Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#1

Post by nicksont » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 11:22 AM UTC

Hi, what concepts do you think a backend engineer should know which are language agnostic/independent? An example could be knowing the different ways of how to connect to the database from the backend such as ORM or basic SQL and their pros and cons?

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#2

Post by ianpurton » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:06 PM UTC

Some that spring to mind

- Database Migrations

- Kubernetes

- Basic RPC and code generation i.e. gRPC, OpenAPI and GraphQL.

- Realtime Concepts, i.e. Kafka, MQTT

- DevSecOps

- Builds. i.e. make files.

- Jobs, i.e. cron or batch and job workflows.

- Offsite incremental DB backups and restore.

- Infrastructure as Code i.e. Pulumi.

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#3

Post by dudul » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:07 PM UTC

Isn't an ORM the perfect example of something that is not language agnostic?

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#4

Post by etaham » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:16 PM UTC

Distributed systems, consensus & data consistency concepts

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#5

Post by onei » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:20 PM UTC

dudul wrote: post #3

Isn't an ORM the perfect example of something that is not language agnostic?

The implementation is, but the concept is transferable. Pretty much the same for most concepts in programming.

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#6

Post by eatonphil » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:27 PM UTC

How to set up a decently secure, monitored and backed up server.

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#7

Post by eterps » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:27 PM UTC

Domain Modeling (check out the book 'Domain Modeling Made Functional').

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#8

Post by exdsq » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:31 PM UTC

onei wrote: post #5

dudul wrote: post #3

Isn't an ORM the perfect example of something that is not language agnostic?

The implementation is, but the concept is transferable. Pretty much the same for most concepts in programming.

SQL is far more useful to learn than any one ORM or even the general concept of am ORM.

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#9

Post by loevborg » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:45 PM UTC

onei wrote: post #5

dudul wrote: post #3

Isn't an ORM the perfect example of something that is not language agnostic?

The implementation is, but the concept is transferable. Pretty much the same for most concepts in programming.

ORMs are language-specific, but the insight to avoid ORMs for the rest of your life because of impedance mismatch is general and deep.

Re: Ask HN: Language-agnostic concepts a Backend Engineer should know?

#10

Post by throwaway019254 » Fri, Jul 02, 2021, 12:47 PM UTC

Idempotence