting mattresses to owning a $10 billion company.

 

Airbnb has been relying on Rails since 2008 (when it first started). Last year they improved their large-scale payment systems and as a result managed to have systems that have strong transactional integrity, a robust audit trail and very predictable failure behavior.

 

 

2.     Hulu

Hulu is a successful online platform showcasing movies and TV shows legally and for free- well initially at least. Some like to call it Netflix’s slightly less popular sister but what makes Hulu different from its huge competitor Netflix, is that Hulu receives its content much faster. The trade-off here is that Netflix has a wider range of content but for those who wish to keep up with the latest shows and movies, Hulu is the perfect choice.

At a recent conference, Hulu’s ex development manager explained how Rails greatly benefitted their company- “The ideals of Rails – convention over configuration, Don’t Repeat Yourself (whenever possible, reuse as much code as possible rather than duplicating similar code in multiple places), test first, and agile – are quickly becoming pervasive throughout software development” he said.

It’s Rails that provides Hulu with a large and enticing library full of content along with easy navigation on various platforms.

 

 

3.     SoundCloud

SoundCloud is the world’s leading platform for users to create and share their music everywhere with everyone. This makes it easy for anyone to record and self-promote their music on various social networks and blogs.

 

With $60 million in recent funding, SoundCloud is all set to become a key competitor against paid platforms such as iTunes and Google Play.

 

 

4.     Groupon
 
Groupon, now a global pioneer of offering great discount deals in the local commerce business, initially founded in 2008, has shown tremendous growth.

 

With RoR, the developers got the site up and running with the advantage of easily adding new features. The company’s front-end began to thrive with this implementation.

 

 

5.     GitHub

If you are a programmer or a developer then you are bound to know about this amazing platform. The social networking hub for software developers allows them to store previous versions of their projects (lines of codes and all) to allow them to revisit the entire code and make changes to release new versions and updates. With GitHub, developers can work together to make the changes and upload the latest version of their projects in the most efficient manner. And networking with likeminded people is of course, a plus!

Built entirely on RoR, GitHub allows programmers to create a brand-new project based off pre-existing projects by forking, make changes to existing projects so they can be recognized by the original developers and lastly, access changelogs so everyone is informed in the loop.
Ending Remarks

These projects demonstrate tremendous caliber and creativity on varying levels. It is evident how Ruby on Rails has allowed them to kick start their venture and support it in becoming a popular resource used by millions. And who knows, perhaps you will build the next Airbnb or Hulu of our generation.

If you are looking for professional Ruby on Rails developers for your websites, then just leave us a quick message with your requirements below

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The job market is HOT and scanning the crowd for experienced, proficient developers and it is not too late for you to join in. With numerous programming languages floating around it can be hard to decipher which ones are best suited for beginners looking to dip their feet into the pool of coding.

Below is a list of some of the easiest languages gathered through extensive research along with their pros and cons to help you decide which is the right one for you to begin your coding journey with.

 

1. JavaScript

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not to be confused with Java, this is majorly a front-end development scripting language. Java is a programming language. This language is especially popular with beginners since it has a wide applicability and is dynamically-typed. More than that, it sets you up for learning more complicated languages like C++ in the future.

Used for: Web Development

Used by: Accenture, Google, Warby Parker, Canon and Fitbit

Pros

• Cross-platform compatible
• No compiler
• Gateway to other languages (e.g C, C++)

Cons

• Not a class-based object-oriented language
• Dynamically-typed (untyped)
• Difficult to debug

 

2. Python

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a great example of an easy programming language for beginners. Python supports object-oriented, procedural and functional programming. There is huge chunk of the community dedicated to teaching it, making it easily accessible for anyone.

Used for: Web and Desktop Application development

Used by: YouTube, Dropbox, Yahoo, NASA and Mozilla

Pros

• Can be used for both Desktop and Web apps
• Open-source
• Easy to read

Cons

• Requires one to maintain a set naming convention
• Weak in mobile computing
• Has design restrictions- since it is dynamically typed, it requires more testing and has errors that only show up at runtime

 

3. Ruby on Rails

 

 

 

 

 

 

While Ruby on Rails refers to a framework, Ruby is the programming language that is used under this belt. This is easy to read and a recommended for anyone with sans-programming experience. Ruby is essentially a collection of shortcuts, but is perfect for beginners as many Startups are hiring RoR developers, so even with entry-level experience one can land a position.

Used for: Web App development

Used by: Airbnb, SoundCloud, Groupon, Bloomberg and Hulu

Pros

• Heavily used
• High demand in the job market
• Development takes less time

Cons

• Not as fast as apps written on Java or C languages
• Difficult for scaling
• Consumes more system resources

 

4. Java

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the oldest programming languages remaining. It is immensely popular and flexible in terms of developing cross-platform. Widely used, Java is object-oriented and a class based language. It is however, slightly more challenging in comparison to beginner level languages. It derives its language from C and C++ which is why many courses start with these languages before moving to Java.

