MEAN Full Form

MEAN Stack is a JavaScript Stack that is used for easier and faster deployment of full-stack web applications. It comprises of 4 technologies namely: MongoDB, Express, Angular, and Node JS. It is designed to make the development process smoother and easier.

MEAN Full Form:

The full form of MEAN includes MongoDB, Express, Angular JS, and Node JS. These technologies cover all 3 layers of a web application i.e. Presentation, Logic, and the Data layer.

• MongoDB: Non-relational open-source document-oriented database.
• Express JS: Node.js framework that makes it easier to organize your application’s functionality with middleware and routing and simplify APIs.
• Angular JS: It is a JavaScript open-source front-end structural framework that is mainly used to develop single-page web applications(SPAs).
• Node JS: is an open-source and cross-platform runtime environment for building highly scalable server-side applications using JavaScript.

What is MEAN stack?

MEAN Stack is a JavaScript Stack that is used for easier and faster deployment of full-stack web applications. MEAN Stack comprises 4 technologies namely: MongoDB, Express.js, Angular.js, Node.js. It is designed to make the development process smoother and easier. It is one of the most demanded tech stack between developers for creating full fledge web applications. Although it is a Stack of different technologies, all of these are based on JavaScript language.

There are variations to the MEAN stack such as MERN (replacing Angular.js with React.js) and MEVN (using Vue.js). The MEAN stack is one of the most popular technology concepts for building web applications.

Overview of each Technology:

1. MongoDB: Cross-platform Document-Oriented Database

MongoDB is a document-oriented NoSQL database system that provides high scalability, flexibility, and performance. Unlike standard relational databases, MongoDB stores data in a JSON document structure form. This makes it easy to operate with dynamic and unstructured data and MongoDB is an open-source and cross-platform database System.

Why use MongoDB?

• Fast – Being a document-oriented database, easy to index documents. Therefore a faster response.
• Scalability – Large data can be handled by dividing it into several machines.
• Use of JavaScript – MongoDB uses JavaScript which is the biggest advantage.
• Schema Less – Any type of data in a separate document.
• Data stored in the form of JSON.
• Simple Environment Setup – Its really simple to set up MongoDB.
• Flexible Document Model – MongoDB supports document-model(tables, schemas, columns & SQL) which is faster and easier.

Links to learn more about MongoDB:

• MongoDB Introduction
• MongoDB Getting Started
• Defining, Creating and Dropping a MongoDB collection
• How MongoDB works ?
• Get Knowledge of Latest Release of MongoDB

2. Express: Back-End Framework:

Express is a small framework that sits on top of Node.js’s web server functionality to simplify its APIs and add helpful new features.It makes it easier to organize your application’s functionality with middle ware and routing; it adds helpful utilities to Node.js’s HTTP objects;it facilitates the rendering of dynamic HTTP objects.

Why use Express?

• Asynchronous and Single-threaded.
• Efficient, fast & scalable
• Has the biggest community for Node.js
• Express promotes code reusability with its built-in router.
• Robust API

Links to learn more about ExpressJS:

• Introduction to Express
• Design first Application using Express

3. Angular JS: Open Source Frontend Framework

Angular is a Front-end Open Source Framework developed by Google Team. This framework is revised in such a way that backward compatibility is maintained (If there is any breaking change then Angular informs it very early). Angular projects are simple to create using Angular CLI (Command Line Interface) tool developed by the Angular team.

Why use Angular.JS?

• It follows a structured MVC architecture, which simplifies code organization and maintenance.
• With HTML templates and built-in directives, it simplifies complex UI tasks and data binding.
• Changes made are reflected instantly in the UI and vice versa, which reduces manual updates.
• It uses modular and reusable components, which enhances testability and maintainability.
• It utilizes TypeScript for strong typing and offers a powerful CLI for streamlined development, testing, and deployment tasks.

Links to learn more about Angular.js:

• AngularJS
• Angular 7 Introduction
• Angular 7 Installation
• Angular 7 Data Services and Observables
• Angular 7 Simple To do App
• Get Knowledge of Latest Release of Angular

4. Node JS: JS Runtime Environment

Node.js is used to write the Server Side Code in Javascript. One of the most important points is that it is a runtime environment which runs the JavaScript code outside the Browser. It is cross-platform and Open Source. NodeJS is not a framework and it’s not a programming language. Node.js is used to build back-end services like APIs like Web App or Mobile App.

Why use Node.JS?

• Open-source JavaScript Runtime Environment
• Single threading – Follows a single-threaded model.
• Data Streaming
• Fast – Built on Google Chrome’s JavaScript Engine, Node.js has a fast code execution.
• Highly Scalable

Links to learn more about Node.js:

• Introduction to Node.js
• Node.js Tutorials
• Get Knowledge of Latest Release of Node.js

Benefits of learning MEAN stack?

• Full JavaScript Stack: The MEAN stack is entirely JavaScript-based, both on the client and server sides. This means developers can use a single language, JavaScript, throughout the entire application stack.
• Real-time Web Applications: Node.js is excellent for building real-time applications. When combined with technologies like WebSockets, it allows for bidirectional communication between the client and server.
• Scalability and Performance: The MEAN stack is known for its scalability. Node.js is designed to handle concurrent connections efficiently, while MongoDB’s horizontal scalability allows for distributed database setups, making it easier to scale applications.
• Community and Ecosystem: The MEAN stack has a vast and active developer community, which facilitate extensive resources, libraries, and frameworks available for support.
• Rapid Development and Code Reusability: Angular’s component-based architecture and Node.js’s event-driven nature helps in rapid development. Additionally, code components can often be reused across different layers of the application.