Much of modern computing history can be traced back to one thing: Unix. Indeed, one of the only things about web servers that hasn’t changed in several decades is the Unix shell (Bash) command language. Keeping the same pragmatism and simplicity in mind that inspired LittleBizzy’s managed hosting, SlickStack [ss] is coded entirely in Bash.
Because it’s written purely in Bash (Unix shell), SlickStack [ss] has no dependencies and works on any Ubuntu Linux machine. Unlike heavier provisioning tools like EasyEngine or Ansible, there are no third party languages required such as Python, meaning a lighter and simpler approach to launching WordPress servers.
“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
— Albert Einstein
Philosophy
Outside of the so-called Application Layer, so much of the way computers and servers now work has been moved away from in-house teams and specialists and onto “the cloud” that terms like DevOps have become standard among recruiters, companies, and developers alike. Modern web development trends have begun to revolve entirely around concepts such as automation, APIs, cloud services, and beyond — a phenomenon we might refer to as Web 3.0.
While this shift is exciting, there is now a massive and growing disconnect between these emerging technologies and the humans that are expected to implement or benefit from them. Typical small business owners (SMBs), along with independent agencies or freelancers, now face a virtually impossible learning curve if they wish to maintain not only a competitive “webdev” edge, but even to keep up with basic standards in website security, etc.