What is Jamstack and what are its benefits for software development

When it comes to developing mobile applications or websites, there are several ways a developer can approach the task, one of them is Jamstack, an architecture that is dominating the technological trends of the moment.

Before explaining in detail what this "architecture" consists of, let's define the term stack and how it is used within the development process. "A software stack is a collection of independent components that work together to support the execution of an application," they say at TechTarget.

Jamstack Explained

On the official page of this trend, they offer the following explanation: "Jamstack is an architectural approach that decouples the web experience layer from data and business logic, improving flexibility, scalability, performance, and maintainability."

“Jamstack removes the need for business logic to dictate the web experience. It enables a composable architecture for the web where custom logic and third-party services are consumed through APIs."

Jamstack can also be defined as a static app, since its content is served in static files, but the data used can still be dynamic, like an API.

The Jamstack app has three main components:

1. JavaScript: This programming language gives statically typed files dynamism and interaction. Also, along with React, Angular, Avelte, and Vue, it offers more dynamism options and tool sets for static filegroups.
2. APIs: as mentioned in FreeCodeCamp “Using the versatility of APIs is essential to offer functionalities to your JAMStack app, the idea here is that your application can consume functionalities and data from multiple sources, something completely different from the traditional approach where the data They came from the server itself. In addition to all this, prioritizing the use of JavaScript to consume data over HTTP, a large number of services have emerged that provide functionalities such as authentication, content, search, data storage.
3. Markup: This is the part visible to the user, which is why it is essential in the development process. No matter how it is created, in Jamstack it is important how it is distributed. The content must be statically contained, it must not be dynamically rendered by the server.

Benefits of Jamstack for development

Performance

With the Jamstack development method, it will be possible to serve previously built content using a CDN, thus not depending on the capacity of the server to build the pages and avoiding crashes due to multiple requests from users.

Security

Not having to worry about vulnerabilities in the server or in the database, the developer focuses on defining access to private information, using an API such as AuthO for this.

Cost

Hosting static content is lower cost compared to dynamic content, it can even be free depending on the magnitude of the project.

Developing

By not being tied to a monolithic structure, frontend developers can better focus on their work and create a successful user experience, as well as have faster, more customer-friendly development.

Scalability

Developing with Jamstack means having a highly scalable CDN, so if the project becomes popular and attracts thousands and thousands of users, it can be compensated without causing problems in its overall performance.

Tools that can be used with Jamstack

On the official Jamstack page they list the tools that you can use, among these are:

• Nextjs
• Hugo
• Gatsby
• Jekyll
• Nuxt
• Docusaurus
• Hexo
• Slate
• GitBook
• VuePress
• Docsify
• Star
• MkDocs
• UniJS
• Eleventy

And hundreds of other tools that you can review at this link.

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