2.3. Intermediate Level

Intermediate Level for Back-end Design and Development

• 2.3. Intermediate Level: Back-end Design and Development - Building Robust Server-Side Applications!
  • Intermediate Level for Back-end Design and Development: Crafting Functional APIs and Database-Driven Applications!
  • GPT Prompts for Further Exploration
  • Future Reading Links

2.3. Intermediate Level: Back-end Design and Development - Building Robust Server-Side Applications!

Welcome to the Intermediate Level of Back-end Design and Development! Congratulations on building your server-side foundation – you’re making great progress! Think of this level as constructing the walls and internal systems of your back-end building, adding structure and sophistication to the solid base you laid in the Beginner Level! Here, we’ll take your foundational server-side programming skills and deepen them significantly, explore powerful server-side frameworks, dive into database interaction, and learn to build more robust and feature-rich back-end applications! Get ready to build truly functional and scalable server-side systems!

Intermediate Level for Back-end Design and Development: Crafting Functional APIs and Database-Driven Applications!

• Goal of the Intermediate Level: The primary goal of the Intermediate Level is to expand your back-end skillset to build more complex, data-driven, and functional server-side applications and APIs. We want you to be able to:

  • Master a Server-Side Framework: Become proficient in using a powerful server-side framework (like Express.js for Node.js, Django for Python, or Spring Boot for Java). You’ll learn how frameworks structure applications, handle routing, manage middleware, and simplify development. (We’ll likely focus on one framework at this level for a deep dive).
  • Design and Develop RESTful APIs: Learn to design and build RESTful APIs (Representational State Transfer) that are well-structured, efficient, and follow industry best practices. You’ll understand API design principles, HTTP methods, request/response cycles in detail, and how to build APIs for front-end applications to consume.
  • Interact with Relational Databases using ORMs: Dive into relational databases (like MySQL or PostgreSQL) and learn to interact with them programmatically from your back-end applications using Object-Relational Mappers (ORMs). You’ll learn to perform CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations, design database schemas, and understand database relationships.
  • Implement User Authentication and Authorization: Learn to secure your back-end applications by implementing user authentication (verifying user identity) and authorization (controlling access to resources). You’ll explore common authentication methods (like session-based, token-based), and authorization patterns to protect your APIs and data.
  • Enhance Your Back-end Development Workflow: Improve your back-end development workflow by using more advanced debugging techniques, understanding basic testing principles for back-end code, and deepening your Git version control skills for collaborative back-end projects.
  • Build a Modular API with Microservice Components as a Capstone Project: Apply your framework, API design, database interaction, and security skills to build a more substantial modular API application, potentially exploring microservice concepts to structure your application. This will be your capstone project for the Intermediate Level.
  • Strengthen Your Understanding of Back-end Performance and Scalability (Basic Introduction): Gain an introductory understanding of back-end performance considerations and basic scalability strategies, preparing you for deeper performance optimization in the Advanced Level.
  • Prepare for Advanced Back-end Development Concepts and Architectures: Build a strong intermediate skill set that will serve as a robust foundation to tackle the more complex and advanced topics in the Advanced Level.

• Modules within the Intermediate Level: To achieve these goals, we’ll advance through these key modules in the Intermediate Level:

  1. 3.1. Server-Side Frameworks - Building Applications with Structure (e.g., Express.js, Django): (Framework power unlocked!) Dive deep into a chosen server-side framework (e.g., Express.js or Django), learning its core features for routing, middleware, templating (optional for APIs), and how it structures back-end application development.
  2. 3.2. Designing and Developing RESTful APIs - Building the Communication Layer: (API mastery begins!) Learn the principles of RESTful API design, understand HTTP methods in detail, learn to design API endpoints, handle request and response formats (JSON), implement API documentation, and build well-structured and functional RESTful APIs.
  3. 3.3. Database Interaction with ORMs (Relational Databases) - Connecting to Data: (Database integration!) Dive into relational databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) and learn to interact with them from your back-end code using ORMs (Object-Relational Mappers). You’ll learn to perform CRUD operations, define database models/schemas, and manage database interactions within your applications.
  4. 3.4. User Authentication and Authorization - Securing Your Back-end: (Security foundations!) Learn to implement user authentication (verifying users) and authorization (managing access) in your back-end applications. Explore common authentication strategies, session management, token-based authentication (like JWT), and authorization patterns to secure your APIs and data.
  5. 3.5. Intermediate Back-end Project: Modular API with Microservice Components (Capstone Project - Intermediate Level): (Building a feature-rich API!) Apply your framework, API design, database interaction, and security skills to build a more complex and modular API application as your capstone project for the Intermediate Level. This project may involve structuring your API using microservice principles to create independent and scalable components.

