Understanding Backend Development
Learn about backend development and get to know the role and responsibilities of backend developers.
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Backend development handles the behind-the-scenes of modern applications. Most of the time, it’s made of code that connects to the database, manages user connections, and also powers web applications or the
Building the business logic
The focus of backend development code is more on the business logic. It primarily focuses on how an application works and the functionality and logic powering the application.
For example, let’s talk about a web application built to manage books. Let’s suppose that the application is connected to an SQL database.
Whatever language is used to build the application and the structure, here are some requirements that represent the business logic and that primarily depend on the backend rather than the frontend:
Adding a book (only for admin): This supposes that the client (frontend) should be able to make a request to an API powered using whatever language is built for the backend, containing the data needed to create a new entry in the database that represents a book. This action is only available to admins.
Listing all books: This supposes that the client should also be able to make a request to the API, and this API should send as a response a list of all the books in JSON/XML format.
Just by taking a look at these two requirements, we can quickly understand that the frontend will just be the interface through which to request these actions. However, the backend (taking the first requirement as an example) makes sure that the incoming request is possible (checking for permissions such as whether the user making the request is really an admin) and that the data in the request is valid—only after that can data be safely registered in the database. Backend developers use programming languages such as Python, PHP, and Ruby to set up and configure the server. These tools allow them to store, process, and modify information. To make these programming languages even more practical, developers improve them with frameworks such as Symfony, Ruby on Rails, CakePHP, or CodeIgniter. These tools make development faster and more secure, but developers need to ensure that these tools are always up to date and facilitate the maintenance required.
Who is a backend developer?
A backend developer is therefore responsible for creating and managing all the elements invisible to the end user. They are responsible for all the functionalities of the site or application. They are also responsible for creating the database which allows, among other things, the information provided by users to be retained. For example, the backend developer uses the databases to find the usernames and passwords that customers have used to connect. It is possible to train for this profession by training in web development or even training in Python.
Responsibilities of backend developers
The backend is typically made of three major parts:
Server: A machine or an application (NGINX) that receives requests.
Application: A running application on the server that receives the requests, validates these requests, and sends an appropriate response.
Database: Used to store data.
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