When you’re starting a new web-based business, you’ll need to decide which software to use for developing web applications. You can choose one of the best web development platforms for your needs, but there are many options to consider and it may take some time to decide which one is right for you.
In this article, we’ll go over some of the most popular software for developing web applications, used by developers today and explain how they compare with each other.
- LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP (LAMP) used to be the best web development software stack. The reason is that it’s open source and free. Linux is a Unix-based operating system, which is open source and free. Apache is a web server that can run on Linux or Windows.
My SQL is a database management system that uses Structured Query Language (SQL) to query for data. PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor) is a scripting language that allows you to embed scripts in HTML pages.
- Microsoft’s Web-based Software
Although Linux is more powerful than Web-based Microsoft software, people still choose to use the latter when developing web applications.
The reason why Linux is so popular among users who like to tinker with their computer’s software and hardware is that it is free and open source. As such, most of them don’t mind learning how to use sophisticated command-line tools like Git and GitHub.
If a developer becomes adept at using these tools without much support, he or she is more likely to prefer them over Windows applications.
However, more non-techies may not feel comfortable doing this kind of thing on their own. They’d rather have someone else handle the complex work for them so they can focus on designing their websites.
- MEAN (MongoDB, ExpressJS, AngularJS, and Node.js)
The MEAN stack is a group of open-source technologies to help you build web applications. It is comprised of the following components:
- MongoDB — A document database with JSON storage
- ExpressJS — A framework for web applications that provides routing and view rendering
- AngularJS — An MVC JavaScript framework for writing single-page applications (SPAs)
- Node.js — An open-source, cross-platform runtime environment
- Django
Django is an open-source framework for Python development. In 2004, Adrian Holovaty and Simon Willison created Django. It was launched to the public in 2005 and is currently maintained by the Django Software Foundation. Django is free and open-source software, released under a BSD license.
- Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is an open-source web framework. This means that it’s a good option for startups since the framework is free and it has a large community of developers who help improve the framework and can help you improve your app as well.
We recommend Ruby on Rails to companies that want to build or scale web applications quickly, or efficiently if they get a lot of traffic or users.
- Meteor.js
While we are talking about the best software for web application development, let’s not forget Meteor.js. It’s a complete JavaScript platform for creating cross-platform web and mobile apps that lets you code your entire application in JavaScript, then deploy it to all target platforms with a few clicks.
Meteor’s pre-built packages make it easy to add functionality like authentication and user management to your app. It is one of the best software development tools because it’s so flexible. You can use Meteor as a complete framework or just plug in parts that work best for what you need. If your company doesn’t have the budget or manpower to hire full-time developers, you might want to consider outsourcing.
- NET
NET is a common Microsoft platform that works well with other Microsoft tools. It is an object-oriented programming language and framework for building applications and services. NET is a cross-platform framework that can be used on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X.
- Elixir/Phoenix
Elixir/Phoenix is both a functional language and a web framework. Functional programming is a way of writing code that focuses on what data the program needs to process, rather than how the processing should be done.
It’s particularly suited to developing web applications because it can be used to create applications with fast processing speeds and broad support for web tools like databases and ORMs (object-relational mappers).
Elixir also provides you with many features commonly found in other programming languages, such as an interactive REPL (read-eval-print loop) environment where you can test out code snippets without having to write them in a file first.
Having many robust features and a tight-knitted community of developers, the Elixir programming language has made its mark as one of the best software for developing web applications.
Elixir itself was developed by José Valim from Plataformatec, while Phoenix was created by Chris McCord at Basho Technologies before being open-sourced under The Apache License 2.0 in 2014—both projects are actively developed today by their respective communities of users and contributors!
- Spring
Spring is a full-fledged Java platform that supports several programming models. The Spring Framework is an open-source framework for Java development, providing support and infrastructure for developing Java applications. It includes many discrete modules, each of which addresses a specific need in the development process.
Spring boasts robust web application support with its “web framework” module, lightweight yet powerful MVC library (called Spring MVC), built-in support for REST-style web services, and more!
Conclusion
There’s a lot to consider when choosing a web development stack. However, at the end of the day, you have to take into account your specific needs and requirements.
One of the most important considerations when developing web applications of your choice is choosing a stack that will meet your needs now and in the future. In other words, it’s important to decide whether you’ll host the platform yourself or use a third-party provider.
There are also components of each stack that may work better with some apps than others. Even if you favor one type of software over another, there may be instances when another type would be useful.
But if you keep your requirements in mind first, it should make choosing a web development stack easier.
