Planning a Full Stack App

Before writing code, plan your app. The best developers design first, code second.

The stack

• Frontend — HTML, CSS, JavaScript (what users see)
• Backend — PHP or Node.js (business logic, auth, data)
• Database — MySQL (stores data permanently)

Step 1: Define the features

We'll build a Task Manager:

• User registration & login
• Create, edit, complete, delete tasks
• Tasks belong to logged-in users

Step 2: Plan the database

users:  id, username, email, password_hash, created_at
tasks:  id, user_id, title, description, status ENUM(pending,done), created_at

Step 3: Plan the API endpoints

POST   /api/register  → create account
POST   /api/login     → get session/token
GET    /api/tasks     → list my tasks
POST   /api/tasks     → create task
PUT    /api/tasks/:id → update/complete task
DELETE /api/tasks/:id → delete task