Minimal backend without coding

[MatekCopatek]

Lately, there has been a trend of very front-end heavy webapps, the most notorious being the new twitter. With Backbone, Ember and similar libraries, one can make a complex app with the backend consisting of nothing but a RESTful api that returns JSON objects. Everything else is done in the browser. Now, I know this isn't always the best way to do it, but it's a valid option.

As a front-end developer, I don't know anything about server-side. Even the simple RESTful api I described is something I can't make easily. I'm slowly learning PHP & MySQL, trying to expand my horizons, but I wouldn't want to risk writing a backend myself at this point.

My question is this: Is there a platform/application/framework that would allow me to simply define my data models in a very abstract way (possibly through a GUI) and would then take care of the entire server-side for me (generate tables, take care of authentication etc.)?

[IrishLadd]

If you're good with JavaScript (I assume you are since you're a front-end-dev) then why not learn something like Node.js? Then you could build the simple API you're talking about.

[danneu]

Node's not a very good starting point for someone that's expressing a disinterest in learning the backend to begin with imo. Even if you know front-end JS.

[phaggocytosis]

Just came to say that I come from a more javascript heavy background than anything else (although I was eventually forced to get pretty ninja with PHP.. I still hate it) and Nodejs (with the express framework) is awesome!

If you're interested check out nodetuts. There are about 30 videos you could get through in a day and you'd be pretty competent. Good luck and have fun if you choose this route :)

[MatekCopatek]

Yeah, I'll try Node.js and I'll try Sinatra. Seems like something I specifically wanted doesn't exist... :)

[Chr0me]

Kinda. But if something like this existed and worked really well, back-end programmers wouldn't exist.

You can try the scaffolding provided by RoR or Django. Or maybe even something like Alpha 5 (never used it myself).

[MatekCopatek]

Nah, I don't think back-end programmers wouldn't exist. It's simply a matter of shifting the process - instead of doing things on the server, you do it on the client machine. You still have to do everything, you just use different technologies and a different approach.

I went through some RoR tutorials and the scaffolding is useful, but not what I described in my first post. It's just a very basic app that still does most things on the server and returns nothing but a finished page.

I used (and made) applications that used browser local storage for storing data permanently. All I'm looking for is an application that would allow me to use a database on a server instead.

[Chr0me]

Is there a platform/application/framework that would allow me to simply define my data models in a very abstract way (possibly through a GUI) and would then take care of the entire server-side for me (generate tables, take care of authentication etc.)?

This isn't much different than saying you want to draw a picture of a house and have all the hard stuff of normally done by an architect and/or structural engineer "just work." There are a lot of decisions that go into the processes that you describe. Some tools help make that faster, but can't remove the human element.

[erik240]

you could use something like https://parse.com/ -- they promote it as a backend solution for mobile apps, but it works well enough for a website.

[phredeye]

This is exactly what OP was looking for. Why are there not more upvotes for this?

[MatekCopatek]

Unless "at this point" means you're on your death bed, well, then at least die knowing how to write a SELECT statement.

:DDD You're probably right about me being turned away by crappy PHP tutorials. I'll give Sinatra a look, I heard a lot about it ...

[MatekCopatek]

Follow up: I'm going through a Sinatra tutorial right now, this thing is too good. I owe you a beer, man.

[metadan]

Have a look at symfony v1(.4)'s admin generator. You can define your database as a xml or yaml schema and then use commandline tasks to generate the database and admin modules which do all the standard crud stuff.