Used for: Web and App development

Used by: Intel, Uber, Spotify, eBay and Yelp

Pros

• Widely used and accepted
• Has numerous resources
• One of oldest programming languages

Cons

• Gets syntax from C/C++ so it could be better to learn those first
• Requires very analytical thinking
• Bigger projects can be hard to compile and build

 

5. C and C++

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the best introductory languages to recommend to anyone. They form the basis for languages like Java or other more complicate ones. Learning C and C++ can perfectly position you to get going in the future. Learning and grasping the fundamentals from these languages can be invaluable. It can be challenging for first-timers but if you’re able to overcome this speedbump, the rewards are bountiful.

Used for: Application development

Used by: Google- Android OS Chrome server, Microsoft- Windows, Visual Studio, Facebook- Apache Hive, Apple- OS and largely universities.

Pros

• Gives you an exceptional computer science background
• Great for software and game development
• Good choice for low-level programming

Cons

• Time-consuming for development and maintenance
• Takes several years to master
• More lucrative but has fewer job openings

 

Here are some online resources to help you get started!

CodeAcademy

Udacity

Coursera

Every programming language has its pros and cons but it is up to you to decipher which one works best for you. These are also some of the most in-demand languages in the market today, so roll your sleeves up and get coding!

Ruby on Rails is the Ideal Answer for eCommerce Solutions

It is not an easy task to set up an e-commerce site that works as per its stated objectives. Apart from the complex business KRAs, one also has to take into account several other important factors like a great user experience, a powerful back end, secured payment gateway, a robust content management system, hosting, development and design.

Though many of you may be already aware of the web design and development process, a common question that often pops up is why should one choose Ruby on Rails  (RoR) to build their e-commerce sites?

Today, we will try to answer this crucial question.

Ruby on Rails has come a long way and the primary three reasons why eCommerce websites prefer it are:

1. Rapid development within budget
2. High compatibility
3. Strong ecosystem

Let us look ahead and expand these reasons and understand why RoR has become a trendsetter.

 

 

5 Reasons why Ruby on Rails makes perfect sense

1.    Active collaboration & Versatility

The development community for Ruby is tremendously responsive and active. Programmers are tirelessly developing new programs for communicating with other Application Programming Interfaces or APIs. So the Ruby developers have an added advantage of a versatile toolkit to depend on.

 

2.    Quick Turnaround Time

Ruby on Rails is a fast tool for application development that enables the developers to model out the features of an e-commerce site quite fast. The leap between modeling, estimating as well as the actual development phase is extremely fast. This feature is helpful for bigger projects that need the developers to find out the ease or difficulty level with which a fresh functionality or feature can be implemented.

 

3.    Adoption and demand in future

Today, websites are no longer static as they used to be earlier. In fact, they are much more interactive and dynamic. There are many web-based services running on Ruby on Rails, which have been recently launched. Ruby on Rails allows websites to be more dynamic and more flexible to changes in the future. It foresees the future demands and its solutions.

 

4.    Great cost savings

One interesting point to note here is that Ruby on Rails is available as a free toolkit, running on Linux, which is also a free OS or operating system software. Ruby on Rails can work with many databases as well as free web servers. If you remember, earlier, Microsoft’s ASP or Active Server Pages was a platform, which was popular. But the users had to pay for Microsoft Windows as well as  for the back-end SQL Server from Microsoft. The latter was also used as a data source. Since Ruby on Rails is free development platform, costs can be significantly lowered without compromising performance, security or speed.

 

5.    Easy to use

The web developers can understand the concept of this development tool quite easily. However, it may take some time to explain in case you are not accustomed with the process of creating a site earlier. The way this tool was created, it has a well-balanced synergy between methodology and the structure while writing the program. Since a developer’s programming style does not get into conflict with writing the program, the learning curve is much shorter when the code is passed down from one programmer to the next one. This feature is immensely useful when you will need multiple developers working on the same project.

Some of the top brands have trusted Ruby on Rails to build their website.

Read here for the list of top brands who have used RoR for their website.

A number of languages can be used for creating an e-commerce website, these include Cold Fusion, Python, Perl, ASP, PHP and Java among others. However, Ruby on Rails provides a specific set of advantages as discussed above to add true value to your e-commerce website development project.

Ruby’s syntax is loved because of its clarity and simplicity, beauty and readability. Most methods and classes are named very logically and could be read like a book. A well-written Ruby code gives opportunity to even beginners in the eCommerce field.

Try out Ruby on Rails and experience the difference yourself.

It will get your business rail back on track.