Databases
Databases are where all your data is stored. It’s like a bunch of filing cabinets with folders filled with files. Databases come mainly in two flavors: SQL and NoSQL. SQL provides more structure which helps with making sure all the data is correct and validated. NoSQL provides a lot of flexibility for building and maintaining applications.
- MongoDB– is an open-sourced NoSQL database and is currently the only database supported by Meteor.
- Redis– is the most popular key-value store. It is lighting fast for retrieving data but doesn’t allow for much depth in the data storage.
- PostgreSQL– is a popular open-sourced SQL database.
- MySQL– is another popular open-sourced SQL database. MySQL is used in WordPress websites.
- Oracle– is an enterprise SQL database.
- SQL Server– is an SQL server manager created by Microsoft.
Client (or Client-side)
A client is one user of an application. It’s you and me when we visit http://google.com. Clients can be desktop computers, tablets, or mobile devices. There are typically multiple clients interacting with the same application stored on a server.
Server (or Server-side)
Server is where the application code is typically stored. Requests are made to the server from clients, and the server will gather the appropriate information and respond to those requests.
Front-end
The front-end is comprised of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. This is how and where the website is shown to users.
Back-end
The back-end is comprised of your server and database. It’s the place where functions, methods, and data manipulation happens that you don’t what the client’s to see.
Protocols
Protocols are standardized instructions for how to pass information back and forth between computers and devices.
- HTTP– This protocol is how each website gets to your browser. Whenever you type a website like “http://google.com” this protocol requests the website from google’s server and then receives a response with the HTML, CSS, and javascript of the website.
- DDP– is a new protocol created in connection with Meteor. The DDP protocol uses websockets to create a consistent connection between the client and the server. This constant connection let’s websites and data on those websites update in real-time without refreshing your browser.
- REST– is a protocol mainly used for API’s. It has standard methods like GET, POST, and PUT that let information be exchanged between applications.
API
An API is an application programming interface. It is created by the developer of an application to allow other developers to use some of the applications functionality without sharing code. Developers expose “end points” which are like inputs and outputs of the application. Using an API can control access with API keys. Examples of good API’s are those created by Facebook, Twitter, and Google for their web services.
Data formats
Data formats are the structure of how data is stored.
- JSON– is quickly becoming the most popular data format
- XML– was the main data format early in the web days and predominantly used by Microsoft systems
- CSV– is data formatted by commas. Excel data is typically formatted this way.
Thanks for reading and I hope you found something in here that gave you a new way to think about or talk about web technologies. This was not meant to be an all-encompassing list, but rather a way to talk about all the great technologies we have at our finger tips.