[Day 9] Web Servers & Databases

Where do all those blog posts go? [Skillcrush Bootcamp] DAY 9 [WEB SERVERS & DATABASES] --------------------------------------------------------------- You’ve made it to the last day of technical terms in the Skillcrush 10-Day Bootcamp. Look at you! Tomorrow we are going to look at the anatomy of one specific web application, where you will look at how all of the technology you have been learning is used in the real world. But before we do that, you need to learn about those databases & servers that power all of the fun stuff on the web. [Web Servers] When you visit Amazon.com or do a Google search, 3 things happen: - Your browser sends out a request for a web page - A web server receives your request and puts together the right parts - The web server sends you back a web page It’s a lot like ordering a pizza. You call in, they make it, and then deliver it right back to you. Most any computer can be a web server – even your own computer. As long as you have software on it that knows how to listen for Step 2 (take the order), your computer could send out web pages all day long. The software that responds to these requests is also called a web server. A little confusing, we know! Internet Information Services (IIS) is the name of the web server software that comes with Windows, while Apple computers come with web server software called Apache. Apache is also popular on Linux computers, which is the type of computer most web servers out on the Internet are. You might remember from our [PHP] newsletter that we explained how most web apps are comprised of PHP with a [MySQL] database running on an Apache web server on a Linux computer. A typical web server is different than your computer, though, because it likely doesn’t have a monitor or a keyboard. It’s probably a box the size of a laptop that’s squeezed into a closet with a bunch of other web servers. How do you work with it if it doesn’t have a monitor? Through the Internet, of course! Big operations like Google have server farms – rows upon rows of shelves upon shelves of servers. Since computers act up when they get too hot, a big issue with server farms is having enough air conditioning to cool the whole place down. [Databases] When you save your blog post it goes into a database, same goes for your bank account balance. A database can have anywhere from hundreds to billions of entries in it! Because a database isn’t actually a spreadsheet, you need a programming language to get data in and out. A popular one is a language called SQL. You might have heard of MySQL – it’s one of the many databases that use SQL. SQL stands for “Structured Query Language,” which sounds complicated but is pretty easy! Let’s say you wanted to get the name of every user over the age of 25. You might be able to do something like this: SELECT name FROM users WHERE age > 25; Doesn’t seem so hard, does it? You’re going to be writing SQL queries in no time! A new style of server farm (popularized by Google) uses big metal shipping containers to hold the servers instead of normal rooms. This modular design allows you to move each container around, swap containers in and out, and add more servers to each location easily. Each container can hold up to 1,200 servers! TOMORROW [Web Apps: Everlane] Anatomy of a Web App: Everlane By Skillcrush Let’s look at how one awesome e-commerce startup, Everlane, uses all of these technologies to accomplish their business goals. --------------------------------------------------------------- EARLIER THIS WEEK [Web Frameworks] Web Frameworks By Skillcrush A framework is a collection of code libraries that are used to accomplish common tasks when building web applications. [Continue Reading →] --------------------------------------------------------------- You received this email because you are subscribed to the Newsletter List from Skillcrush. [unsubscribe from all lists] [update subscription preferences] Skillcrush 115 West 18th Street, Floor 2 New York NY 10011 USA