If you don't mind PHP, there are tools like PDOCrud, ajaxCrud, xCrud et al that provide simple ways to create cruds with a limited number of lines.
Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
221–230 of 239 posts
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#222jasonette. https://jasonette.com/ I would still build a crud app with the frameworks and dependency hell you are referring to. Magic solutions tend to save time in the short term but often cost more than it saved in the mid to long term.
Project has moved to https://jasonelle.com/
Good catch. I saw jasonelle and assumed it was a forked project.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#223I would answer at the meta-level - pick the framework in the language you know best. If you are already fluent in Python, use Django. PHP; Laravel? Etc. The benefit of using the “best” CRUD tool (if there even is one) is far less than the cost of learning a new language these days. When Rails first came out, it was so much better than anything else that it was worth it to learn Ruby just to use that toolchain. Nowada…
Except for Node.js, unfortunately there's still no good way of building a simple CRUD app like with Django/RoR. Available solutions are still very much do-it-yourself or very niche-buggy. This has some advantages! But it's really bad if you just want a CRUD app.
Currently using Prisma and Remix which both have some weight behind them and are pretty easy to get going with.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#224I know, use WordPress! (...I'll show myself out)
You joke, but this is how I start most of my apps. Minutes to spin up a WordPress site which handles routing, user registration and accounts, and admin access. Add CPTUI and ACF Front-end and all you need is front-end display of the data. I use Beaver Builder, but there are a number of options.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#225You can't really have crud without "external dependencies" because you need to store state somewhere. I'd say, figure out your storage layer (sql, mongo, files etc) then pick the right tech. Django and Rails will let you very easily bootstrap simple crud apps with very little code. If you need CRUD API i'd personally go with Go and some db that i'm familiar with (pg). You can achieve tons with Go without any external…
I'm a little surprised I didn't see more people mention Go honestly. It's kind of easy as a language to pick up, and depending on what you're doing, it might have everything you need in one swoop. Of course I've not done anything too advanced with it yet. Although uAdmin seems to be a Django inspired thing from Go, I'm not sure if it will ever take off or what, but it seems interesting at least to me. The name is kind of terrible though.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#226“Just do it.” Frameworks absolutely suck, don’t use them. Normalize your data and just build things one step at a time.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#227If this isn't a business application, ignore this entire comment. If it is a business application, you probably shouldn't build a CRUD app, at least not the way that's commonly understood. Stick with me for a minute. First off, you must never delete business data (except per GDPR, retention policies, or other legal requirements). I'm sure someone will pipe in with a contrived use case where you would want to, but in…
What stack would you suggest for this? Or what are the recommended approaches to achieve history/versioning of the data? EventSourcing/CQRS is one that I know, but are there other ways to achieve that by using Postgres?
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#228Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, that's more like four languages: Typescript, CSS, HTML and the JavaScript the TS gets compiled down to. You can't just write TS once, and never touch it again, because you are now targeting a webbrowser and running a webserver, and are probably using a billion NPM packages. None of those are 'static' for a year, let a long a 'long time'.
Overly pessimistic view. You do only have to write one language, and web pages are highly backwards compatible. You don't need to use any NPM packages.
We're talking about low maintenance, low security risk and long lasting.
None of those are compatible with transpilers, node, javascript or web tech in general.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#229Lots of variables in your question. For simple stuff I am a big believer in building backends with tools like Strapi, it's hard to beat for MVP For more customized stuff I do believe Rails is still the safest choice in terms of ease of use, docs, learning resources, community, available libraries and integrations, etc. etc. Close 2nd/3rd probably something like Django or Express.js based stuff. For more complex stuff…
it's relatively easy to do simple stuff in Phoenix, too, especially if you're used to "having to learn a lot of the ceremony" around a more heavyweight framework like rails. What is missing is a good database management system (like Django ships with) but on the other hand, the discipline of Phoenix will in the long run avoid your self/staff learning how to "abuse" Django's control panel to do super dangerous stuff (…
For me personally Elixir is the weapon of choice. But it’s probably fair to say, that if you want “simple CRUD app” that the OP asked about, and you have little experience in functional programming etc, then Rails is proabably easier to pick up for that purpose.
Re: Ask HN: Easiest way to build a CRUD app?
#230the ask for no external dependencies means you need to do one of two things.
1. choose a language with a LOT of "batteries included" (you don't want to have to write HTTP connection protocol handling from scratch). 2. re-create (or copy in) a ton of external code, which is still really "external dependencies" you've just copied them in to your code so you don't have to worry about them disappearing.
Either way you'll be writing a boatload of stuff from scratch that already exists. Regardless of which option you've chosen "easy" is no longer on the table. You want easy, you use the code other people have written to simplify things. That's why Rails, and its clones dominate web-dev. They have already done all the hard bits so that what's left is the "easy" bits and the proprietary bits.
> Should be simple and resilient, can last for a long time.
define "a long time"
Are we talking decades? C+ is probably the way to go. There's a ton of it in just about every industry so it's guaranteed to keep being supported for decades. Alternately, choose a language that's existed for a long time and still seems to be going strong like Smalltalk. As a benefit, Smalltalk's got a LOT of "batteries included".
> The closest I can think of is a static site generator with some kind of self-hosted database but I'm not aware of any.
that's an external dependency and most all of them depend on packages / libraries so it's an external dependency with external dependencies.
also, having a self-hosted database defeats the point of a "static" site generator. If it's static you don't need a db, unless you're storing meta-data that helps you generate the static files. That's why you're not finding any.