What is the MEAN stack? JavaScript web applications
The MEAN stack, defined
The MEAN stack is a software stack—that is, a set of the technology layers that make up a modern application—that’s built entirely in JavaScript. MEAN represents the arrival of JavaScript as a “full-stack development” language, running everything in an application from front end to back end. Each of the initials in MEAN stands for a component in the stack:
- MongoDB: A database server that is queried using JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) and that stores data structures in a binary JSON format
- Express: A server-side JavaScript framework
- Angular: A client-side JavaScript framework
- Node.js: A JavaScript runtime
A big part of MEAN’s appeal is the consistency that comes from the fact that it’s JavaScript through and through. Life is simpler for developers because every component of the application—from the objects in the database to the client-side code—is written in the same language.