I really like React Create App on the front end with AWS API Gateway connected to AWS Lambdas. I use AWS Cognito for user login and AWS DynamoDB for my data store. Hosting is dirt cheap to start and scales well if your app takes off. The downside is that you're coupled to AWS.
Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
31–40 of 98 posts
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#32The most productive stack is the one you already know. If you know Python choose a Python stack, if you know Java choose a Java stack. within the language you know choose the most used one or the most boring one who existed for more than 10 years.
This answer is such a cop-out. I know Rails very well, but I'm still a million times more productive in Phoenix than I ever was in Rails. Sure, it took some time to learn Phoenix and get up to speed, but if I could go back I'd have made the switch much earlier. What is the advice here exactly: "never learn anything new"?
I agree with this sentiment. I know half a dozen or even a dozen programming languages (some more than others obviously) and my first project is almost always a web project. Not every language has a decent streamlined / full feature web framework (I really havent found one for Rust yet that has everything OOTB) so you have to build your own pieces (which I've done with CherryPy, though learning Django was a boost, imagine had I never tried Django as suggested above), but now and then new projects emerge. ASP .NET is fantastic, but if a project requires libraries I cannot find for .NET I may opt for Python altogether, which is part of why I with IronPython got more love and attention from Microsoft more directly. With their backing I could see Python on .NET being much more prevalent. Jython is basically in a weird limbo state, and I doubt Oracle will ever have the brain cells to invest in open source in a way that pays them back endlessly.
The real take away is, there's always new web tech you've never heard of that makes you infinitely more productive.
Blazor is peak web development for me right now. The ability to design components and not have to leave C# for UI logic is amazing.
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#33Part of my stack selection process these days is considering how well LLM tools like ChatGPT and Claude "know" the stack in question.
Using libraries that have been around for a few years and have accumulated a lot of training data is a huge productivity boost here, because LLM tools can both write code that uses them and usefully explain and debug them when they go wrong.
It's weird and a little uncomfortable to have this as part of my selection criteria, but if I want to maximize the rate at which I can build things it's honestly a useful rule of thumb.
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#34Ruby on Rails
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#35I really like React Create App on the front end with AWS API Gateway connected to AWS Lambdas. I use AWS Cognito for user login and AWS DynamoDB for my data store. Hosting is dirt cheap to start and scales well if your app takes off. The downside is that you're coupled to AWS.
The official RCA is deprecated. Is there a fork you recommend?
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#36It really depends on what you're building, but Django is still undefeated for 95% of the things a solo dev will want to create. Everyone here recommends React, but all the interactivity usually doesn't add business value, just complexity and slowness.
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#37I'll still keep shilling Parse Server + Parse Dashboard for back end. It's open source, it plugs into MongoDB, which is very scalable for when the day comes to replace it with something else. It has things like auth, password reset, cloud functions, etc built in, and there's tutorials for email adapters. It does much of the things you can do on Firebase, but easier and cheaper. Dealing with the DB is extremely easy t…
You might be interested in Pocketbase. Lots of overlap. It’s really good.
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#38Is there a good "drag and drop" option on the UX/UI side? I assume .NET is one?
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#39I really like React Create App on the front end with AWS API Gateway connected to AWS Lambdas. I use AWS Cognito for user login and AWS DynamoDB for my data store. Hosting is dirt cheap to start and scales well if your app takes off. The downside is that you're coupled to AWS.
The official RCA is deprecated. Is there a fork you recommend?
NextJS does more than create-react-app, but you're not required to use all those extra features. You can use it to just escape the tedium of configuring JS tooling.
Re: Ask HN: If you are starting in 2024, what is the most productive solo dev stack?
#40Solid-Start.