Basics of Backend

When you enter a website, what you see is the frontend, the window that displays the website’s design and features. It may come as a surprise that behind every website, there is a backend that quietly handles its functionality. Backend development refers to the creation and maintenance of software components that run behind a website. While the frontend captures the website’s look and feel, the backend manages vital components such as the database, server, and application logic.

When browsing the internet, your computer will send the request (i.e. to get your user profile information) via the UI, to the database in the backend. And the backend will verify the information and send back a response. In this case, your computer is called Client, and the Backend is called Server.

The database runs on a computer independent of the client’s device, and cloud services are a common option nowadays. The popular databases for web development include MySQL, PostgreSQL, and MongoDB.

To run a server, one requires a good computer or a virtual replica of it known as a Virtual Machine (VM). Some significant cloud computing platforms carry giant computers that users rent a smaller VM from, based on their traffic needs. Examples of these platforms include Amazon Web Services (AWS), Google Cloud Platform (GCP), and Microsoft Azure.

Backend Programming

Backend Programming languages are Java, Python, Ruby, and Javascript (NodeJS). Although these languages independently code much of the backend system, learning all their technicalities is quite immense. That’s why we would need a BE framework. Including a Backend Framework helps alleviate this challenge, and popular frameworks include Python Django, Ruby on Rails, Java Spring, and ExpressJS.

We also use a lot of codes that others have written called packages to do some common tasks like calculation, talking to the database, authentication,… Some popular package managers are:

• NPM (for JavaScript)
• pip (for Python)
• Bundler (for Ruby)
• Maven (for Java)

API Request and Response Interaction

The backend processes requests sent from the frontend through the User Interface, sending responses after verification through an API (Application Programming Language). The API defines the workings of the backend and provides a channel for the frontend to interact with it.

For a more detailed illustration, imagine you enter your credentials to login to your account on Amazon:

• You enter your credentials (in the Frontend) to login to your account on Amazon
• The Frontend will wrap the request in a file and send it via the internet, to the server
• The server will verify the identity of the user. If it’s good to go, it will access the database to get the needed data
• The data will be sent back to the user and show on the website

This is a sample request to Amazon to create an order

These are some examples of the API to Create, Get information, and Cancel requests.

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