Learning Journey: This is Day 1 of my backend learning series where I'm documenting my understanding of backend development from first principles. Follow along as I break down 31 core concepts!

📌 Table of Contents

1. What is Backend?
2. The Three Pillars of Backend Development
3. How Does Backend Work?
4. Why Can't We Just Do Everything in Frontend?
5. Benefits of Learning Backend from First Principles
6. Real-World Analogy
7. Key Takeaways

🎯 What is Backend?

Backend is technically a computer that is listening for HTTP or WebSocket or gRPC requests through any open port which is accessible over the internet so that clients (frontend applications) can connect to it and send/receive data.

Think of it like a server in a restaurant - it takes orders (requests), processes them in the kitchen (business logic), fetches ingredients from storage (database), and serves the food back (response).

The Simple Definition

A backend is:

• A computer running somewhere (could be in a data center, AWS, or even your localhost)
• Listening for incoming requests on specific ports
• Accessible via the internet or network
• Serves files like images, videos, and data to clients