In the previous article we discussed the basics of web development, and the difference between frontend and backend development in general. And we had a good overview of the most commonly used languages and frameworks in frontend development. In this article we will delve into the backend world, and explore its most common languages, frameworks and tools.
Backend Development
Your website’s backend is everything that supports your website (or mobile app) behind the scenes, and your users do not see or interact with it directly. It is also known as server side, as it usually resides in a server or in the cloud. It usually processes your application data, has databases to save users data and receives requests from the website’s frontend and responds back to them by the means of API (Application Programming Interface).
The main components of a website’s backend software are the web server, the backend software and the database. To understand the function of each of these components imagine the following scenario:
- A user opens his browser, and types the URL of a website.
- The browser sends a request to the website asking for a web page to display to the user.
- The web server receives this request. And routes it to the right software to respond. A web server usually hosts several websites, thus it is very important for it to be configured correctly to route the incoming requests to the right software path.
- The website backend software receives the request routed to it by the webserver, and starts processing it, depending on the logic of the website and the requested page, the software might need to access the database to get the user’s data and site information.
- The database which can be hosted on the same server or on a different server in another location, replies back with the required data.
- The website’s backend receives the data, processes it, and constructs a response, which might be a full webpage or just the data needed to fill in the webpage by the frontend software.
- The web server then wraps the response and sends it back to the client side browser, which displays it as a full webpage.
The above cycle happens almost every time you browse a website on the internet, reload a page, submit some data, or even download a file.
We will explore the 3 main components mentioned in this scenario and the different types of software, programming languages, and frameworks that are most commonly used in each.
Web Servers (HTTP Servers)
The term web server can be used to refer to either the hardware or the software, or both of them. The hardware side is simply a computer, usually with large storage capacity and high processing power, that stores the contents of websites, it is connected to the internet and is capable of exchanging data with other computers on the internet, either clients or other servers.
The web server computer (or simply called server) runs an operating system that manages its hardware, and the files stored on the server. The most commonly used operating systems nowadays in web servers are Microsoft Windows Server, and Linux.
The software side of the web server runs on top of the operating system, also more commonly known as HTTP server, its main function is to store, process and deliver the required data to clients, this data can be in form of web pages, files the user needs to download, or just formatted data (JSON or XML, or other formats).
The HTTP server is also responsible for securing the client-server communication, this is done by secure socket layers protocol (SSL) and Transport Layer Security protocol (TLS), which decrypts the data sent by the client, and encrypts the data sent by the server.
The most common HTTP servers are:
Apache is a free and open source web server that runs on almost all operating systems, including Windows, Linux, Mac OS, Unix and others. For almost 20 years, Apache was the most popular web server, in the early 00’s it was used in over 60% of the web servers globally, and it played a critical role in the development of the internet. However as of 2022, it lost its leading position to NGINX, and it is now used by around 32% of websites.
Apache is very customizable, it consists of several modules which can be adjusted to process several requests. Its easy configuration and customization is one of the reasons most web hosts use it. And having a very big support community surely helps, plus It supports both IPv4 and IPv6.
Nginx is a free open source high performance web server, it was released in 2004, and it is the most used web server as of 2022, it is used in over 34% of all websites. It runs on multiple operating systems including Windows and Linux, and compared to Apache it is considered more efficient and delivers higher performance, especially in very high traffic sites, with minimal loading times and less resources used.
Nginx has also a paid version, called Nginx Plus, which is equipped with advanced features. And was released in 2014.
The main drawback of Nginx is that it’s less customizable than Apache, and you’ll need to live with some of its default settings.
LightSpeed was introduced in 2003, it is a proprietary web server, owned by LiteSpeed Technologies. It is mainly a paid software, but it has a free version, called Open LiteSpeed with fewer features. It is lightweight and focuses on security features. And it has excellent protection against DDoS attacks. It excels in high traffic, and can serve PHP faster than the other alternatives. It hosts around 12% of websites globally.
