---
title: Server-Side Programming
description: Server-Side Programming involves writing code that runs on a web server to handle client requests. Learners will understand backend logic, database integration, session management, and how to build dynamic web applications using server-side languages.
category: programming-tech
subcategory: databases
difficulty: beginner, intermediate, advanced
url: /subject/server-side-programming
---

# Server-Side Programming

Server-Side Programming involves writing code that runs on a web server to handle client requests. Learners will understand backend logic, database integration, session management, and how to build dynamic web applications using server-side languages.

## Available Resources

1 Books • 2 Courses • 2 Websites

## Books

### 1. Designing Data-Intensive Applications, 2nd Edition

**Author:** Martin Kleppmann, Chris Riccomini

Kleppmann and Riccomini on the tradeoffs behind storage engines, replication, partitioning, transactions, consistency models and stream processing. Backend developers finish able to reason about what happens beneath an ORM call and choose data systems deliberately.

**Difficulty:** Advanced | **Language:** English | **Price:** Paid

**Link:** https://www.amazon.com/dp/1098119061?tag=edmonddante07-20

**Tags:** distributed-systems, databases, replication, stream-processing, data-modeling

## Websites

### 1. Pilcrow's Auth Book (formerly The Copenhagen Book)

**Author:** Pilcrow (pilcrowonpaper)

Framework-agnostic reference on web authentication covering server-side session tokens, password hashing, email verification, password reset, OAuth, MFA, WebAuthn and CSRF. Explains why each mechanism exists and how to store and invalidate credentials correctly.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://auth.pilcrowonpaper.com/

**Tags:** authentication, sessions, password-hashing, oauth, web-security

### 2. Server-side website programming (MDN Web Docs)

**Author:** Mozilla Contributors

Mozilla's server-side learning area: a technology-agnostic explanation of what happens between an HTTP request and response, then full build-along tutorials in Django and Express. Readers finish able to model data, route requests, and handle sessions.

**Difficulty:** Beginner | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn_web_development/Extensions/Server-side

**Tags:** http, django, express, web-frameworks, backend

## Courses

### 1. CS50's Web Programming with Python and JavaScript

**Author:** Brian Yu, David J. Malan

Harvard's sequel to CS50x, taught by Brian Yu: nine weeks on Django, SQL models and migrations, JavaScript, user interfaces, testing and CI/CD, closing with scalability and security. Students ship several database-backed applications with user accounts.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://cs50.harvard.edu/web/

**Tags:** django, python, javascript, sql, web-development

### 2. Full Stack Open

**Author:** Matti Luukkainen

University of Helsinki's 13-part course covering Node/Express REST APIs, MongoDB, token authentication, automated testing, GraphQL, TypeScript, CI/CD, containers and relational databases with Sequelize. Graduates can build, test and deploy a production-shaped JavaScript backend.
Part 3 (Node/Express server), Part 4 (testing plus user administration and token auth) and Part 13 (relational databases, migrations, Sequelize) form a genuinely rigorous backend arc: statelessness, token-based sessions, schema design and migrations, integration testing, then containers and CI/CD.

**Difficulty:** Intermediate | **Language:** English | **Price:** Free

**Link:** https://fullstackopen.com/en/

**Tags:** nodejs, express, rest-api, testing, full-stack

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