Backend development is an essential part of creating a
dynamic, interactive website or application. The backend, also known as the
server-side, is the part of the website or application that manages the data
and logic behind the scenes. It works in conjunction with the frontend, or the
client-side, which is what users see and interact with.

There are several components that make up a backend,
including a server, an application, a database, and an API. The server is the
physical location where the website or application is stored and accessed. The
server is responsible for hosting the website or application and delivering it
to users when they access it. The application is the actual software that runs
on the server and provides the functionality of the website or application. It
is typically built using a programming language, such as Java or Python. The
database is where the data for the website or application is stored. The
database is used by the application to store and retrieve data, such as user
accounts, information about products or services, and other data needed by the
website or application. The API, or application programming interface, is a set
of protocols and tools that allow different software applications to
communicate with each other. In the context of backend development, the API is
what allows the frontend and the backend to communicate and exchange data. For
example, when a user interacts with the frontend of a website or application,
the API allows the frontend to send requests to the backend and receive
responses with the relevant data.

I selected this post
because I am interested in learning more about backend development and how it
plays a role in creating interactive websites and applications. Furthermore, a
lot of work for this class went into writing code for and experimenting with,
the backend code for Thea’s Food Pantry. Working on something actively in use, even
without making any changes, was a very interesting experience and will be
immensely useful for the capstone class next semester. Understanding the
importance of the backend and how it works with the frontend will allow me to
better plan and implement the overall architecture of a website or application.
Additionally, learning about the various backend components and their functions
will allow me to make informed decisions when choosing technologies and
frameworks to use in my projects.

Source:

https://www.codecademy.com/article/back-end-architecture

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Backend development is an essential part of creating a
dynamic, interactive website or application. The backend, also known as the
server-side, is the part of the website or application that manages the data
and logic behind the scenes. It works in conjunction with the frontend, or the
client-side, which is what users see and interact with.

There are several components that make up a backend,
including a server, an application, a database, and an API. The server is the
physical location where the website or application is stored and accessed. The
server is responsible for hosting the website or application and delivering it
to users when they access it. The application is the actual software that runs
on the server and provides the functionality of the website or application. It
is typically built using a programming language, such as Java or Python. The
database is where the data for the website or application is stored. The
database is used by the application to store and retrieve data, such as user
accounts, information about products or services, and other data needed by the
website or application. The API, or application programming interface, is a set
of protocols and tools that allow different software applications to
communicate with each other. In the context of backend development, the API is
what allows the frontend and the backend to communicate and exchange data. For
example, when a user interacts with the frontend of a website or application,
the API allows the frontend to send requests to the backend and receive
responses with the relevant data.

I selected this post
because I am interested in learning more about backend development and how it
plays a role in creating interactive websites and applications. Furthermore, a
lot of work for this class went into writing code for and experimenting with,
the backend code for Thea’s Food Pantry. Working on something actively in use, even
without making any changes, was a very interesting experience and will be
immensely useful for the capstone class next semester. Understanding the
importance of the backend and how it works with the frontend will allow me to
better plan and implement the overall architecture of a website or application.
Additionally, learning about the various backend components and their functions
will allow me to make informed decisions when choosing technologies and
frameworks to use in my projects.

Source:

https://www.codecademy.com/article/back-end-architecture

From the blog Zed's Blog by Lord Zed and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

For this week, I chose to read ‘Reading List’ from Chapter 6: Construct Your Curriculum. I thought this pattern would be a good last pattern to read about now that the semester is ending. This chapter consisted of mostly patterns that are useful for post undergraduate stuff and things to reinforce in your head moving into your software career. So, for the context of this pattern, after becoming proficient in your first language (another pattern), you begin to look around and see the vast sea of info. I found this relatable as there is so many different languages in software programming and so many different technologies that accompany it as well, there is a lot to learn. However, with that in mind, I think that just makes me wanna learn about a lot of the different languages and technologies since software development is so vast.

For the problem of the pattern, you are unable to keep up with the amount of books you need to read. I thought this was kind of a weird problem, if you reach this problem, you probably aren’t managing your time well and need to readjust your curriculum in my opinion. However, the solution tackles this problem similar to what I was thinking, managing your time better. The solution is to maintain a reading list, this isn’t to only manage the books you read but also to reflect on past reading habits and you can use this info to construct a path on what to read next and what to focus on. I thought this was pretty clever, I wouldn’t have a reading list for that purpose, I would just use it to manage my reading habits. The solution does come with caveats though, it’s difficult to implement this pattern without having a deep understanding of your topic in order to figure out which books to read and the order. Ultimately, I think this pattern relies on having a deep understanding of what you want to learn about and what rabbit holes to go down in order to become more proficient at those topics.

For the action, you obviously create your reading list, however you keep it under source control and up to date. Pretty simple action to do, it’s just finding out where to start and what to read that is the hardest part of this pattern.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Brendan Lai by Brendan Lai and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

Although I tend to speak rather broadly about certain apprenticeship patterns, nonetheless many of the patterns I have written about in this blog do apply to the field of Software Development. After all, the book, from which these patterns have originated from, that I have been reading for the past few months is more focused on programming than any other craft. This is the reason why this particular pattern applies to my learning process of Software Development which, ironically, I realise that I have not applied to the degree that I thought I have when learning other programming languages. In fact, a significant part of the learning process is to “unlearn” pre-existing knowledge and approaching learning a craft in a “blank slate”. This notion corresponds to a pattern titled “White Belt” which, though it may seem ironic, it is in fact a very significant pattern.