• Learning Approach at the Intermediate Level: We’ll build upon the beginner-friendly approach, continuing to increase complexity and encourage more independent problem-solving and deeper exploration of concepts:

  • Building on Beginner Fundamentals (Advanced Application): We’ll assume a solid foundation in server-side programming basics from the Beginner Level and build upon those fundamentals to implement more complex features and architectures using frameworks and databases.
  • Framework-Focused Tutorials and Practical Exercises: You’ll work through framework-specific tutorials and practical coding exercises that focus on utilizing the chosen server-side framework to build structured applications and APIs.
  • API Design Principles and Hands-On API Building: We’ll delve into API design principles with practical examples and hands-on exercises where you’ll design and build RESTful APIs from scratch, learning to think about API contracts, request/response patterns, and API documentation.
  • Database Integration and ORM Usage - Real-World Data Management: You’ll learn database concepts and ORM usage through real-world scenarios and practical exercises that involve designing database schemas, performing CRUD operations, and managing data within your back-end applications using an ORM.
  • Security Best Practices and Implementation - Securing Your Applications: We’ll introduce security best practices in back-end development and guide you through implementing authentication and authorization in your applications, emphasizing secure coding practices.
  • Debugging and Basic Testing for Back-end Code: You’ll learn more advanced debugging techniques specific to server-side code and be introduced to basic testing concepts and tools to start writing simple tests for your back-end logic.
  • Collaboration and Version Control (Git - Intermediate): We’ll continue to emphasize Git for version control, using branching strategies for feature development, and practicing pull requests for code collaboration on back-end projects.
  • Integration of Supplemental Components (Continuing and Expanding): We’ll continue to seamlessly integrate the Supplemental Components, now at an intermediate level:
    • Capstone Project (Modular API with Microservice Components): Will be a more substantial and challenging project, requiring you to design and build a more feature-rich and potentially microservice-based API, applying all intermediate-level skills.
    • Assessments (More In-Depth Code Reviews, API Design Evaluation, Security Checks, Database Schema Reviews): Assessments will become more in-depth, focusing on code quality, API design principles, security implementation, database schema design, and adherence to framework best practices.
    • Soft Skills Workshops: Will focus on intermediate-level soft skills relevant to back-end development, such as API documentation best practices, communicating back-end architecture decisions, and collaborative debugging of server-side issues.
    • Guest Lectures/Industry Panels (Frameworks, APIs, Database Technologies): Guest lectures and panels will be more specialized, featuring experts in server-side frameworks, API design, database technologies, and back-end security, providing deeper insights into these intermediate-level topics.
    • Digital Library: Will expand significantly with resources focused on server-side frameworks, API design documentation, database ORM guides, security best practices for back-ends, and intermediate-level code examples.

• Expected Outcomes for the Intermediate Level: By the end of the Intermediate Level in Back-end Development, you should be able to:

  • Proficiently use a server-side framework (e.g., Express.js, Django) to structure and build back-end applications.
  • Design and develop well-structured RESTful APIs following industry best practices.
  • Interact with relational databases (e.g., MySQL, PostgreSQL) using ORMs to perform CRUD operations and manage application data.
  • Implement user authentication and authorization to secure your back-end APIs and applications.
  • Improve your back-end development workflow with better debugging techniques and basic testing practices.
  • Build a more complex modular API application as a capstone project, showcasing your intermediate-level back-end skills.
  • Understand basic back-end performance and scalability considerations.
  • Be well-prepared to move on to the Advanced Level of Back-end Development and explore advanced architectures, performance optimization, and cloud deployment!

  GPT Prompts for Further Exploration

  - "Explain the advanced features of Express.js/Django/Spring Boot and how they can be utilized to build scalable applications."
  - "How can middleware be effectively used in Express.js to handle authentication and error management?"
  - "What are the best practices for designing RESTful APIs and how can they be implemented in a Node.js/Django application"
  - "How can you ensure the security of RESTful APIs in a production environment?"
  - "Discuss the strategies for optimizing database queries in MySQL/PostgreSQL to improve application performance."
  - "How can database indexing and normalization improve the efficiency of a relational database?"
  - "Compare and contrast session-based authentication and token-based authentication (JWT) in web applications."
  - "What are the common pitfalls in implementing user authorization and how can they be avoided?"
  - "Explain the principles of microservices architecture and how it can be applied to build a modular API."
  - "What are the challenges of transitioning from a monolithic architecture to microservices and how can they be mitigated?
  

  Future Reading Links

• Intermediate Back-End Development with Node.js & MongoDB
• Crafting Robust RESTful APIs: Best Practices
• Building Scalable Back-End Systems - DigitalOcean
• Intermediate API Design: Authentication and Performance Optimization
• Database Optimization Techniques: Query Performance Tuning
• Mastering Asynchronous Programming in Node.js
• Building and Securing GraphQL APIs - Apollo Docs
• Implementing OAuth 2.0 for API Authentication
• Integration of Microservices Architecture - Martin Fowler
• NoSQL Databases: A Beginner’s Guide - MongoDB
• Docker for Back-End Development - Getting Started
• Serverless Architecture Patterns and Practices
• Error Handling and Monitoring in Backend Systems
• Intermediate PostgreSQL Techniques for Developers