What is backend development, and why does it matter to your business?

Well, generally, the term backend development is what's used to refer to server side programming.

All the behind the scene processes and activities of a web based application are achieved via backend development.

From logging in to an online store to making a bank transaction while checking out, all the flow and authentication is controlled by powerful backend programming languages.

A backend developer deals with scripting, databases, and the overall architecture of a website.

A backend program is what enables your website to communicate with your database and fetch required information.

Here's an example of backend and frontend development as it relates to a blog post:

The post's text, colors, fonts, images, & overall aesthetic, all pertain to it's integrated frontend.

Whereas the post's data obtained from the database (such as it's saved comments, or even the content itself), the data dynamically pieced together before page load (like calculation of post read time, or a display of current date), & much more, pertain to the backend of the post.

Therefore as can be surmised, both frontend & backend languages are critical for the smooth operation of even the simplest of pages.

In this article, we'll be discussing 3 foundational backend languages that your developer should know, as well as each one's key features.

Java Key Features:

1. Platform independent– As explained above, JVM (Java Virtual Machine) is the key to platform independence.
2. Object-oriented– The code is built as a combination of objects. Hence it's easily controlled, manipulated, and extended.
3. Basic– You likely won't have an issue with Java, if you're already familiar with Object Oriented Programming (OOP).
4. Multi-Threading– Java is good at multi-threading, which means that it’s capable of handling multiple jobs concurrently. Which in turn saves memory usage.
5. Robust– The exception handling and memory management feature of Java helps to minimize coding errors.

PHP Key Features:

1. Database Integration– Easy integration with databases like MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, Sybase, Informix and PostgreSQL.
2. Accessibility– Easy access to large number of libraries for data representation and module accessibility.
3. Versatile– Platform-independent and interpreted language.
4. Case Independent– No case-sensitive issues unless you're declaring new variables.
5. Dynamic– Considered the best at generating dynamic content.
6. Alert System– A built-in system helps in reporting errors and warnings.
7. Log Generation– Access logging system that generates a summary of latest accesses.
8. Data types– Auto data type assignment depending on the value assigned to a variable.

Python Key Features:

1. Dynamic Typing– Variable data types are declared at run time so there is no need to declare variable data types beforehand (not the case for C++).
2. Integrable– Other programming languages like C++ and C can be integrated with Python. This property is referred to as being extensible.
3. High-Level– Developers can focus on the target problem, rather than on memory management or system architecture, as the language handles this automatically.
4. Interpreted– No need of compiling the code before running. The code executes line after line making it easy to debug any issue.
5. Libraries– The coding effort is reduced at times, because of the available libraries and modules.
6. Expressive– The ease of understanding the code allows a developer to focus on problems at their core.
7. GUI Support– Python can be used to produce very interactive Graphical User Interfaces.