Backend
104 articles · all categories
I've been building web backends since ~2004 when they were just called websites. With these essays I want to share the hard lessons learned about serverless, databases, APIs, and the ops that keep them alive.
Backend articles
22 articles from 2021 · show all
December 2021
pg-mem and jest for smooth integration testing
The cult of TDD leads you down a dark and stormy path towards brittle code with a false sense of security. But there is a better way. A sweet spot between unit and heavy integration.
November 2021
Better tooling won't fix your API
RESTful APIs are like Agile – everyone does it differently and if it isn't working, it's your fault for doing it wrong. 🤨
Finding unresolved promises in JavaScript
JavaScript is a fantastic server-side language because it's async. That also makes it tricky. 💩 What happens when you swallow errors? Forget to resolve promises? Or run into a number of other anti-patterns
October 2021
How to configure Jest with TypeScript
Using plain Jest on a TypeScript codebase is kinda rough. No types in tests no thanks. Making Jest and TypeScript work together smoothly is something you do just rarely enough to forget the details. Hope this helps you and future me too ✌️
August 2021
Build simple backends with Gatsby Serverless Functions
Until recently adding a little backend to your Gatsby site meant 2 options: 1. Climbing the AWS learning curve 2. Rewrite with NextJS Now there's an /api directory 😱
July 2021
You don't need a big team to automate your work
The opposite of folks who follow every FAANG trend and over-engineer their companies to death, are the folks who *never* take advice from the big boys.
April 2021
Serverless file upload to S3 with NextJS and AWS Lambda – CodeWithSwiz 27
The Girl loves her daily cute photos, but she's bored of repeats. What if adding images was easier 🤔
March 2021
Your serverless questions, answered
When talk comes to serverless, engineers have lots of questions. Here are some answers 😊
How do you know if serverless fits your project?
The hallmark of a true expert is understanding about the pros and cons of your technical decisions.
Serverless Handbook coming Mar 31st
Serverless is the future. New book coming out Mar 31st and it's looking bomb
Different medium, different mindset
Ever wondered what it's like to make a physical book? It ain't as easy as shipping code lemme tell ya 😅
Go full-stack in 5min with your first cloud function
How *do* you build a JavaScript function that runs in the cloud serverlessly? Here's how to get started with Vercel, Netlify, or AWS Lambda
Can you automate love?
What's the laziest thing you've ever built? For me it's a bot that sends cute pictures every day
If you can JavaScript, you can backend
When you think of a backend or server developer, who comes to mind? A wizard of arcane magics. The future belongs to full-stack frontend engineers.
That time serverless melted my credit card
Serverless is pretty cheap. But you *can* get it wrong.
Why serverless fits side-projects perfectly
How do you provision servers for no load most days THEN ALL THE LOAD THIS MINUTE? That's how side-projects work and it's hard
How a $12 AWS bill powers a $50k business
my point is that running server code on the web has become ridiculously cheap *and* easy
February 2021
Reverse engineer a GraphQL API to automate love notes – CodeWithSwiz 24
We used a man-in-the-middle attack to snoop an app's API traffic, replayed it in a GraphQL client, and successfully put it inside an AWS Lambda 🤘
React Bricks - visual blocks editor for NextJS #CodeWithSwiz 22
Tried a new visual editor for NextJS and CreateReactApp. Got a site up in 20min 🤘
January 2021
[CodeWithSwiz 21] useAuth beta support for Firebase 🎉
It works! useAuth has beta-level support for Firebase Auth 🥳 I did not expect that to take 3 sessions.
[CodeWithSwiz 20] Adding Firebase support to useAuth, pt2
Firebase continues to be 💩. No wonder people keep asking for support in useAuth. Almost there ✌️
[CodeWithSwiz 19] Firebase Auth support in useAuth, pt1
Support for Firebase Auth is one of the most requested features for useAuth and I figured what the heck, how hard can it be?