Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#1

Post by serverhorror » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:04 PM UTC

I'm reading all those "full stack" topics and can't help but scratch my head.

What does it describe? Is this some common basic term I'm actually missing?

To me full stack would start way down at the hardware design and end just when the computation has finished and (possibly) persisted to disk. A vast field that I can't possibly hope to learn in a lifetime.

Dear HN please enlighten me

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#2

Post by Dorian-Marie » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:22 PM UTC

Most of the time it means backend and frontend programming skills (eg: JS for frontend and Ruby for backend).

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#3

Post by bulte-rs » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:22 PM UTC

As far as I know, "Full Stack" is a misused term for developers who are able to do everything from devops to front-end development/ui/ux design.

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#4

Post by dewey » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:24 PM UTC

http://www.laurencegellert.com/2012/08/what-is-a-full-stack-...

tl;dr Someone who's familiar with

- Hosting / Server environment (SysOp things)

- Application development (Front / Backend)

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#5

Post by jhildings » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:25 PM UTC

I would guess it mostly have to do with understanding the complete flow and parts of a web service or page. From the HTML/CSS in the front end, javascript somewhere in between and then how the backend language/API talks with the database.

Then how to configure/update/trouble shoot the web server and related issues like database performance and mail server errors

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#6

Post by vertex-four » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:26 PM UTC

A full stack web framework might mean a web framework that encompasses an ORM, routing, templating, email, possibly a built-in admin panel, and pretty much everything else that you need to develop a CRUD app. Recently, they might also encompass a front-end toolkit for doing AJAX-y things.

A web developer saying they work on the "full stack" means that they both write server-side and client-side code.

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#7

Post by psaniko » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:26 PM UTC

It does not neccessarily imply mastery in all layers of the stack but rather familiarity and often the skills to understand and fix bugs in other areas other than your field of expertise.

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#8

Post by FooBarWidget » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:28 PM UTC

In my opinion "full stack" is what all developers actually should be.

15 years ago, it was normal that, as a developer, you know how to administer a server, know how Unix works, know how to setup/debug the database. Maybe know a bit of C.

Fast forward to 2015. Lots of developers are purely frontend developers and don't know how to setup a server, or don't know how to administer the database. This is now the norm. The developers who could do all that stuff (as they should) are suddenly "full-stack developers".

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#9

Post by aet » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:28 PM UTC

An old school example of "full stack" is LAMP: Linux/Apache/MySQL/PHP

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LAMP_(software_bundle)

Re: Ask HN: What is “full stack” actually?

#10

Post by rvalue » Wed, Feb 11, 2015, 2:28 PM UTC

For me, A full stack developer is some one who has knowledge of ML, Web Design w/ UX, Application Development for web and mobile, Databases and Big Data