Backend
HandBook
Created by JS Mastery
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What’s in the guide?
Welcome! If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by backend
development or API concepts, this guide is here to
make things simple.
If you’re just starting out, we’ll walk through everything
you need to know—step by step.
We’ll start with a structured Backend Dev Roadmap,
giving you a clear path to mastering backend skills.
From there, we’ll dive into core API concepts, breaking
down REST API architecture, CRUD operations, HTTP
verbs, and common status codes in a way that
actually makes sense. And project ideas in the end.
By the time you reach the end, you’ll have a solid
grasp of backend development and the confidence to
build and interact with APIs like a pro. Let’s dive in!
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Choose a Programming
language
JavaScript
Python
PHP
Ruby
Rust
Java
Go Lang
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Then choose a Runtime
according to your
programming language
If you're working with JavaScript, selecting an
appropriate runtime environment is essential.
JavaScript
JavaScript Runtime
Node.js Deno
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Node.js Popular Framework
Express.js
Nest.js
Fastify
Sails
Hapi
Restify
Koa
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Python Popular Framework
Django
Flask
PHP Popular Framework
Laravel
Symfony
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Ruby Popular Framework
Rails
Sinatra
Java Popular Framework
Spring
Google Web Toolkit
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Rust Popular Framework
Rocket.rs
GO Popular Framework
Gin
ASP .NET
asp.net is also a popular framework of C#
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Backend concepts you
should learn
HTTP / HTTPS
REST
GraphQL
Web Sockets
CORS
MVC Architecture
CI / CD
Serverless
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Learn about databases
2 Types of Databases
SQL NoSQL
MySQL MongoDB
PostgreSQL CouchDB
SQL Lite DynamoDB
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Learn Caching
Redis
Memcached
ORM / ODM
Mongoose (MongoDB)
Prisma (SQL)
Drizzle (SQL)
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Essential things to learn
Authentication
OAuth
Hashing (bcrypt)
Rate Limiting
Reverse proxy
Load balancer
Documentation (Swagger)
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Other Important Topics
Linux
Terminal (CLI)
Git
Basic Networking
Web Security
Payment Gateways
Testing
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Learn to deploy and learn
any cloud service
Google Cloud
Digital Ocean
AWS
Azure
Heroku
Linode
Vercel
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Optional things to learn
Docker
Performance
Scalability
Kubernetes
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Tools to learn as a
backend developer
NPM
Yarn
Postman
Insomnia
GitHub
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APIs have become the center of software
development, connecting and transferring data to
millions of applications every day.
The guide covers simple explanations of all basic
concepts of APIs as well as the most common HTTP
status code and, more importantly, a list of popular
APIs that you can use to improve your applications.
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What is API?
API stands for
Application Programming Interface.
It’s a connection between computers or
between computer programs. It is a type of
software interface, offering a service to other
pieces of software.
Basically, it enables apps to exchange data
and functionality easily and securely.
It let your product or service communicate
with other products or services without
having to know how they’re implemented.
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A great example to
understand API
Imagine you’re sitting at a table in a
restaurant with a menu of choices to order
from. The kitchen is the part of the “system”
that will prepare your order.
What is missing is the critical link to
communicate your order to the kitchen and
deliver your food back to your table.
That’s where the waiter or API comes in. The
waiter is the messenger – or API – that takes
your request or order and tells the kitchen –
the system – what to do. Then the waiter
delivers the response back to you; in this
case, it is the food.
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How an API works? 01
APIs sit between an application and the web
server, acting as an intermediary layer that
processes data transfer between systems.
01. A client application initiates an API call to
retrieve information also known as a request.
This request is processed from an app to the
web server via the API’s Uniform Resource
Identifier (URI) and includes a request verb,
headers, and sometimes, a request body.
02. After receiving a valid request, the API
makes a call to the external program or web
server.
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How an API works? 02
03. The server sends a response to the API
with the requested information.
04. The API transfers the data to the initial
requesting application.
While the data transfer will differ depending
on the web service being used, this process
of requests and response all happens
through an API.
Whereas a user interface is designed for use
by humans, APIs are designed for use by a
computer or application.
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REST API Architecture 01
REST stands for
REpresentational State Transfer.
The REST architecture is the most popular
approach to build APIs.
REST relies on a client and server approach
which separates front and back ends of the
API, & provides considerable flexibility in
development and implementation.
This means the implementation of the client
and the implementation of the server can be
done independently without each knowing
about the other.
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REST API Architecture 02
APIs that adhere to REST principles are
called RESTful.
A Restful system consists of a
client who requests for the resource
server who has the resources
In the REST architecture, clients send
requests to retrieve or modify resources, and
servers send responses to those requests.
By using a REST interface, different clients hit
the same REST endpoints, perform the same
actions, and receive the same responses.
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REST API Architecture 03
REST requires that a client make a request to
the server in order to retrieve or modify data
on the server.
