CHAPTER 11

Backend Development

Backend development: The term has also been used in previous chapters. That was only to provide an upfront definition.

Here in this chapter, we will apprise you of almost everything related to backend development.

Here, our objective is to explain the back-end developers, their roles and responsibilities, and various other aspects.

Move ahead to reap the knowledge.

Overview of Backend Development

Backend development is something that powers a website by giving functional accuracy. Users’ have nothing to do with functionality. They do not even know the core of anything they are exploring or clicking while exploring a website for something. It becomes possible with the help of proper backend development.

What is backend development?

To understand the front-end clearly, you need to have an idea of the basic concept. The concept says front-end is the client-side mechanism of producing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for a web application or website to let users directly interact with the web interface.

Constant observation of this realm states that tools and technologies frequently generate the need for developers to be aware of the new trends and technologies to build more functional and interactive web interfaces.

What is the best backend language for web development?

Backend programming is either Object Oriented (OOP) or functional, depending on the project requirements.

Object-Oriented Programming - It’s the technique that primarily uses Java, .NET, and Python that focuses on creating objects. In OOP, objects should be created and executed in a specific order.

Functional Programming - This programming technique is action-based and uses declarative languages like SQL, F#, and R, ensuring that objects can be executed in any order.

Apart from the ones mentioned above, many other back-end development technologies support back-end development for various projects.

This chapter is curated to understand all the languages that play a significant role in website backend development.

Widely Used Backend Development Technologies

Java

Java is a highly-demanded programming language, and it’s become most famous for various good reasons. Having been used for over 20 years, Java is versatile in terms of web application development and is found in applications from smartphones to smartcards. Further -

• Java is supported by Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which acts as a middle layer to run code on any computer device.
  
• It’s prevalent among desktop and business software developers
  
• It’s for seasoned developers and not for beginners, as it’s tough to learn
  
• A large and professional community supports Java

Why should you adopt Java as an ideal web development platform?

• Popularity of Java across the world
  
• Object-oriented programming language
  
• It’s a programming language for enterprise
  
• Unstoppable growth
  
• Provides excellent web development performance
  
• Highly-secure
  
• Ensures easy coding
  
• Highly inspired by C and C++
  
• Platform independent (codes can be used for different platforms)
  
• Best known as robust language
  
• Multithreading capabilities
  
• Comes with rich programming APIs
  
• Huge developer’s community
  
• Unmatched memory management

Tasks you can achieve with Java

• Website development
  
• Android mobile app development
  
• Database connectivity and synchronization
  
• Image processing
  
• GUI based program creation
  
• Highly-secure
  
• Seamless networking

Brands that trust Java

• Pinterest
  
• Airbnb
  
• Uber
  
• Groupon
  
• LinkedIn
  
• Fitbit
  
• eBay
  
• Evernote
  
• HubSpot

PHP

The study says PHP powers 78% of total websites on the Internet. The language is tremendous and is continually increasing the reach of each industry. It’s an open-source server-side programming language offering quality web development and allowing developers to use the same bit of code to some other module if it requires the same functionality to be integrated.

Besides, PHP -

• Is excellent to learn and offers a bright career opportunity
  
• Is more forgiving in terms of errors, thereby allow to compile and run the programs until you get the desired result
  
• Has an abundance of resources that are dedicated to the language
  
• Is supported by an extensive and extremely skilled PHP community
  
• Set-up is relatively easy as compared to other backend programming languages
  
• Is easy to download and install

Tasks you can achieve with PHP

• Collect data via web forms
  
• Create dynamic web page content
  
• Send and receive cookies
  
• Implementation of command-line scripting
  
• Writing server-side scripting
  
• Create desktop applications

Brands that trust PHP

• Lyft
  
• Facebook
  
• Hootsuite
  
• Mint
  
• Buffer
  
• Viber
  
• DocuSign
  
  

.NET

ASP.NET is launched as a web application development by Microsoft. The tech giant built the backend programming language to build websites in combination with C#, VB (Visual Basic), F#, and many more as per project requirements.

Also, .NET is -

• Packed with MVC (Model View Controller) architectural pattern
  
• Allowed to integrate with iOS, Linux, and Android by way of .NET core
  
• Creates code that is far stable and error-free, making it prior choice for large-enterprises
  
• Supported by a vast developers’ community to whom you can seek help if you ever get lost

Tasks you can achieve using .NET

• Build feature-packed desktop applications
  
• Primarily used to develop mobile applications, web applications, and gaming applications
  
• Best to work with Big Data

Brands that trust .NET

• Starbucks
  
• Microsoft
  
• Stack Overflow
  
• DocPlanner

C#

C# is a high-level backend programming language that allows developers to write programs that run independently on a particular type of computer. It comes under the category of human-like (not like machine language) languages that anyone can easily read and write.

