What Is Backend Development?

Date First Published: 21st July 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: Web Development

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty Level: 5/10

Learn more about what backend development is in this article.

Backend development, also known as server-side development, is a category of web development that refers to the work involved in creating, developing, building, and maintaining what users do not see or directly interact with on a website. This may include the databases and programming aspect of creating a website that works behind the scenes to deliver information to the users. A person that specialises in backend development is known as a backend developer.

Note:

The backend and frontend work together as data that is generated in the backend is passed to the frontend and displayed to the end user.

Backend programming languages include PHP, ASP, JSP, Python, and Ruby. The backend can be known as the data access layer and the frontend can be known as the presentation layer.

Backend development is the opposite of frontend development, also known as client-side development, which focuses on what users see, the user interface, and the visual elements of websites that users interact with.

Examples Of Backend Development

Examples of backend development include:

• Working on databases to access, store, modify, and delete information. Oracle and MySQL are the two most commonly used database applications. For example, when server-side scripting languages are used to pull information from a database, processed from an application, and then displayed to the user in the frontend, that is a backend process.
• Writing a PHP, ASP, or JSP script that is run on the server before the webpage is displayed to the end-user in order to generate dynamic HTML. This is why PHP, ASP, and JSP scripts cannot be seen in the source code of the document in a web browser.
• Handling file uploads and downloads.
• Writing code to interact with a database.
• Securing data sent to the server with encryption and decryption algorithms.
• Building and writing APIs.

Backend developers may work with frameworks, such as:

• Node.js
• Meteor.js
• Ruby
• Laravel
• Django

All of the backend processes listed above require a web server for them to be run, so unlike HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which is processed by a web browser, they are processed by a web server. This means that they will not work without web server software installed.

Is JavaScript A Backend Programming Language?

JavaScript is not a backend programming language. It is a client-side programming language as the script is processed by the client's web browser instead of the web server and can run after a webpage has been loaded without communicating with the web server.

Can A Website Function Without A Backend System?

Without a backend system, a website can still be developed and function properly. However, it won't be possible to create a dynamic website that displays different content each time the user views it in real-time without the website owner having to manually update it. This means that websites would only be static and wouldn't be able to store and process any user-generated content, such as comments, forms, posts, user access levels, and database information. This makes it much harder to maintain larger websites. Websites with no backend system are only developed using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, which are frontend technologies.

Spelling Of Backend

Backend can be spelt as 'back end' when used as a noun (e.g. working on the back end of a website) and 'back-end' when used as an adjective (e.g. a back-end developer). However, for simplicity, the spelling 'backend' can be used as both a noun and an adjective.

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