A request generally consists of:
an HTTP verb, which defines what kind of
operation to perform
a header, which allows the client to pass
along information about the request
a path to a resource
an optional message body containing
data
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CRUD 01
CRUD Stands for
Create Read Update Delete
In a REST environment, CRUD often
corresponds to the HTTP methods
GET, POST, PUT/PATCH, and DELETE.
Create POST
Read GET
Update PUT / PATCH
Delete DELETE
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CRUD 02
In regards to its use in RESTful APIs, CRUD is
the standardized use of HTTP Action Verbs.
This means that if you want to create a new
record you should be using “POST”.
If you want to read a record, you should be
using “GET”. To update a record use “PUT” or
“PATCH”, And to delete a record, use “DELETE.”
Let’s learn about HTTP verbs, There are many
HTTP verbs we use in requests to interact with
resources in a REST system:
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HTTP Verbs 01
HTTP defines a set of request methods to
indicate the desired action to be
performed for a given resource.
These request methods are referred to as
HTTP Verbs.
Below are the various types of HTTP Verbs
GET
The GET method is used to retrieve specific
resource. Requests using GET should only
retrieve data and should have no other
effect on the data.
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HTTP Verbs 02
HEAD
Same as GET, but doesn’t have a message-
body in the response. The HEAD method is
useful in recovering meta-data that is
written according to the headers, without
transferring the entire content.
POST
A POST request is utilized to send data to a
server to create a resource, for example,
customer information, file upload, etc.
usually using HTML Forms.
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HTTP Verbs 03
PUT
PUT is similar to POST as it is used to send
data to the server to create or update a
resource. The difference between it
replaces all current representations of the
target resource with the uploaded content.
DELETE
As it sounds, the DELETE request method is
used to delete resources indicated by a
specific URI. Making a DELETE request will
remove the targeted resource.
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HTTP Verbs 04
CONNECT
CONNECT request establishes a tunnel to
the server identified by a specific URI. A
good example is SSL tunneling.
OPTIONS
The OPTIONS method requests permitted
communication options for a given URL or
server. A client can specify a URL with this
method, or an asterisk (*) to refer to the
entire server.
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HTTP Verbs 05
TRACE
The TRACE method performs a message
loop-back test along the path to the target
resource, to provide a useful debugging
mechanism.
It allows clients to view whatever message
is being received at the other end of the
request chain so that they can use the info
for testing or diagnostic functions.
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HTTP Verbs 06
PATCH
The PATCH method is used for making
partial changes to an existing resource.
The PATCH method provides an entity
containing a list of changes to be applied
to the resource requested using the URI.
PUT vs PATCH
PUT method uses the request URI to supply
a modified version of the requested
resource which replaces the original
version of the resource, whereas the PATCH
method supplies a set of instructions to
modify the resource.
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HTTP Status Codes 01
Status codes are issued by a server in
response to a client’s request made to
the server.
The first digit of the status code specifies
one of five standard classes of responses.
Standard Classes
1xx Informational responses
2xx Successful responses
3xx Redirection responses
4xx Client error responses
5xx Server error responses
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HTTP Status Codes 02
1xx - Informational responses
It indicates that the request was received
and understood by the server and its
continuing the process.
100 Continue
101 Switching Protocols
102 Processing
103 Early Hints
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HTTP Status Codes 03
2xx - Successful responses
It indicates that the action requested by
the client was received, understood, and
accepted
200 OK
201 Created
202 Accepted
203 Non-Authoritative Information
204 No Content
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HTTP Status Codes 04
3xx - Redirection responses
Many of these 3xx status codes are used in
URL redirection or it indicates the client
must take additional action to complete
the request.
301 Moved Permanently
302 Found
304 Not Modified
305 Use Proxy
307 Temporary Redirect
308 Permanent Redirect
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HTTP Status Codes 05
4xx - Client error responses
This status code is intended for situations in
which the error seems to have been
caused by the client.
400 Bad Request
401 Unauthorized
403 Forbidden
404 Not Found
406 Not Acceptable
408 Request Timeout
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HTTP Status Codes 06
5xx - Server error responses
It indicates that the server has
encountered a situation where it doesn’t
know how to handle a request.
500 Internal Server Error
501 Not Implemented
502 Bad Gateway
503 Service Unavailable
504 Gateway Timeout
505 HTTP Version Not Supported
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HTTP Status Codes 07
These were not all the status codes that
exists, there are many more status codes
that indicates different things.
You can find and learn more about http
status codes on this website, with detailed
information about that stauts code.
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Backend Project Ideas
Social Media Web App
Chat App
Video Chat App
REST API
Amazon Scraper API
Web Scraper
URL Shortner
CRUD Blog App
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Backend Project Ideas
Discord Clone with webRTC
Travel Log App
File Sharing App
Users System
Multiplayer Game
Gist Clone
Weather Logger
Ecommerce API
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Backend Project Ideas
AI-Powered Resume Analyzer
Dynamic API Generator
Custom Webhook System
Time Capsule API
AI-Customer Support Chatbot
Leaderboard API for Games
URL Expiry & Redirection Service
JSON to SQL Converter API
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The End
Congratulations on reaching the end of our guide! But
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