When a developer faces the need to utilize this pattern, it means that their pre-existing knowledge may be interfering with acquiring new knowledge and skills more challenging, or even impossible. When it comes to programming languages, the know-how that one may be holding on from learning and mastering their first programming language may impair their problem-solving approaches. Oftentimes, they may be expecting to see tools or concepts from one language they already know that are completely non-existent in the language that they are learning. Moreover, the potential differences in syntax can also throw an apprentice off when learning a new language, thus it is easy for us to hit a roadblock simply because the solutions we may want are (or so we think) simply not there. As such, a way to avoid this roadblock is to simply approach the new language that we are learning as its own thing and with a clear state of mind.

Usually, I tend to say that I like or agree with a pattern because in my own experience I tend to utilize such patterns in my own, perhaps roundabout way. However, this pattern is the first that has made me question my own approach to learning, which is contrary to this pattern. I often tend to look for “common ground” between my pre-existing knowledge and the new knowledge before me to “save time” and get to “the good stuff” faster. In a way, this pattern hurts my pride as a software apprentice. And, in all fairness, it should. It is important for me to acknowledge that flaw in my learning process and instead wear the white belt when I pick up a new programming language to learn.

From the blog CS@Worcester – CompSci Log by sohoda and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

The ‘reading list’ apprenticeship pattern supposes a solution to a situation where you are finding books you want to read faster than you can get through them. There are lots of really good resources available for programming, and reading them is a great way to help you improve your programming skills. However, with such an abundance of resources, it becomes difficult to manage everything you want to read. The solution is, as is suggested by the name of the apprenticeship pattern, to maintain a reading list. This list should store both books you want to read and books you have already read. Hoover and Oshineye recommend storing your reading list somewhere public so that other people can see and learn from your list. Keeping a list like this for several years will allow you to analyze your reading habits and pick out spots where there might be gaps in your knowledge. As you work through your list, you can use the bibliographies of the books you read to add new books to your reading list. This can also help you narrow your research down into an area you take interest in.

I think this apprenticeship pattern is interesting, and I think it’s a great way to keep track of what you want to read. I think the advice to read books included in the bibliographies of books you thought were useful is really useful. I also really like the idea of being able to monitor your progress as you work through your reading list. I already kind of do this, just not exclusively with programming resources. I use a website to keep track of the books I want to read and the books I’ve already read. I like being able to see all of the books I have or want to read, because I know if I didn’t store that information somewhere I would forget all about it. It’s also really interesting to be able to analyze my own reading statistics like what genres I tend to read and what days I read more. I use it mostly for pleasure reading, but I think it would be useful to dedicate a section of my existing list to programming resources.

From the blog CS@Worcester – Ciampa's Computer Science Blog by robiciampa and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

A Different Road

You find yourself tired and bored of your work. You have some personal projects to advance your skills that keeps you busy, but you find yourself needing to take a break. To diverge from the road you are on to either just rest for a while or to just see where it goes. Your career as a software developer is not what ultimately defines you. A Different Road describes a scenario where the road you have been traveling on in your programming career is not the road you want to travel along anymore. You might wish to spend more time at home and with your family. You might desire to train for a marathon. You could buy a bit of land, build a barn and become a farmer.

The road of your software development career never truly ends until you decide to end it and even if you do, you can always start back on it again. Just like riding a bicycle you never really forget something that you practiced frequently. So, take the break that you need. Buy that farm and become a farmer. Your career is not what really defines you, and maybe whatever you try will need some kind of optimization that your skill-set can solve.

Ultimately this pattern speaks to the idea of breaking the stubborn mindset most people find themselves in. It’s this mindset of having a path and having no other choice. The path paid your bills and you enjoy it to a degree. It’s hard to accept the idea that this thing you have been spending your time on isn’t right for you. To align with the road analogy, the road you have been traveling has been well paved and barely has any traffic. As you travel further and further you might find it gets even easier and has even more lanes and less traffic. You might also find that this road has potholes and traffic has only gotten worse and worse.

Recognizing when that road isn’t worth traveling on is easy to think about, but harder to act on even when it’s right in front of you. But unlike the road analogy, your skills and motivation are not a car. You can’t sell it and lose it, it can’t be stolen from you, and even if you don’t use it for a while it doesn’t mean it can’t start back up again. The thing to take to heart is do what you want to do, but also stop doing the thing you don’t want to do just because it’s your career.

From the blog CS@Worcester – A Boolean Not An Or by Julion DeVincentis and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.

I finished the patterns I wanted to write about from chapter 4 and moved on to chapter 5, Perpetual Learning. Like the last few chapters, I to post about the first pattern of the chapter and then one of the last ones, so this post will be about Expand your Bandwidth. The focus of the chapter is on the topic of the lifelong journey of learning that is taken when you are an apprentice transitioning into a journeyman, which is a concept that was brought up in the first chapter.

The first pattern is an effective start to the chapter, as it is about how you can move on from lower level problems to higher level ones, and how you can expand your learning ability. The solution given to the problem is to find different ways to learn more than you may not have been using before, such as blogs, books, and other online resources. Because of how much technology there is in the world today, there are plenty of ways to find information online, and use different avenues of learning. I have found a lot of information online by either looking things up when I had questions or issues, or just by reading blogs and articles. I have looked online plenty of times when I needed help on something, especially computer science projects. I would search based on the error codes I was getting and try different sites to see if I could find a solution that worked for me. Using online resources have been very helpful to me for my work related to computer science, along with some other courses and activities.

I agree with the last paragraph of the solution that talks about deciding when you should start expanding, because while it is good to have all this information to learn from, you still want time to put that learning to use at software craftsmanship. You want to make time to continue working and improving yourself so that everything you are reading about and learning is beneficial to your work. I like that this problem brought more attention to the topic of this being a lifelong journey with continuous learning and development, while pointing out potential problems with obsessing over learning.

From the blog Jeffery Neal's Blog by jneal44 and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.