BackendLab
Infrastructure
backend as a service
SHOW HN2018
65points
58comments
#652of 2,155 in 2018
Top 31%of 2018 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
5 positive, 16 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 11 critical, out of 34 comments about the project. Thread score -0.10.
Idea: 3 for, 6 againstDesign: 1 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 againstDocs: 0 for, 1 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Simple, fun idea useful for rapid prototyping
From 3 comments
Hay Chris, Looking like a great project, simple and fun. Keep in mind that other similar projects tried the same approach before, namely firebase and parse.com. both for only so…
yoava on HNI tend to agree - great prototype, but most coders whip out basic CRUD code quickly, and their time is really spent on all the additional features of an app. Often, changing the…
codingdave on HNthis is awesome. looking forward to a couple years a of fun and easy prototyping before this inevitably gets bought and shut down by some giant
raymondgh on HN
Nice-looking site and work so far
From 1 comment
I reviewed the site. Really nice work. You can sell additional features like the live monitoring tool. Heroku add-ons style. Good luck.
pictur on HN
Objections
Firebase, Parse and similar BaaS already cover this space
From 2 comments
Hay Chris, Looking like a great project, simple and fun. Keep in mind that other similar projects tried the same approach before, namely firebase and parse.com. both for only so…
yoava on HN>The idea is that it allows you to define your database models by specifying what fields to include and BackendLab automatically creates a CRUD API I don't see the advantage over…
tinyvm on HN
CRUD is not the time-consuming part of apps; business logic is
From 2 comments
I tend to agree - great prototype, but most coders whip out basic CRUD code quickly, and their time is really spent on all the additional features of an app. Often, changing the…
codingdave on HNHey Chris, Congratulation for launching your beta! This seems quite similar to what we do here: https://cloudbackend.appdrag.com/ But it's look like your auto generated API…
appdrag on HN
Lock-in risk if the user needs to migrate off the platform
From 2 comments
One question I have with a project like this is: suppose I used it, and got traction. What is the story if I then realize that I need to migrate to a more traditional architecture?
hyperpape on HNI think that's the ideal story: the system generates an intermediate representation that can be interpreted or compiled to a programming language. There are bindings to common…
hyperpape on HN
Landing page lacks technical detail and has typos
From 3 comments
Im considering signing up and trying out your service. What is holding me back are all questions I was hoping to have answered on your website. The main questions I have are…
brett40324 on HNAlso, slow down if youre shipping typos on your landing page: revolutonizes
brett40324 on HNWhy only backend? You are competing with other solutions out there that have a frontend available directly from db schema. Some examples:…
lucaslee on HN
Patent troll risk around frontend-from-database generation
From 1 comment
There is a patent troll who owns creating a frontend from a database. He's successfully sued Microsoft and Oracle and put a code generation product out if business. So I'd tread…
codenesium on HN
Requests
Custom endpoints and business logic beyond CRUD
From 2 comments
Hey Chris, Congratulation for launching your beta! This seems quite similar to what we do here: https://cloudbackend.appdrag.com/ But it's look like your auto generated API…
appdrag on HNEventually I'll be adding the ability to add your own endpoints to the auto generate ones, which would initially give you the ability to implement various additional functions,…
chris140957 on HN
Examples and clearer documentation on the website
From 2 comments
Some examples on the website would be helpful to understand the experience. How do I interact with the tool, what does the output look like, how do I use the back end?
verdverm on HNIm considering signing up and trying out your service. What is holding me back are all questions I was hoping to have answered on your website. The main questions I have are…
brett40324 on HN
Roles in addition to groups
From 1 comment
add roles in addition to groups. these are different logical segmentations that are nearly always conflated together in most "quick crud" systems, and never map to reality on…
mgkimsal on HN
Email verification at sign-up
From 1 comment
There's no email verification, I have been able to register using plop@plop.com. Feel free to delete this account.
jspdown on HN
Export to code
From 1 comment
I think that's the ideal story: the system generates an intermediate representation that can be interpreted or compiled to a programming language. There are bindings to common…
hyperpape on HN
Questions
Can the schema be changed after creation?
From 1 comment
I like the look of this. A couple of questions I can't see answers to on the landing page... - Is it possible to change the schema after creation? Or is this a "get it right…
ericathegreat on HN
How does it scale and what performance is expected?
From 1 comment
Im considering signing up and trying out your service. What is holding me back are all questions I was hoping to have answered on your website. The main questions I have are…
brett40324 on HN
What happens if a user needs to migrate to a traditional architecture?
From 1 comment
One question I have with a project like this is: suppose I used it, and got traction. What is the story if I then realize that I need to migrate to a more traditional architecture?
hyperpape on HN
Alternatives named
PostgREST
From 1 comment
Postgrest[1] is similar, and seems very popular, so this sort of thing is scratching somebody's itch. [1] https://github.com/PostgREST/postgrest
tyingq on HN
Firebase
From 2 comments
Hay Chris, Looking like a great project, simple and fun. Keep in mind that other similar projects tried the same approach before, namely firebase and parse.com. both for only so…
yoava on HN>The idea is that it allows you to define your database models by specifying what fields to include and BackendLab automatically creates a CRUD API I don't see the advantage over…
tinyvm on HN
Salesforce
From 1 comment
Why only backend? You are competing with other solutions out there that have a frontend available directly from db schema. Some examples:…
lucaslee on HN
rails_admin
From 1 comment
Why only backend? You are competing with other solutions out there that have a frontend available directly from db schema. Some examples:…
lucaslee on HN
AppDrag
From 1 comment
Hey Chris, Congratulation for launching your beta! This seems quite similar to what we do here: https://cloudbackend.appdrag.com/ But it's look like your auto generated API…
appdrag on HN
Knack
From 1 comment
Looks like a very interesting alternative to Knack (https://knack.com), but without the frontend building aspect.
hmnd0 on HN
Clappia
From 1 comment
We have a similar concept but with frontend and permission as well. The backend is automatically created based on what is defined in the frontend. Makes it more of a business…
clappia on HN