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Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

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Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#1

Post by loh »

I'm curious about what most professional developers are using these days, from languages to deployment, and what they're building with it.

There's a lot to choose from and it seems like a few are really taking the lead. Maybe I'm biased but I prefer TypeScript, React w/ Styled Components, and PostgreSQL, all of which seem to be pretty dominant. TypeDoc is also really nice for generating clean documentation from type definitions and comments, and Jest for both front-end and back-end unit tests. I usually deploy (static) progressive web apps to Netlify and APIs to Heroku, but I'll probably try Render next.

If you're like me, you probably like to keep things to a minimum, optimized for a specific purpose without any bloat or unnecessary loose ends. I've built many different apps over the years and found myself repeating the same core functionality for each of them, each with their own slightly different stack and implementation as tools and ecosystems have evolved. I'd imagine this is the case for most experienced developers who enjoy building things from the ground up, without becoming dependent on an elaborate framework.

Last Friday I launched a project called Molecule.dev which aims to provide developers (and professional teams especially) with the most solid foundation possible for full-stack apps, skipping all of the most common tedious core functionality. It was originally built for my own purposes, but I've decided to provide it as a sort of "Foundation as a Service". Maybe there's a better way to classify it, but it isn't really a framework. It's a highly specialized codebase designed for the task at hand, complete with thorough documentation, tests, and guides, something I wish I had readily available when building apps over the years, as it would have saved me thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars.

Sorry for the (not so) thinly veiled advertisement, but I absolutely need feedback to turn Molecule.dev into something people actually want, and HN is probably the best place to get it. I think there is a lot of potential here.

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#3

Post by ozzythecat »

C++ for shared mobile libraries, though the more recent projects are going the way of Rust.

Objective C and Java on clients, some Kotlin.

JVM in other places with Java for services, and Scala for EMR/Spark jobs.

Most of my back end runs through AWS though I moved some services on Azure now (mainly just to learn but it worked fine enough to move it for a couple production environments).

For storage I have my own Postgres instances. Way cheaper than any cloud. If I need regionalization and better redundancy, might move to AWS eventually.

Day to day tools involve Omnigraffle, Omnifocus, and iTerm2. Yes, everything on a MacBook Pro with a 1440p 120hz monitor.

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#4

Post by sombremesa »

ozzythecat wrote: post #3

C++ for shared mobile libraries, though the more recent projects are going the way of Rust. Objective C and Java on clients, some Kotlin. JVM in other places with Java for services, and Scala for EMR/Spark jobs. Most of my back end runs through AWS though I moved some services on Azure now (mainly just to learn but it worked fine enough to move it for a couple production environments). For storage I have my own Postg…

What, no Alfred?

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#5

Post by bhussai20 »

I feel like this question is poorly formed in the age of resume-driven development. I prefer types of problems to tackle. But, I don't have preferred stacks so much as stacks I dislike less that are prescribed for my consistent employment.

My least disliked stack is the one that doesn't make me obscure, keeps my future career progression options sub-/Pareto- optimally open, while still making my pay competitive. So in essence I align with whatever is the easiest to adopt and train others on with minimal supervision.

i.e. JS, React, Express, Docker, AWS

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#6

Post by ttfkam »

"It depends" is my preferred stack. First define the problem, then we can look at how to implement it. If you mean most websites with simple crud and maybe some user interaction?

Very simple model: DynamoDB, especially if it fits in the free tier to start. More complex model: PostgreSQL, especially for anything between a trivial model and 10 million users (which is most projects). Database migration with Sqitch.

Data access method (middleware): GraphQL, because it's a spec rather than an implementation. My preference all things being equal is the database-driven solution Postgraphile, but I've had good experiences with other solutions like Hasura and Apollo Server depending on the problem. Hides complexity of DynamoDB access. Acts as an ORM layer for relational. The only GraphQL engine I avoid unless there is a good reason/requirement is AWS AppSync; I don't consider it fully baked yet as a general purpose data access solution from dev perspective.

Authorization: JWT, because I don't have to do an extra lookup, especially in a serverless environment with an API Gateway in front. Row-level security if I'm using PostgreSQL.

Authentication: Typically AWS Cognito, because most of my dev work is on AWS, and after you've done it once, redoing is trivial. Google auth for general public access. Simple identity pool for cases with a finite set of users such as an internal tool. If Google Auth on Google Cloud is dead simple, so I give that an honorable mention.

Front end: Svelte, because I know HTML, CSS, and JS very well, and Svelte is little more than that while still allowing fast component-driven development, data binding, and other modern features. Svelte calls the GraphQL API. Once all queries are clarified, the GraphQL layer is given an allowlist of acceptable queries and authorized through the JWT.

I prefer PWAs to native mobile coding or frameworks like React Native. If a PWA is insufficient, my preference would be Ionic due to my stated earlier experience with HTML, CSS, and JS.

I prefer AWS to Azure or Google Cloud. I also prefer regions other than us-east-1. Between those big three, I find prices similar, but options on AWS to be more mature and cover a wider breadth. CDK, CDK Pipelines, and CDK Solutions Constructs is by far my preferred method of developing infrastructure as code. I prefer writing in TypeScript mostly because it allows homogeneous language development from UI on down.

If I ever run into a performance problem that is CPU bound (happens fairly rarely), optimizing the lambda or whatever in Rust would be enticing. Most of the time though, it's just cheaper to scale up the instances/provisioning and move on. Developer time is almost always more expensive.

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#7

Post by 1cvmask »

If you want to sell on premise enterprise software then Java is a big plus.

Also if you plan on exiting the company to a strategic buyer then your stack will come up in the due diligence and if it is a stack they are not familiar with then they can call off the deal. That is another, minor, reason why enterprise software companies chose Java.

But stacks are always a moving target. Todays hipster stack might be tomorrows mainstream. Postgres was an obscurity compared to MYSQL in the early 2010s and it has picked up tremendous stream since then.

And getting product market fit is more important than choosing the right stack. You can always use duct tape if you get lucky enough to have problems with scaling.

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#8

Post by loh »

bhussai20 wrote: post #5

I feel like this question is poorly formed in the age of resume-driven development. I prefer types of problems to tackle. But, I don't have preferred stacks so much as stacks I dislike less that are prescribed for my consistent employment. My least disliked stack is the one that doesn't make me obscure, keeps my future career progression options sub-/Pareto- optimally open, while still making my pay competitive. So i…

Sounds like we're on the same page.

I think TypeScript will actually overtake JavaScript eventually. It's just so nice to work with. JavaScript will of course always be supported and a prerequisite, but in terms of professional web and Node.js development on a broader scale, it's hard to imagine going back to writing plain JavaScript when TypeScript provides so much value for relatively little effort.

Also, I've updated the original title in light of your comment.

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#9

Post by andrei_says_ »

Ruby on Rails, Hotwire, StimulusJS, SCSS, slim, Postgres, Redis, on Heroku or Render.

Solid, mature, innovative, productive and pleasant to work with. 80% of SPA speed and reactivity with 5% of the effort.

If I need complicated interactivity in a specific area, I use vuejs.

Re: Ask HN: What is your preferred/most commonly used stack and why?

#10

Post by notpachet »

It's fine to ask for feedback on your prototype, but that's probably better off as a standalone Show HN. Better for both sides -- you're probably not going to get as much feedback on your project as you'd like since it isn't the actual topic at hand.
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