Choosing a technology for web development is like choosing a major in the University. You may end up changing the curriculum and aim to acquire a completely new profession. You may work in another field after graduation. However, if you understood what major is for you from the very beginning, you wouldn’t lose so much time. Same with frameworks. You can change it later and re-develop your web app. However, if you make the right choice from the very start, you save time, money, and even spare nerves.
First of all, what is a tech stack? It’s a combination of technologies (programming languages and their modules, frameworks, and libraries) that aims to fulfill the different aspects of development – backend and frontend. Backend is responsible for the server-side performance, and so the right choice of the framework will contribute to the app’s speed, flexibility, and logic. Frontend is responsible for the client-side part of the website – how it looks to the users. The right choice here will allow arranging convenient navigation and content structure, as well as creating an interactive design.
The best way of making a decision is to refer to the development company you’re hiring for advice. Internet is packed with controversial info where one programming language prevails another and vice versa. To understand what tech stack is suitable for your project individually, you need to 1) analyze the complexity of the app’s structure and its features; 2) evaluate the potential scale of the future developments (is it intensive or extensive?); 3) decide if the money you are willing to allocate is enough for teams working with this language and framework; 4) outline the final deadline for your app to be ready.
Let’s take the most popular programming language for instance. If you need some PHP framework for E-Commerce. you will need to make a few evaluations:
- The more complex the app – the more elaborate framework you need;
- The faster you want to yield the results – the lower the learning curve you need to target;
- The more intensive the development must be in the future – the more popular and complex framework will be better.
Most popular frameworks for backend development among our clients
Laravel
It is an open-source model-control-view PHP framework that helps to structure PHP in the elaborate code. Just as the language itself, it has a low learning curve. That means it is easier to find coders specializing in it. Among its best features are:
- modular packaging system – provides out-of-the-box decisions;
- Eloquent Object Relational Mapping – improves access to databases;
- Artisan command-line interface – provides pre-built commands;
- Flexible authorization techniques;
Laravel is among one of the most popular frameworks, meaning it has well-arranged community support. Laravel is a so-called organizer of PHP, making processes more logical and smooth by improving the structure of the code.
Symfony
Symfony is a more elaborate framework if comparing it with Laravel. It produces an even more structured code and allows more complex plugins. If you target high-scale project, it will satisfy all your needs. However, because it is sophisticated, the learning curve gets higher, and it is harder to learn Symfony as easy as it would be to learn Laravel. It means fewer devs, more costs, and more time. Among Symfony’s distinguishing features are:
- dependency injection – saves coders time and structures code;
- unit testing with PHPUnit – makes the QA process smooth;
- Twig – allows using HTML templates and saves time;
- Scaffolding and database support;
- Bundles – make the code more flexible.
Although complex, this framework also has well-arranged community support. No wonder, as sometimes the documentation is not clear, and your devs will have to refer for help.
These are the two top frameworks that have become a great help while moving forward with our web developing company. We were creating both large-scale and small-scale projects, using them. What we’ve understood for the whole time the company exists is that there are no two alike projects and so the approach must be individualized as well. If you need further consulting about tech stack for your specific project, be sure to contact us.
