Front-end and back-end

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The terms front-end and back-end (from the English borrowed for pre- or over- and substructure , literally front and rear end ; in German more common of the are also superstructure and the opposite the base are) in the information technology different to Places used in connection with a stratification . The front-end is typically closer to the user and the back-end closer to the system. In some cases this interpretation is not applicable, but the principle is that the front-end is closer to the input and the back-end is closer to the processing.

Application examples

Here is a list of different uses, although the terms are not used in pairs for all individual meanings:

  • In client-server applications, the program running on the client is referred to as the front end (i.e. here: service user), and the program running on the server is referred to as the back end (here: service provider).
  • In database applications, the graphical user interface, consisting of forms and reports, is used as a front end, the tables, views , stored procedures, etc. Ä., Referred to as the back end.
  • Front-end denotes, closely based on the above meaning, also basically the user interface, which z. B. in the form of a graphical user interface (English graphical user interface shortly GUI) or by means of screen masks can be implemented.
  • In web-based application systems with separate user interfaces for regular users and system administration, the term front-end denotes the Internet pages accessible to the public, while the term back-end is used for the area that is only accessible to a restricted group of users.
  • Software is often divided into front-end and back-end, with the back-end being closer to the hardware. For example, the KDE -based program K3b for burning CDs and DVDs is purely a front-end that uses various console programs (e.g. cdrkit or MoviX ) as a back-end. This division can be multilayered, i. H. a back-end can itself be subdivided into a front-end and a back-end on a lower level of abstraction (e.g. the growisofs used by K3b itself uses genisoimage).
  • In compilers , the program code is often translated into binary code in two steps using a general intermediate code that is independent of the hardware . The first translation step is referred to as the front-end (here: analysis unit), the second as the back-end (here: synthesis unit).
  • In the Unix printing system CUPS , the module that sends the processed raw data to the printer is called the back-end. There are e.g. B. Back-ends for parallel interface, network, USB, etc. A graphical user interface for CUPS is called a CUPS front-end.
  • In speech synthesis , too, speech is often generated from text via an intermediate step (a symbolic phonetic representation), with the first translation step again representing the front end and the second the back end.
  • In conjunction with the IBM proprietary Systems Network Architecture (SNA), the communication front end processor (Communication Controller) is referred to as a front-end processor (FEP, Front End Processor) with the NCP (Network Control Program) usually running in it.
  • In content management systems (CMS), the administration interface for creating and maintaining content is often referred to as the back end, while the website generated by the CMS is seen as the front end.

See also

literature

  • Peter Fischer, Peter Hofer: Lexicon of Computer Science. 14th edition, Springer, 2008, ISBN 978-3-540-72549-7

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Microsoft confirms: Edge receives Chrome substructure and becomes a cross-platform browser - ZDNet , on December 7th, 2018
  2. ↑ Windows 10: Activate Linux Bash and use new programs - Computer-Bild , on September 23, 2018; there u. a. also with "Linux substructure"
  3. ↑ Ubuntu 14.04 LTS in the test: Canonical in the convergence trap (page 4 of 4) - Golem , on April 17, 2014; there also with "Substructure and Conclusion" and also "The basis for Ubuntu [...] forms ..."
  4. ↑ Virtualization for Windows and Linux: […] - Tecchannel.de , on March 3, 2011; there also with "Windows or Linux as substructure"