Stack - what exactly is it?

Question

I am learning about building scalable applications with horizontal scaling. The term "stack" comes often as in "normal stack", "technology stack", "load balancer is integral to our scalable stack" etc. I understand what a stack is in computer science. But what exactly is meant by a "stack" in a networking and scalability perspective?

Answer 1

Depends on the context, but besides the algorithmic structure, stack usually means the technology your platform is built upon.

Example:

Stack on networking could mean: TCP/IP, SSH, Bluetooth or the different technologies providing you connectivity.

Stack on OS means the OS itself and the libraries available for your use.

Stack on Programming languages might be the Java EE stack, which means Java Enterprise APIs will be leveraging your coding.

Hope it made sense. :)