What is the MEAN Stack?

Learn about the MEAN stack and the technologies it’s based on.

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The MEAN stack

The MEAN stack combines JavaScript-based technologies, including MongoDB, Express, Angular, and Node.js.

MEAN is one of the most popular web development technologies used to build modern single-page applications (SPAs).

Below is a brief breakdown of each of the technologies used in the MEAN stack.

MongoDB

MongoDB is an open-source NoSQL document-based database that offers scalability and flexibility. MongoDB offers five technical features, which include the following:

  • Ad hoc queries for optimized, real-time analytics
  • Sharding
  • Replication for better data availability and stability
  • Indexing appropriately for better query executions
  • Load balancing

The initial release of MongoDB was on February 11, 2009. It’s written in C++, JavaScript, and Python.

Express

Express is a free and open-source flexible Node.js framework created to build scalable web applications and REST APIs.

According to their documentation, Express has the following features:

  • Robust routing
  • Focus on high performance
  • Super-high test coverage
  • HTTP helpers (redirection, caching, etc.)
  • View system supporting 14+ template engines
  • Content negotiation
  • Executable for generating applications quickly

The initial release of Express was on November 16, 2010. It’s written in JavaScript.

Angular

Angular is a TypeScript-based multipurpose front-end web development framework created by Google that can be used to build cross-platform applications. It’s a free and open-source framework.

The Angular team is dedicated to making at least two major releases every year.

📝 Note: Angular is different from Angular.js, which Google no longer supports.

Some of the features of Angular include the following:

  • It is a cross-platform framework that can build progressive web, native, and desktop applications.

  • It enhances the speed and performance of the applications through code generation, separation of concern, etc.

  • It helps to enhance productivity through the use of the Angular CLI.

  • It provides a full development experience through testing, animation, and accessibility.

The initial release of Angular was on September 14, 2016. It’s written in TypeScript.

Node.js

Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform, back-end JavaScript runtime built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine.

It is asynchronous and non-blocking by default, which helps with memory efficiency.

Some of the features of Node.js includes the following:

  • Cross-platform compatibility
  • High scalability
  • Fast data streaming
  • Strong community support
  • Efficient at caching