Bridging the Gap: Connecting Your Web App's Front-End and Back-End

The magic of a web application lies in the seamless dance between its front-end (FE) and back-end (BE). But how do these two distinct worlds converse and collaborate? Today, we'll delve into the various methods that connect FE and BE, exploring their strengths and weaknesses to help you choose the best fit for your web project.

The Communication Channels:


REST API: The classic act of sending HTTP requests for CRUD operations - create, read, update, delete - remains a popular choice. This familiar protocol is well-supported by libraries like Axios, making data exchange efficient and predictable. However, fetching multiple related resources can lead to numerous requests, impacting performance.


GraphQL: This query language emerges as a game-changer, allowing the FE to request only the specific data it needs. This granular approach minimizes unnecessary data transfer and boosts performance, especially for complex data structures.


WebSockets: Real-time is the name of the game here! WebSockets establish persistent connections, enabling efficient, bi-directional communication for live updates, chat applications, and more. The downside? Browser and server support can vary, and managing multiple connections adds complexity.


Server-Sent Events (SSE): For one-way real-time updates, SSE shines. The server pushes data to the client without the need for constant requests, ideal for live feeds and notifications. However, SSE doesn't support bi-directional communication, limiting its versatility.


Message Queues: Asynchronous communication gets a major boost with message queues. This decoupled approach allows the FE and BE to exchange messages without waiting for each other, improving scalability and resilience. Yet, setting up and managing message systems can add complexity.


RPC (Remote Procedure Call): Treat a remote function like a local one! RPC offers a familiar syntax for invoking procedures on the server, simplifying development. However, security concerns and potential performance bottlenecks demand careful consideration.

Beyond the Basics:

While Axios simplifies REST API communication, remember the server-side perspective. Utilizing template engines within backend frameworks like Django or Ruby on Rails can streamline dynamic HTML generation, improving maintainability and separation of concerns. However, be mindful of potential performance implications, especially as modern front-end frameworks often handle rendering themselves.

Using a template engine within a backend framework can be beneficial for rendering dynamic HTML on the server side. It allows for the separation of concerns by keeping the presentation logic in the templates, making it easier to maintain and modify the UI. Additionally, template engines often support features like template inheritance, partials, and helpers, which can streamline the development process.

However, it's important to consider the performance implications of using a template engine, as rendering templates on the server side can impact response times. Additionally, modern front-end frameworks and libraries often handle rendering on the client side, so the use of a template engine in the backend may depend on the specific requirements of the project.



Choosing the Right Path:

The optimal connection method hinges on your application's specific needs. Consider factors like data complexity, real-time requirements, scalability, and development complexity. Experiment, explore, and find the perfect bridge to connect your FE and BE, creating a harmonious web experience for all.


Here are some additional points that should be considered:

Caching
- Implement caching strategies like CDNs and redis to optimize performance


Authentication/Authorization
- Use JSON Web Tokens (JWT) or sessions to manage user access and permissions


Error Handling
- Handle errors gracefully and provide user-friendly messages


Logging
- Log requests, responses, and errors on both front-end and back-end to debug issues


Testing
- Write unit and integration tests to ensure different components work together as expected


Build Tools
- Use build tools like Webpack to optimize assets and deploy both front-end and back-end


Environments
- Set up dev, test, staging, and production environments to match workflows


Documentation
- Document integration points, data models, APIs, etc. to align teams


Monitoring
- Monitor performance metrics, logs, errors, and user journeys across the stack


Modular Design
- Build self-contained, reusable components that are easy to maintain and extend


Happy Coding!

Optimize Android Studio speed

Go to/create file: /Users/aselims/Library/Preferences/AndroidStudio2.2/studio.vmoptions

Configure those options according to your RAM limits:

-Xms512m
-Xmx4096m
-XX:MetaspaceSize=512m
-XX:MaxPermSize=1024m
-XX:ReservedCodeCacheSize=512m
-XX:+UseCompressedOops

Animations for the app

I would like to have general animations (transitions) between my activities. There are many possibilities. Use TransitionManager, use Activity#overridePendingTransition(), use ActivityOptions, FragmentTransaction#setCusotmAnimation()...

One general solution would be:

<style name="ActivityAnimations" parent="@android:style/Animation.Activity">
<item name="android:activityOpenEnterAnimation">@anim/slide_up_in</item>
<item name="android:activityOpenExitAnimation">@null</item>
<item name="android:activityCloseEnterAnimation">@null</item>
<item name="android:activityCloseExitAnimation">@anim/slide_out_right</item>
</style>

and apply in the base theme:

<item name="android:windowAnimationStyle">@style/ActivityAnimations</item>

To understand what those means, here is an excerpt from here

int	activityCloseEnterAnimationWhen closing the current activity, this is the animation  that is run on the next activity (which is entering the screen).
int	activityCloseExitAnimationWhen closing the current activity, this is the animation that is run on the current activity (which is exiting the screen).
int	activityOpenEnterAnimationWhen opening a new activity, this is the animation that is run on the next activity (which is entering the screen).
int	activityOpenExitAnimationWhen opening a new activity, this is the animation that is run on the previous activity (which is exiting the screen).

<!-- In case we need to generalize for the fragments
<item name="fragmentOpenEnterAnimation">@animator/fragment_open_enter</item>
<item name="fragmentOpenExitAnimation">@animator/fragment_open_exit</item>
<item name="fragmentCloseEnterAnimation">@animator/fragment_close_enter</item>
<item name="fragmentCloseExitAnimation">@animator/fragment_close_exit</item>-->

Keep Gradle uptodate

One of the downsides of Gradle is it takes a lot of time to build for big projects. Gradle team works on this problem with continuos efforts. So that means when you update Gradle, this means it could get better with increasing the speed of the build.

How?
- Check the latest Gradle distribution at: https://services.gradle.org/distributions/
-- At the time of this post, It is : gradle-3.4-rc-1-all.zip
-- Invoke with CmdLine: ./gradlew -wrapper -gradle-version=3.4-rc-1
-- Check the config file in <project>/gradle/wrapper/gradlewrapper.properties 
is changed to 
"distributionUrl=https\://services.gradle.org/distributions/gradle-3.4-rc-1-all.zip"

Happy build times! :)

Save objects in Shared Preferences

private SharedPreferences preferences;
private SharedPreferences.Editor editor;

//Save objects
preferences = context.getSharedPreferences(namePreferences, mode);
editor = preferences.edit();
editor.putString(key, GSON.toJson(object));
editor.commit();

//Retrieve objects
String gson = preferences.getString(key, null);
Object o = GSON.fromJson(gson, a);

Algorithms & Time Complexity

A nice article on Algorithms, Time Complexity...
https://medium.freecodecamp.com/time-is-complex-but-priceless-f0abd015063c#.gz98zi8ca

Calculate battery drain in your app

Interesting slide

 for each API call, it consumes 1/3 mAh

so if you just make API call a minute, you will drain the battery by 1/3 a day!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR3PIg0RDnk
#io16