Node.js - AngularJS - MongoDB for community website

Question

I am wondering how well the MEAN stack (MongoDB, Express, Angular, Node) would fit to build a community websites, intra and/or extranet

I know I can use things like Drupal, Liferay and so on but I am just trying to understand the proper use case for the MEAN stack.

Suppose that I have to build a new community website or portal from the ground up. Would the MEAN stack be a good fit or is the LAMP stack still better in such a use case?

I am looking to learn the MEAN stack and I had to idea to build a "fake" community website which has lots of features, ideal to learn a technology stack like that, however if the technology is not ideal for such a purpose than I have to look into something else.

Answer 1

Why to use the MEAN stack:

• One language for server, client, application model
• Nodejs concurrent connections handling (permanent connection client-server)
• Nodejs fits perfectly real-time applications
• Nodejs performances take advantage from the Google V8 Engine
• Nodejs asynchronous IO management guarantees more concurrent connections than other Web Server technologies (ex. Apache)
• Horizontal scalability (more trafic => more nodes, mongodb sharding)

Where not to use nodejs:

• High CPU usage operations because it's one threaded nature

Answer 2

I have realised that learning JavaScript is a helpful before learning the MEAN stack and you need to be well at home with JavaScript. You proposed project is one that requires a good grasp of both client-side JavaScript and server-side JavaScript. Learning an effective way to control the quirks of JavaScript will also help. Know JavaScript before learning MEAN and you should be fine.