What is MEVN Stack? How does it work?

MEVN stack is one of the most popularly used collections of technologies that enable faster application development. MEVN stands for MongoDB, Express, Vue, and Node, after the four key technologies that make up the stack.

• M – MongoDB: document database
• E – ExpressJS: Node.js web framework
• V – VueJS: A client-side JavaScript framework
• N – NodeJS: Premier JavaScript web server

One of the main reasons the MEVN stack is popular is because the application is built with only one language i.e JavaScript. It solves the problem of implementing different languages at the frontend and backend. Let’s take a look at the MEVN stack in detail.

VueJS

VueJS is a highly flexible, lightweight open-source JavaScript Framework used for building single-page web applications, i.e while shifting between different routes, the website won’t require a reload. It was created by Evan You, and is maintained by him and the rest of the active core team members. Unlike its rivals like ReactJS or AngularJS, it is not backed by any tech giant like Facebook or Google. It depends on the open-source community and sponsors for donations. It lacks behind in terms of community support due to its Chinese origin but it’s growing steadily due to an increase in non-native developers.

VueJS uses a two-way binding model which makes it very easy to update app data and browser view. It is developer friendly framework, i.e it is easier to learn as it allows both HTML and .jsx syntax and also has detailed documentation to refer to and learn.
You can start your journey along here, and learn VueJS from the course built by the VueJS developer community.

NodeJS and ExpressJS

Previously, JavaScript was a client-side language and could only be used on the client side – that is, web browsers. But, with the release of Node.js in 2009, things changed. Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform, back-end JavaScript runtime environment that runs on a JavaScript Engine and executes JavaScript code outside a web browser.

Nodejs helps us manage the servers and routes of our application.

The problem was that Node.js did not know how to perform serving files, handling requests, and handling HTTP methods. Here’s where express.js steps up. Express JS is a Node.js framework designed to build API’s web applications cross-platform mobile apps quickly and make node js easy. Express provides many features such as routing, easier debugging, and middleware.

You can start learning about NodeJS and ExpressJS from here.

MongoDB

Last but not least, we have MongoDB. MongoDB is an open-source document NoSQL database. NoSQL database systems offer an alternative to traditional relational databases using SQL (Structured Query Language). The data is stored in tables, rows, and columns in a relational database, with relationships between entities. Whereas, in NoSQL databases such as MongoDB, the data is represented in a JSON-like structure which is stored in documents.

NoSQL Databases store data in an unstructured format and process non-similar data sets that are associated with each other. Therefore, it has fewer restrictions and more flexibility with the use of dissimilar fields within a collection as compared to relational databases.

We can use MongoDB Atlas for a fully-managed cloud database for full-scale applications. And we use the mongoose npm library to connect the database with our backend. You can learn how to connect and build applications with Node.js and MongoDB from the course here.

Architecture

Since we learned about all the technologies that go into building up the MEVN stack, let’s take a look at how they work together. There is no specific order to start working on a MEVN stack project, but usually, it is preferred to start with the backend and make the schema ready. We also establish a connection between our MongoDB database with our backend using the Mongoose library.

With the help of express.js, we create APIs, which enable the developers to read, create, update and delete data from the database while constantly listening for server requests. We use these API URLs in our frontend Vue application to communicate the data with the backend. We perform different HTTP requests for different uses such as GET to read data, POST to create new data, DELETE to delete data from the database, and so on. The data is transferred in JSON format, also known as JavaScript Object Notation. The data stored in MongoDB is also in JSON format, which makes it easier to read and update.

Conclusion

Learning the MEVN stack will make you a full-stack developer. You’ll ideally be able to build and deploy web applications end to end, from frontend to backend to databases using the above technologies.

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