Additionally,

• C# is most popular among all types of backend developers
  
• It is reliable and robust; it is powered by C++ (which is another powerful backend language)
  
• It is easier to use as it offers error-proof commands that tend to trip-up C++ users
  
• Programmers working on Stack Overflow have many times praised the language for its cool code writing syntax
  
  

VB

VB is another powerful website backend development language that uses Graphical User Interface to modify the code written in any basic programming language. It’s effortless to learn and get started with this language because of its simple code syntax.

Moreover, the language -

• In widespread use among backend developers
  
• Often used for prototyping
  
• Quite explanatory and easy to understand
  
  

Ruby

Ruby or Ruby on Rails is a web development language that is precisely built on top of Ruby programming language. This robust language comes with a set of tools that allow developers to create essential functions on a website. For example, a blog can be easily created by adding a single line of code.

Also, Ruby -

• Requires a bit of backend work and enables developers to develop and launch applications on the server quickly
  
• Sometimes, it’s similar to Python and best used for website prototyping
  
• Is an open-source programming language that can be easily modified and built

Tasks you can achieve using Ruby

• Automation of repetitive tasks
  
• Building quality-assured web applications, mobile applications, and gaming platforms
  
• Prototype creation

Brands that trust Ruby

• Codecademy
• Airbnb
• Kickstarter
  
• TaskRabbit
  
• Scribd
  
• RapGenius
  
• AngelList
  
  

Python

These days, Python has become one of the fastest-growing programming languages, serving the industry with desktop and web application development. This versatile language has secured a pioneer position across the web, making it accessible for back-end professionals who have just started.

Furthermore, the language has many advantages, including -

• Its syntax is quite simple and easy to understand
  
• Programming with Python offers beautiful, elegant, and readable code and syntaxes on Stack Overflow
  
• Python and Ruby share a few similarities as they both are object-oriented, written dynamically, and open source
  

Tasks you can achieve with Python

• Cross-platform development
  
• Quick automation
  
• Shell scripting
  
• Simple backend web development
  

Brands that trust Python

• Mozilla
  
• Pinterest
  
• Uber
  
• Quora
  
• Spotify
  
• Netflix
  
• Pandora
  
• Asana

SQL

Structured Query Language, commonly abbreviated as SQL, is the strongest backend language widely used to interact with databases since it’s a declarative language mostly considered great for beginners.

On top of it -

• MIt’s again the best query language for those who want to reap the advantages of the wealth of information stored in databases
  
• It’s declarative that allows developers to declare the results that they want to see as the final output

Tasks you can achieve with SQL

• Access, sync, manipulate and create databases
  
• SQL can benefit many entities which are closely associated with managing database
  
• The beneficiaries can include data-driven marketers, financial analysts, and online entrepreneurs

Brands that trust SQL

• All those companies that hold a hoard of databases use this backend programming language as their database synchronization asset

JavaScript

JavaScript is not Java, so don’t get confused. It’s the programming language that can be prolifically used for both front-end and backend development of applications. It falls into a high-level language category and is the best for beginners as they start coding in their browsers.

To describe it more -

• The language is highly flexible
  
• The objects created with this language are slow, which makes it easy to scale and maintain all the dynamically typed languages
  
• It’s ubiquitous and hence supported by a broad base of the development community
  
• Provides plenty of resources and eventually a hoard of opportunities to beginners

Tasks you can achieve with JavaScript

• Building of websites
  
• Creation of mobile and web applications
  
• Development of gaming app development, web servers, and presentations

Brands that trust JavaScript

• Codecademy
  
• Airbnb
  
• eBay
  
• HotelTonight
  
• Asana
  
• Square
  

These were the languages that developers mostly use to accomplish backend web development.

Backend Frameworks

The creation of the best user interface is one of the priorities that developers put on top of their list. Apart from the backend programming language, developers will need a robust framework to build an attractive and user-friendly user interface.

What are the best backend web frameworks?

Web development standards are rising, increasing the need for more powerful programming languages and frameworks. As a result, development giants have built many frameworks that are packed with robust modules that developers can take and use as per their convenience to facilitate the web development world with quality development results.

Here's a list of Back-end development frameworks developers widely use to carry out agile web development.

You know why backend development frameworks claim to offer quality development results because these eliminate the complexity of writing complex by offering the inbuilt modules to the developers with particular frameworks.

According to the developers, so many back-end development frameworks are popular for delivering desired web development results. By observing the 6scenario, we have also curated the list of a few backend frameworks that are gaining immense trust as per the web industry.