The main disadvantage of LightSpeed is its price, as it needs an expensive license, which doesn’t look good considering the other alternatives are free, and the free version of LightSpeed is very limited compared to the paid one.
Microsoft-IIS or Microsoft Internet Information Services is a web server released by Microsoft, it runs only on Windows operating system, and inherits native Windows security features. It includes native support for Microsoft’s .NET programming languages, like ASP.Net and C#. IIS is highly performant and easy to learn and adapt by beginners.
The main drawback of IIS is that it doesn’t run on Linux which is a free OS, and requires Microsoft Windows, which is a paid platform, this made it less popular than the other open source, cross-platform alternatives, it is used on around 4-5% of websites as of 2022.
Backend Development Languages
As the internet is taking the world like a storm, the importance of backend development languages is increasing by the day. Selecting the most suitable programming languages for your site’s needs is one of the important decisions you need to take before you start the development process.
This decision depends on the OS you have on your server, the type of the service you provide, for example an ecommerce store, is different from a real-time chat site, and both are different from a video streaming service. You might need a faster backend, or a more reliable backend that can handle thousands of concurrent users, or you might be a beginner who develops a small website and needs an easy language to start with.
So let’s explore the 5 most popular programming languages used in backend development. And shed some light on their features and use cases.
PHP is one of the oldest languages used for backend processing, it was created in 1994, and is maintained by a very active open source community. It can run on almost all operating systems, like Windows, Linux, MacOS, and others.
PHP is a scripting language, which means it needs an interpreter to be understood by the computer rather than a compiler. It is very easy to learn and use for beginners, yet very powerful for professional developers. With a very large online support community and very detailed documentation. It also works with all major database engines like MySQL, Postgres, MongoDB and others.
PHP is the most used development language for backend, almost 80% of the internet runs by PHP, with a lot of major websites using it, like Facebook, Wikipedia, Slack, and any sites that use the WordPress platform which powers almost a third of the internet.
Developers communities are debating nowadays that PHP is a dying old language, and other languages and frameworks like Python and NodeJS are starting to take over. However this decline is very small, due to the huge user base of PHP and the platforms built using it.
There are several popular frameworks that are powered by PHP, like Symfony, Laravel, CodeIgniter and others.
C# (pronounced “See Sharp”) is a modern, object-oriented, and type-safe programming language, developed by Microsoft in the early 2000s as part of the .NET framework. It is similar to C and C++ but much simpler and easier to learn and use. It is a multipurpose language that can be used to build desktop applications, mobile apps, games, enterprise software and server-side software for websites.
Ruby is A dynamic, open source programming language with a focus on simplicity and productivity, it has an expressive and easy to understand syntax. It is most commonly known for its Ruby on Rails framework. Both the language and framework have a strong support community, and excellent documentation and are considered among the best programming languages for backend development.
The main advantages of ruby is that it has high standards of safety and security, and has a lot of helpful tools and libraries, with a well developed community.
Python might be the fastest growing programming language, and is considered as an excellent choice for backend developers, because it comes with an extensive set of libraries and large quantity of pre-written code. It has a small learning curve, which makes it suitable for beginners who want to start learning backend development. It is easy to understand the code written by python.
Python is an interpreted language, which means it executes the code line by line, this makes Python a bit slower than some of the alternative languages. Also memory efficiency is not one of Python’s best features. It uses a large amount of memory as a tradeoff to providing simplicity to developers.
JavaScript (NodeJS)
JavaScript is the most popular programming language as we explained in the previous article, It can be used for both frontend and backend development. Being a light-weight, dynamic-typed, object-oriented programming language sure helped to use JavaScript in backend development. However the introduction of NodeJS framework is the main factor that boosted using JavaScript in server-side.
NodeJS is a very powerful JavaScript framework that is used by thousands of developers and large enterprises as well. Major websites like Netflix, PayPal, Walmart among others use NodeJS primarily in their server side development.
The main advantages of NodeJS is it is very fast, and highly scalable, and never buffers any data.
Database Engines
A database engine is the system that a site’s database uses to function. It contains the code that is used for database functionality.
