Choosing the Stack & Design
What language, what framework, what kind of app, what architecture? These used to be experts’ calls. With Module 2’s literacy behind you, they are decisions you can now make well — by reasoning them through, out loud, with GenAI as your sounding board.
What You’re Choosing
A “stack” is just the set of tools your project sits on. For a first build, it comes down to four decisions.
- The app type — web app, script, static site (you named this in Module 2)
- The language & framework — e.g. Python, JavaScript/Node, React
- The data store — a file, a light database like SQLite, or none at all
- The hosting — where it runs so others can reach it
Pick Boring, Popular Tools
Fit the choice to two things: your goal, and what you — and your tools — can actually support.
Using GenAI to Decide
The LLM is great at laying out options. The pick is still yours.
- Describe your goal — what the app does, who uses it
- State your constraints — your skill level, time, budget
- Ask it to compare 2–3 stacks — with the tradeoffs of each
- Then you pick — and can explain, in a sentence, why
The Simplest Thing That Works
Don’t add a database, a framework, or a service you don’t need yet. Every extra piece is something to set up, learn, secure, and keep running.
Build It
How to implement: ask an LLM to propose two stacks for your capstone, with pros and cons for each — then write one sentence on why you picked one.
- Weekly AI Tasks tracker — a small web app, a simple server, and a light database (e.g. SQLite) is plenty; how you handle messaging drives the backend choice.
- Personal brand site — a static site of plain HTML/CSS (or a simple static generator); no backend, no database — the simplest thing that works.
What you learned
A stack is four decisions: app type, language/framework, data store, hosting. Fit them to your goal, favour boring and popular tools, let GenAI compare the options — then pick the simplest thing that works.