Top Reasons to Switch to MERN Stack Technology in Today’s Era
The MERN stack is gaining prominence due to its ability to create high-quality, customized web and mobile apps that can be churned out in the market in a very short period of time.
This technology stack includes programming languages that work together seamlessly, to develop an application’s front-end, back-end and connect the user interface (UI) of the app to its back-end through scalable APIs that serve as a bridge for seamless communication between the two.
This article will take you through the various components of the MERN stack and their advantages, which serve as the top reasons for developers adopting this technology on an increasing basis.
What is the MERN Stack?
The MERN stack is a full-stack technology that includes programming languages for the frontend, middle tier, backend, and testing tools that work together to build intuitive and dynamic web and mobile applications. MERN stack comprises MongoDB, Express, React.js, and Node.js (MERN) that are backed by JavaScript and create an application’s 3-tier framework.
The MERN components easily interact with each other, unlike the traditional model, where developers use a mix of programming languages that do not sync well with each other easily. The business then has to invest time and capital to find solutions to make the application work. This occurrence is very rare in an app developed using the MERN.
How does the MERN Stack work?
The base framework used in all the components of the MERN stack is JavaScript. The front end of the app is developed using React.js. This UI, developed using React “Components” connects to the backend tier through Express.js that runs inside a Node.js server. The database tier is created using MongoDB, which is non-relational, schema-less, and allows the data to be stored in a flexible document structure with a JSON-based query language.
Let’s take a look at each component of the MERN stack.
#1 MongoDB
MongoDB is an open-source, NoSQL database, where data is stored in document format. This data can be fetched, indexed, and queried using the JSON language. MongoDB has the ability to scale horizontally as the data load increases, using the concept of “sharding” and distributing its load over multiple servers. This ensures that query response times are minimized, and a backup of the data always exists in case of a hardware failure.
#2 Express.js
Express is a back-end framework for Node.js-based web applications, known for its performance and minimalistic structure and handling of URL routing and HTTP responses and requests. Express enables quick and easy API construction and caters to creating efficient web/mobile apps. Developers have the ability to reuse lines of code that are previously used in the application. This saves development time and creates an efficient model of programming.
#3 React.js
React is popular amongst developers since it supports code reusability. Additionally, developers can create a virtual Document Object Model (DOM) where any change made to the HTML elements is reflected. Rather than modifying and rendering the original DOM every time a code change is made, the virtual DOM is edited instead. The two DOM’s are then compared and the updates are applied to the original DOM almost instantly.
#4 Node.js
Node.js is a cross-platform server environment built on Chrome’s V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js is apt for building scalable network applications whilst executing JavaScript code outside the browsers.
Advantages of MERN Stack in Application Development
Here are the top three advantages of the MERN stack that accounts for more developers taking a decision to switch to this technology.
#1 Lesser Capital Involved
The MERN stack can cater to the entire cycle of comprehensive application development. Since there is a single language used in all the 3 tiers, developers need to be proficient in only one language, which is easy to learn and implement. A huge learning community for JS ensures that developers get the support they need.
This also means that your business does not have to hire, train and upscale multiple professionals for the various stages of application development (UI development, testing, deployment, etc) since the same JS developers can handle every stage of the cycle. Additionally, the MERN components are open source and developers do not have to worry about proprietary licenses.
#2 Faster Turnaround Time
Since all the components of the MERN are based on Javascript, the development process is made faster and the application can be quickly released into the market. MERN components easily interact with each other and save developers time to find solutions in case the components do not work well together. The MERN framework also comes with a range of inbuilt testing tools, which saves a business time and capital in finding specialized or external web/mobile app testing tools.
#3 Exceptional App Performance
MERN stack introduces accuracy and scalability in web/mobile application development. All the components of the MERN work together in harmony to output an application that performs exceptionally well. Node.js is a fast and resilient web server that has an event-driven architecture and non-blocking I/O. This plays an important role in saving costs, troubleshooting CPU and I/O problems, internally, while giving your web application the ability to scale and counter a lot of traffic.MongoDB can scale as the load on the DB increases. MERN implements a Single Page Application (SPA) feature that ensures that the application. provides optimal performance by using lightweight calls to the server when any updates are introduced to the code, rather than refreshing the whole page every time a change is made.
Final Thoughts
MERN has an accessible setup, huge open-source community support, and a short learning curve which makes it easier for developers to learn on the job while building the application.
MERN can save the business time and capital while providing customers with customized solutions depending on their requirements.
Our team of professionals is well versed in developing customized web and mobile applications with the MERN stack. For more information, send us an email at contact@fargowiz.com or submit the below quotation form.
