Backend
The Developer's Guide to Timeouts
Most HTTP clients ship with no timeout at all. How to set connect, read and database timeouts that fail fast instead of hanging forever.
Gareth Clubb 6 min read Tag
Backend
17 articles tagged with "Backend"
Gareth Clubb 6 min read Backend
How to Design Webhooks That Don't Lose Events
Webhook design guide: at-least-once delivery, retries with backoff, idempotent consumers, HMAC signatures, and why you should never trust event order.
David White 6 min read Backend
Caching Patterns Explained: A Practical Catalogue with Code Examples
A working catalogue of caching patterns and mechanisms with code examples: cache-aside, read-through, write-through, write-behind, refresh-ahead and more.
Gareth Clubb 8 min read Architecture
Message Queues for Developers: RabbitMQ vs Kafka vs SQS
A practical comparison of message queues for developers: when to reach for RabbitMQ, Kafka, or SQS, plus delivery guarantees, ordering, and real costs.
Gareth Clubb 10 min read Backend
The Developer's Guide to API Versioning
A practical guide to API versioning strategies, from URL paths and headers to semantic versioning, with real-world examples and trade-offs.
David White 8 min read Backend
The Developer's Guide to WebSockets
Learn when and how to use WebSockets for real-time features, with practical patterns for connection management, scaling, and common pitfalls.
Gareth Clubb 11 min read Backend
How to Choose the Right Database for Your Project
A practical guide to choosing the right database for your project, comparing relational, document, key-value and graph options with clear criteria.
David White 9 min read Backend
Why Time Zones Break Your Code (and How to Fix It)
British Summer Time starts today. If your code stores local times, you probably have a bug. Here is how to handle time zones properly.
David White 8 min read Backend
The Developer's Guide to API Rate Limiting
A practical guide to API rate limiting. Covers algorithms, implementation patterns, response headers, and best practices for resilient APIs.
David White 9 min read