CakePHP

These days, CakePHP has taken the momentum and won the web world by its excellent coding techniques. It’s a prominent server-side scripting language that consistently helps about 7 out of 10 developers to carry out web development projects.

CakePHP falls under popular PHP backend frameworks that build applications faster. Furthermore, it helps make the task of developers more accessible and straightforward by minimizing the requirement of creating a web application from scratch.

The best thing is that PHP consistently provides updated versions of its framework like CakePHP is currently running with the CakePHP 4.0 version that is faster and cleaner compared to other previous versions.

In short, CakePHP framework development has provided so many opportunities for developers who have always been looking for a fast and stable backend development framework.

Advantages of CakePHP framework

• CakePHP provides rapid application development
  
• It uses unique design patterns like Active Road, Front Controller, Association Data Mapping, and MVC
  
• It’s a stable framework that enables PHP users at different levels of web application development
  
• It provides quality development and that too without compromising the flexibility
  
• Provides access to friendly and active community
  
• It’s compatible with PHP version 4 and 5
  
• Integrated with CRUD (Create, Read, Update and Delete) for seamless database interaction
  
• Built-in validation facility

Django

Django for back-end development is prominent for quickly building better web applications and requiring less code. Technically, Django is the Python-based web framework that encourages clean, pragmatic design and rapid development.

Precisely developed by experienced developers, the Django framework takes care of many hassles during web development. This backend development framework lets the developers focus on building the app without reinventing the wheel.

Features of Django Framework

• High-speed backend development
  
• Ensures optimum security
  
• Meet all the scalability standards
  
• Runs on any platform, including Mac, Windows, and Linux

Additionally, Django comes with:

• Forms and a reliable set of the development process
  
• Templates layers and model layers
  
• Provides security with views layers
  
• Geographic framework for better geolocation tracking feature integration
  
• Provides different standard tools for web app development
  
• Ensures better localization, optimization, and performance

Ruby on Rails

Learning and using Ruby on Rails is not daunting; instead, it’s fun doing web development with it. The framework includes almost every feature that a developer needs to build fantastic applications.

A new version of Rails 6.0 was recently released on May 6, 2020, to facilitate back-end developers with the best and more flexible web development features.

Ruby on Rails is open source, meaning it’s free to use and also makes it easy for developers to contribute code to make web application development easier for others in the same community.

Features of Rail Framework -

• It’s optimized for programmers and offers convention over configuration
  
• Large and friendly developers’ community
  
• It supports MVC framework
  
• Packed with symbol garbage collector
  
• Provides keyword arguments
  
• Action Mailer acts greatly
  
• Offers Turbolinks
  
• Action pack Assertions
  
• Rails API for database synchronization
  
• Code of Ruby can be rendered from anywhere
  
• Combined with a customized library
  
• Comes with AJAX library
  

Benefits of Rails Framework

• It’s suitable for rapid application development (RAD)
  
• Code of Ruby is easily readable and can also be self-documented
  
• Rails is developed with a strong focus on app testing aspects
  
• Rails, with almost all of its libraries, is open-source and hence don’t require much for licensing the platform
  
• Ruby on Rails provides convention and default configuration that saves a lot of developers time and effort
  
• This backend framework has maintained a vast ecosystem that helps developers quickly find the tools and development related help

Companies that use Ruby on Rails

• Airbnb
  
• Basecamp
  
• Shopify
  
• SoundCloud
  
• Twitch
  
• GitHub
  
• Square
  
• Cookpad
  
• Zendesk, and many more

Laravel

Laravel is a robust web application framework that comes with elegant and expressive syntax. Moreover, the framework is quite simple to use, and it frees the developers to create web apps without sweating on small things.

Laravel framework is a powerful PHP framework built for developers who need a simple and elegant toolkit to develop full-featured web applications. It’s an open-source framework developed by Taylor Otwell to provide a robust alternative to the CodeIgniter framework. The best part is that anyone can avail custom Laravel development for their projects to keep the suggested feature list and other aspects intact.

Features of Laravel Framework

• MVC Architecture Support
  
• Template Engine
  
• Eloquent ORM (Object Relational Mapping)
  
• Powerful Libraries and Modulars to ease development
  
• High in security
  
• Excellent database migration system
  
• Ensures absolute unit testing
  
• Built-in Authentication and Authorization
  
• Task Scheduling
  
• Artisan Console
  
• WebSocket Programming

Flask

Flask is a micro web development framework that is written in Python. It is known as a microframework, as it doesn’t necessarily require any additional tools or libraries to run the code.

Flask development provides a solid foundation for simple to complex web applications. Here, you’re free to build your modules and plugin any extensions to make web development an exceptional experience.

When you adopt, the Flask framework has proven useful for various projects, especially for prototyping.

