# Week 1

For almost any web application, it is essential to have a backend. The backend is a place where we, the developers, can store our data, communicate with users and let the users communicate with us, do smart things like calculations, data processing etc.

There are many languages for this. We might've heard of Java, C, C++, Go, Python, Ruby, PHP and the list goes on. There are two reasons why we at HYF choose Node.JS over others:

1. You already know JavaScript, so it's easier to get started than other languages
2. Node.js is great for making web APIs because it is asynchronous by nature and thus allows for high input/output. By this we mean that it allows many users to make very light requests at the same time.

## Learning goals

See [this module's learning goals](/course-content/foundation/intro-to-backend.md#learning-goals).


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