Unless your website is very basic and consists only of static non-changing pages, you will certainly need a database to store the information of your website. And if your site allows users to login and store their own information like purchases, personal information, favorite movies or even a backup of their files. Then the need for a more robust and reliable database engine becomes essential.
We will discuss here the most popular database engines and the features of each of them, to help you decide which is the most suitable one for you.
MySQL is the most popular and widely used free database engine in the world, it is currently maintained by Oracle, which also owns Oracle DB which is an enterprise grade database engine.
MySQL is capable of handling millions of records with very high efficiency, and has a vast array of features that makes it an excellent choice for any backend developer.
MySQL utilizes the SQL language to create and handle your databases. SQL is almost like writing English, and is used in other major database engines as well, so if you learn MySQL, you can also work on similar engines with ease.
MySQL has a huge support community, and excellent documentation, which means that you will find help with your most difficult queries in no time.
MySQL is cross platform, which means it can run on almost any major OS, like Windows, Linus, MacOS and others. It is very reliable, and very secure. And it is being used by large organizations and platforms like Facebook, twitter, WordPress, Joomla and others.
The main disadvantage of MySQL is that although it can handle huge databases, with multi-million records, it can have poor performance in high load, and is not as efficient as some of the other alternatives.
MongoDB is an example of a NoSQL database, which is currently seeing a huge rise in popularity. In contrast to SQL databases, it doesn’t have a schema or fixed structure, where the data is stored as JSON objects.
MongoDB is characterized with high performance levels, high speed and availability. It can be 100 times faster than traditional relational databases. The syntax it uses to store and fetch data is much simpler than SQL, and it is very flexible, which is essential to evolving businesses.
The main drawbacks of MongoDB is its high memory usage, duplication of data due to the lack of structured schemas, limited data size and limited nesting levels. And the most disadvantage is that it doesn’t support joining like relational databases.
PostgreSQL is very similar to MySQL, and is most commonly used by python developers. It is known for being robust and provides an enterprise grade engine.
Unlike MySQL, PostgreSQL has native support for both structured schemas and NoSQL as well. It also supports geographic objects, which means you can use it for location based services. It is free and open source.
PostgreSQL is slower than MySQL in general, and is not supported by many open source apps. It is less popular and has a smaller support community than MySQL.
Oracle is the most popular database system in the world, it is an enterprise grade, paid database system, developed and maintained by Oracle Corporation. Oracle is a relational database engine, which means it stores its data in the form of tables.
It has been around for decades, with a very good record of stability and reliability, with a lot of support and documentation, both from the Oracle Corporation or community. It has a very high performance, you can use multiple servers to work on the same database. Oracle also is versatile, and can run on any operating system.
The main disadvantage of Oracle is its cost, it can be up to 10 times the cost of competitors. Also it is more difficult to learn than other database engines, and it needs professional administrators to run it, which again adds more to the cost.
Microsoft SQL Server (or simple SQL Server), is a relational database engine developed and maintained by Microsoft. It is easier to use compared to Oracle, thanks to its visual interface and tools. It has high availability and performance and is very flexible. SQL Server is paid, and is directed mainly towards enterprises and large business and websites, however it also has a free (Express) edition, which is directed towards small independent software developers.
SQL server ensures the security of your databases, with easy configurations and tools, which is a feature that’s not easily found in other database systems. It also provides easy and reliable data recovery support, for the unlucky times when you face power failure or data corruption. Which means you will have peace of mind knowing that your data is safe and secure.
The main drawback of SQL Server is that it only runs on Windows servers, which means extra cost to your system. New releases of SQL Server require advanced hardware to run, so if your hardware is a bit old, you might not be able to run it properly.
Conclusion
In this article we discussed backend development, and the different components of server-side systems. And gave an overview of the multiple options available to backend developers who want to select which platform, language, framework or database engine to start their new project.
The following articles in this series, we will explore more and more development languages and frameworks, and we will also discuss mobile apps development, so follow us for more information and knowledge.
