Hey, a very similar questions to @calm-grass-85557’s last question but about the back-end. I’m not a full time developer but know enough PHP and MySQL to figure out basics (storing and retrieving data from a database, processing it before/after). I want to move to REST architecture (so that I can disconnect front-end and back-end, have mobile apps and make better use of some of the front-end tech mentioned in previous threads). What are your go-to options for building back-ends for your products? Context: I’m not looking for building a career as a backend engineer, but I do want to learn enough so that I can build better features and robust services for products I’m building on side.

I’d recommend going serverless for this. Check out Hasura. You create your database structure and gives you GraphQL APIs that you can consume with any frontend.

If you're a PHP/MySQL dev, I'd recommend looking into Laravel framework. It has some heavy abstraction so that you don't have to 'code' as much, but at the same time, you get to know basics of REST such as data models, writing CRUD operations over HTTP, and so on. It's inspired by Ruby on Rails and has been one of the fastest evolving backend frameworks in PHP space. Once you're comfortable with it, you could try going deeper. Hope this helps. :)

@helpful-raincoat-87337 can u tell me the difference between Hasura and prisma ,I think both are used to serve backend architecture now a days ,these both can simplify ur database quires u just have to write resolvers for the queries ?

@sparse-dog-4287 Prisma is a framework that provides data access wrappers in TypeScript and Nodejs, for both REST as well as GraphQL. Hasura is primarily a GraphQL as a Service (GaaS) i.e. a hosted solution that provides for a GraphQL server and a simplified querying interface that's based on PostgreSQL. Fundamental difference between the two is that Hasura is specific to GraphQL and Postgres (can be extended to other datastores with some effort), whereas Prisma is open with REST, GraphQL and the choice of data store.

@gorgeous-lunch-25580 thanks for the explanation

Hey @dry-waitress-7852 It depends on the complexity of the app you are trying to build. I would agree with @helpful-raincoat-87337 that if you are doing mostly straightforward operations - saving & retrieving data, GraphQL would serve you well with a serverless framework like Hasura. I think nowadays you can get away without having to use a proper backend language for most applications. However if you step into more complex territory - with more indepth business logic and you need to deal with multiple systems, you would want to consider a language like Python or Node. I am personally a C# person but market demand is limited. I think having Python knowledge will take you further today. For the database, you would be then looking at either Postgres, MySQL or if you need a NoSQL option, Mongo.

I think nowadays you can get away without having to use a proper backend language for most applications.

This! If you’re someone who just wants to build out your ideas and see how they do, there’s no reason to build and maintain your backend when there are so many tools available that do it for you!

It depends. If you trying to build rest APIs with PHP, Laravel is the way to go. It has a very good community. If you are building a product, it might be worth looking into other platforms like Firebase and Hasura but you would have to invest time in learning them.

I work at Prisma Feel free to hit me up in case you have any questions about it 🙂

I’d like recommend Firebase, I’m also a product designer and I felt Firebase to be extremely friendly and easy to get started with. Consider coupling it with vue or react. Then it should serve your context.

+1 for Firebase auth and cloud functions. Not their datastore though.