Features of Flask Framework -

• Built-in development server
  
• Packed with fast debugger
  
• Excellent integrated support for unit testing
  
• Comes with Jinja2 templating
  
• RESTful request dispatching
  
• WSGI 1.0 compliant
  
• Unicode based
  
• Support for secure cookies (client-side sessions)
  
  

Backend Developer

The backend developer, also known as a server-side program developer, administers almost all the functional requirements and loopholes of a website.

What is a Backend developer?

Backend developer primarily focuses on code scripting, databases, and, most importantly, the architecture of a website. The code created by backend developers is up to the mark and helps the database and browser seamlessly communicate with each other.

You can see the below image to know how the backend works and establishes communication

Backend Developer(Guru99)

For more profound knowledge, you can take the example of an article posted on a website’s blog. Although, when you’re reading an article, you observe the fonts, size, colors, and design of the portal, all these elements constitute the front-end of the page.

So, the front-end is what makes a layout beautiful and eye-grabbing for the users. And the content you’re consuming is rendered from a server and carefully fetched from the associated database; that’s also a specific aspect of the front-end development.

What is a Java backend developer?

Everyone in the tech world knows that Java is a powerful and widely used programming language, facilitating front-end developers with the best development methods.

When you hire a Java developer, you can be assured of getting a high-quality website that will act as your brand’s face and provide your target users with the reasons to explore the website.

Skillset required for a Java backend developer

Backend Developer(Guru99)

A backend developer is responsible for working with the following development aspects:

• Web development languages
  
• Server
  
• Database and cache
  
• API (Rest & SOAP)
  

Responsibilities of a Java Developer

• Develops and improve a web application software
  
• Designs the technical architecture of a website
  
• Implements software tests and debug code
  
• Produces the design and schema of a database
  
• Writes functional and technical documentation
  
• Analyzes customer needs
  
• Selects and advocates for suitable solutions
  
• Keeps up with the latest changes in technologies
  
  

Role of Backend Developer

So, who is a backend developer? He’s the one who is solely responsible for handling all the server-side functional requirements.

What do Backend developers do?

The role of a backend developer is not limited to writing code to accomplish functional requirements.

• He has working experience with frameworks like Laravel for PHP and Django for Python.
  
• He can write quality unit tests for the developed web modules
  
• He also must know data structures and Algorithms to build robust web applications.
  
• A backend developer should also be aware of security concerns to check each page’s vulnerabilities.
  
• He should know the differences between handling the requirements for Desktop Vs. Mobile platforms.
  
• He needs to have basic exposure to front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
  
• Knowing session management in a distributed server environment is a plus.
  
  

Responsibilities of a Backend developer

Here are the points that will describe a backend developer’s roles and responsibilities.

• The backend developer’s job is to understand the project’s goal and develop an effective solution.
  
• He should be capable enough to work with databases and ensure that it is correctly displayed to the users
• who need them to fulfill their requirements.
  
• He must possess the experience of developing payment processing systems that may include the features
• like secure information storing, data acceptance, and making payments accordingly.
  
• A backend developer should be involved in data science analysis and setting the architecture of a system.
  
• He must know how to manage APIs resources.
  
• They also should obtain knowledge to organize the logic of the proposed system
  
• Experienced backend developers are also responsible for developing relevant frameworks or the website architecture to make it easier to program.
  
• At last, backend developers should also have the skills to implement robust algorithms to troubleshoot system-related problems.
  
  

Hire Backend Developer

Don’t find yourself alone when you can’t find backend developers for your project. Today, you can find a lot of options to hire backend developers, like you can find them by selecting a reliable web development company, or you can hire them from the best-known freelancing portals such as Upwork, GoodFirms, etc.

Many web development companies also prefer different ways to hire backend developers for their project accomplishment. Let’s have a look:

How to hire backend developers?

Keeping a few facets in mind is mandatory when hiring back-end developers. These aspects help in making firm and quick decisions for your hiring goals.

Points to remember:

• Search backend developers with much experience so that your project doesn’t suffer and get completed in one go.
  
• Check if the developers are passionate enough to accept the project and handle it proficiently.
  
• He should understand new technologies that are trending in the web market.
  
• Should be able to plan the project for future business benefits.
  
• Must have proficiency in handling business problems and business perspectives.

Further, you can also hire the backend developers based on various other factors:

• Skills and technological knowledge
  
• Years of experience in the industry
  
• Capability of handling projects
  
• Type of projects they handled (portfolio)
  
• Client testimonials (if any)
  
• Live projects presentation (if any)

If you’re still confused about where to start your search, you can go for a variety of web development companies that claim to offer the industry’s best backend developers.