The Backend

1. What is the Backend?

Backend development (often called the “server-side” development), is the creation of everything that goes on behind the scenes of a website or application that the user can’t see.

The backend normally consists of an application, server and database. As you interact with a site by entering information, this information is stored in a database that resides on a server. Results are then returned to you to be displayed on the site as frontend code.

2. Why not just connect the Frontend directly to the Database?

• If you connect your database directly from the frontend, you are exposing all your database credentials to the browser, and anyone can look up the code in the console and take it.
• When your database is exposed, anyone can query the data from your databse, just by running a database query in browser console, which exposes other users data too.
• it is not secure at all for managing data or making an algorithm at the frontend.

3. What is API?

API stands for Application Programming Interface. that is the mechanism that enable two software components to communicate with each other using a set of definitions and protocols. For example Frontend and Backend are mostly using REST APIs to communicate with each other.

4. What is REST APIs?

REST API is an application programming interface (API or web API) that conforms to the constraints of REST architectural style and allows for interaction with RESTful web services using HTTP Methods.