What is GraphQL?

Building professional-grade applications is hard. 8base’s mission is to create a platform that abstracts backend complexity in support of professional-grade web and mobile applications. When using 8base, developers focus their efforts on the frontend and data model, rather than complex architectural, infrastructure, database, and common application service tasks.

When using 8base, non-developers can build and maintain powerful web and mobile applications with a small team, even a team of one. 8base also provides design and development talent in support of organizations that prefer to have our team take the lead.

GraphQL is an open-source data query and manipulation language for APIs, and a runtime for fulfilling queries with existing data. GraphQL was developed internally by Facebook in 2012 before being publicly released in 2015.

Modern application architecture commonly dictates separation of frontend and backend, connected via API endpoint(s). 8base's GraphQL engine automatically provisions most common database operations and makes them securely available to frontend developers, largely eliminating the need for backend developer involvement and empowering front-end developers to do most of the work in building professional-grade applications. This architecture and platform capability provides a strategic advantage to businesses that employ it by allowing them to develop faster with less cost, fewer resources, and iterate in a more agile fashion.

• Teams that insist on maintaining their own computing infrastructure and other backend systems.
• Teams building systems where user interface flexibility doesn't matter.

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8base is a new kind of Backend-as-a-Service. It combines the approachability of Google Firebase with the sophistication of far more expensive, enterprise-grade platforms.

Here’s more:

• 8base was designed to support the needs of professional-grade SaaS applications that cut across desktop web and mobile form factors.
• 8base has a powerful relational database versus a No-SQL database.
• 8base is hosted and fully-managed, meaning the 8base team maintains both the software and infrastructure.
• 8base’s default workspace API uses GraphQL as opposed to REST.
• 8base is not open source.
• 8base provides comprehensive application core services such as role-based security, authentication and single-sign-on that can be managed in the low-code environment.

No. 8base leverages Amazon Web Services (AWS) for its required cloud resources.

Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a cloud service delivery model in which developers and businesses delegate the behind-the-scenes aspects of a web or mobile application so that they only have to write and maintain the frontend. 8base provides numerous backend services including database, storage, serverless computing, authentication, notifications and more all exposed through a single GraphQL API endpoint.

8base has very broad applications but there are a few areas where other types of solutions may be better suited. Some of these include: 

• ‍Content Websites – there are visual website builders like Wix and Squarespace, for this.‍
• eCommerce Sites - there are purpose-built eCommerce platforms, like Shopify and Magento, for this.

A Backend-as-a-Service (BaaS) is a form of a low-code development platform. Modern software application architecture dictates a separation between backend and frontend applications with an API endpoint(s) connecting the two. BaaS is a low-code backend and API that can be utilized by frontend web and mobile applications.

Serverless computing is a method of providing backend services on an as-used basis, similar to how an electrical utility provides power for customers. 8base's Serverless architecture allows users to write and deploy code without the hassle of worrying about the underlying infrastructure. Customers are only charged based on their computation and do not have to reserve and pay for a fixed amount of bandwidth or number of servers. As user and system demand grows, the computational environment auto-scales.

The 8base Platform itself is used by developers. The most common type of developer is one with front-end or mobile development skills - 8base allows a front-end or mobile developer to build fully-functional software without needing any/much help from developers, DevOps, architects or database administrators.