WTF is JAMstack?

Okay! before we begin, if you're new to web development in general, you'll have to first polish your javascript skills. Then learning about APIs as much as you can will help you digest JAMstack.

What is this JAMstack?

A new way of building websites and apps that delivers better performance, higher security, lower cost of scaling and a better developer expereince.

• J is for Javascript - dynamic functionalities of a page are handled by client-side JavaScript in the browser.
• A is for API - application programming interfaces where server-side operations are abstracted into reusable APIs.
• M is for markup - short for HTML where the core HTML is rendered at build time, not runtime.
• stack refers to the way these technologies are built upon one another.

The official definition:

"A modern web development architecture based on client-side javascript, reusable APIs, and prebuilt Markup"

• Mathis Biilmann (CEO & Co-Founder of Netlify)

Why the JAMstack?

Let's assume, you've fairly understood what a JAMstack is. Below are the benefits of using it:

Faster Performance

• Pre-built files served over a CDN

  Higher Security

• Servers or database vulnerabilities are reduces

  Cheaper

• Hosting of static files are cheaper or even free

  Scalability

• With no web applicaion servers and database servers, the cost to scale a site or an app is siginificantly less

Conclusion

A JAMstack project is:

• Entire site/app on CDN
• Atomic deploys
• Instant cache invalidation
• Everything lives in Git
• Automated builds

I have had so much fun playing around with JAMstack. It's easy and versatile. You could generate a site within minutes using an SSG (Static Site Generators) and deploy it with CMS sites like DatoCMS and host it on Nelify for free. You pretty much have flexible control on the code and no more worrying about building a database or a server. In fact, this Blog site is enirely built using JAMstack. Voila!

Alright curious George, check this site for more in depth tutorial!