Public Service Announcement: JAMstack is Now Officially Jamstack
Jamstack is the popular combination of technologies used to create blazing-fast websites using pre-rendered files. Netlify just announced that JAMstack should be called Jamstack.
It is the coolest new web technology on the block, but its name left a certain something to be desired.
Like, how do you even spell it? JAMstack, JAMStack, or Jamstack?
Personally, I’ve preferred JAMstack for a while, based on the hilarious and informative site “WTF is JAMstack” (jamstack.wtf).
Thankfully, we now have an official answer, just in time for Jamstack Conf 2020 (a free virtual conference May 27-28, 2020). It’s Jamstack!
Read on for the official announcement from Netlify.
What is a JAM anyway?
“JAM stands for JavaScript, API & Markup.” — jamstack.wtf
The name is a bit of a stretch, since almost all sites built using JavaScript talk to external (or internal) APIs, and Markup is a generic term.
Markup in a Jamstack site can mean Markdown, HTML, or any other type of markup language.
And “stack” refers to a group of technologies, such as:
- The LAMP Stack: Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP
- The MERN Stack: MongoDB, Express, React, and Node.js
- The JAM Stack: JavaScript + API + Markup
Compared to the other common stacks, Jamstack does not specify the technologies — and that is the real definition of Jamstack.
What is Jamstack used for?
Arguably, any site built using JavaScript, APIs, and HTML is a Jamstack site, but there is one key difference in discussing Jamstack.
“The Jamstack is not about specific technologies.” — Jamstack.org
The Jamstack is frequently used for static sites, such as those made with a static site generator like Gatsby, which is based on React.
The Jamstack allows for dynamic functionality if it is handled by external APIs — meaning a server is not required for the Jamstack site itself.
“There is a common misconception that the phrase ‘static site’ describes a website that is inflexible or fixed. What it really means is that no server is required to serve the site.” — Deepak Gupta on the LogRocket Blog
The typical example of a dynamic Jamstack site is a statically-generated blog that allows user comments, which are powered by serverless functions.
Netlify announces a name change
In their April email newsletter, Netlify let us all know that Jamstack is now the official moniker, because of a GitHub issue on the subject.
“After an in-depth conversation with the community over the last month, we’ve come together to adopt “Jamstack” across jamstack.org. We’ll start using that spelling in materials from Netlify and look forward to seeing it adopted by the wider community.” — Netlify email
In case it is not clear from the email, the awesome static-site host Netlify specializes in Jamstack and runs the educational site Jamstack.org.
We can all rest easy now that we agree on the spelling of Jamstack.
Want more Jamstack?
I know I do. I can’t get enough Jamstack, to be honest. Thankfully, the upcoming Jamstack Conf Virtual 2020 has free admission:
They also just published a list of workshops ($100 each) that will be given on Jamstack and related topics, like React Hooks.
Happy coding! 🍯🍓🤭💻💯
Dr. Derek Austin is the author of Career Programming: How You Can Become a Successful 6-Figure Programmer in 6 Months, now available on Amazon.
