What happens if a mobile app development company chooses the wrong set of technology stack by any chance?
- It hampers the performance of the apps
- It will prove highly expensive in the long term
- To choose a new technology stack again would become a time- and moneyintensive process
- It will lead to additional maintenance costs and lead to grave technical issues
- Late delivery of projects will ruin the customer relationships
On the other hand, choosing the right tech stack at the initial stages of the mobile app development process can ensure that the final product will be a success. Maintenance of the apps will become seamless and the project will be delivered on time. It will lead to happy and satisfied customers and thus, better customer retention.
So, in this article, you will get a glimpse of some vital tips to select the right stack for your mobile application development projects. But before we dive deeper into it, let’s glance at the factors on which the choice of technology stack depends.
Mobile Application Development: Factors to Consider while Deciding on the Technology Stack
Technology stack is a combination of programming languages, tools, frameworks, libraries, platforms, and UI/UX designs used while developing mobile applications. Technology stack majorly consists of two software components: client-side and server-side, also called frontend and backend respectively.
Here are the factors that must be considered while deciding on the technology stack for mobile application development.
- Type of Project
- The Concept or Idea of the App
- Time-to-market
- Budget constraints
- Scalability
- Security of the App
Technology Stack for Client-side or Frontend in Mobile App Development
Client-side or frontend is generally referred to the user interface of a mobile app which is used by the people for interacting with the app functions. Let’s analyze some technology stacks required for frontend development. They are broadly categorized as Native- Android and iOS, Cross-platform, and Hybrid.
Technology Stack for Native App Development
For Native apps, the mobile app developers need to choose platform-specific programming languages, tools, SDKs, development environments, etc. that are usually provided by operating system vendors.
Technology Stack for Android App Development
Programming Languages: Java, Kotlin, Android SDK
Toolset: Android Developer tools and Android Studio
Benefits of Java:
- A free, simple and object-oriented language
- High stability, scalability, and portability
- High safety and security
- Excellent Toolset
- Huge support of the online community
Benefits of Kotlin:
- A simpleand effective syntax for lesser coding, compared to Java
- Good security and fault tolerance
- Smart and safe compiler
- Interoperable with Java
- Strong and supportive community
Technology Stack for iOS App Development
Programming Languages: Objective-C, Swift
Tools: Xcode and Appcode
Benefits of Objective-C:
- Expressive code syntax
- Supports automatic garbage collection
- Provides dynamic run-time
- Better compatibility with C++
- Using private APIs is easier
Benefits of Swift:
- Highly secure and less prone to errors
- A clear syntax forenhanced code readability and maintenance
- Has massive community support
- Supports dynamic libraries
- Improved performance
Technology Stack for Cross-platform App Development
Programming Tools: React Native, Flutter, Xamarin
Benefits of React Native:
- Code reusability and pre-developed components
- Platform-agnostic framework
- Known for optimal performance, close to Native app development
- Modular architecture and hot- and live-reloading feature
- Responsiveness and stability
Benefits of Flutter:
- Open-Source With A Faster Learning Curve And Huge Google Community
- Hot Reload Feature
- Rich set of Widgets
- Easy to setup and access to native functions
- Smooth, high-quality, and provides high performance
Benefits of Xamarin:
- Allows to build apps for Android, iOS, and Windows
- Easy integration with various SDKs
- Provides flawless UI
- Support for many libraries
- Strong community support
Technology Stack for Hybrid App Development
Programming Tools: PhoneGap, IONIC
Benefits of PhoneGap:
- Strong and robust backend
- Myriad libraries and predefined templates for reduced coding
- Ease of Development
- Access to device’s hardware like camera, accelerometer, geolocation, etc.
Benefits of IONIC:
- Opensource and good community support
- JS and CSS support
- Compatibility and adaptability
- Uses Cordova plugins
- Better integration capabilities
Technology Stack for Server-side or Backend in Mobile App Development
Server-side or backend architecture consists of a web server, an application server, and a database. Mobile app developers usually prefer the combination of the below-mentioned technology stack for backend development.
MEAN: It is the abbreviation for MongoDB, Express.js, AngularJS, and Node.js, where MongoDB is a document-based open-source database, Express.js is a web app framework, AngularJS is a JavaScript-based MVC framework and Node.js is an execution domain
Benefits of MEAN:
- Helps create an event-driven architecture for ensuring thebetter user experience
- Ensures scalable and agile apps
- AngularJS allows easy integration of JS testing frameworks
- A great choice for MVP
LAMP: This stands forLinux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, where Linux is a server operating system, Apache is a web server, MySQL is the database and PHP is the scripting language.
Benefits of LAMP:
- Open-source stack and easy to use
- Compatibility with other software packages
- Use of MySQL and PHP helps in fixing errors quickly
- Flexible and customizable
- Robust and highly reliable
Python-Django: It is a multifunctional framework but not a ‘full-stack technology’ like the ones mentioned above. To complete this set, one needs to choose the web server technologies and the database separately.
Benefits of Python-Django:
- Open-source, fast, stable and mature
- Helps create complex applications
- Has excellent documentation
Ruby on Rails: It is a vast ecosystem meant for high-performing web app development. It has its own built-in database and is compatible with MySQL.
Benefits of Ruby on Rails:
- Clean and consistent core for the development of expandable and multi-purpose apps
- High scalability
- A rich repository of library integrations
- Time and cost-efficient framework
Wrap-up:
The technology stack is the foundation of the complete app development process. It is imperative to do thorough research and make the appropriate choice of the technology stack. We hope that the above-mentioned factors and tips will be helpful to you.