Hacker News Reader

Comment by trumbitta2 | Hacker News Reader

And nowhere in there I was able to find what's Parse and what does the open-source Parse Server do.

Parse was an API as a service. The idea being that you don't need your own servers and parse would provide API, database, push messaging and so on.

That said, I never used it, I saw it appear, had a look, decided what it offered was too rudimentary to be scalable, and moved on.

That said, as an open source offering, it's quite interesting.

This post answers the basic question, what is parse:

http://blog.parse.com/announcements/what-is-parse-server/

> Parse was an API as a service. The idea being that you don't need your own servers and parse would provide API, database, push messaging and so on.

I'm still unclear. It's some sort of hosted database+services?

I'm also confused. "API as a service" sounds to me like "service as a service"... ok, it's a service, but what does it do?

I would call Parse a "Backend as a Service"[0], akin to Firebase[1]. "API as a Service" is more like Apiary (bought by Oracle) or Apigee (bought by Google).

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backend_as_a_service

[1] https://firebase.google.com/docs/

The first iOS app I built used parse for the entire backend. We basically used it as a database in the cloud accessible by multiple clients (it can accommodate fancier uses as well). We didn't really run any custom code on the server side, Parse basically provided access to a shared db across our client instances. It allowed us to build a simple location sharing app in a few hours.

> I'm also confused. "API as a service" sounds to me like "service as a service"... ok, it's a service, but what does it do?

perhaps this http://rawrmaan.com/why-parse-failed/ might be a better explanation ?

This seems like the best documentation http://parseplatform.github.io/docs/rest/guide/

From my reading it seems like a generic rest service. I suppose like COTS for rest services.

From my understanding, it provided services that you would have to create from scratch in your own infrastructure that would be a significant undertaking. For instance, push notification in iOS is a bit of a nuisance if your app really doesn't rely on a complex server back end, but you would like to still add push notifications. Parse did this portion for you, so you could focus on the product. I could be wrong though, I looked at it a year ago, and my memory isn't what it used to be.

It was basically a CRUD API as a service; simple object storage and retrieval via HTTP, with goodies like validation and nested routes (joins) and such built in.

And if I download the open source code, and run it on my own server, is it a service as a service as whatever-the-opposite-of-a-service is? I'm confused...

You're thinking too small. Support it multi-tenant on a fleet of servers and sell it to customers, now you've got a service-as-a-service-as-a-platform.

No, Parse was a Backend as a Service (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backend_as_a_service), like Firebase, Kinvey, Telerik Backend Services or Backendless.

Huh. Yeah, I dove around a bit, browsed the wiki, etc, and so far all I've seen is the equivalent of "an open source version of the Parse backend". No description anywhere that I can see about what it does or why you should care (unless you're already on Parse, of course).

IIRC the Parse homepage used to have this, but ever since the shutdown notice (so, for the past year) the homepage has largely been useless.

So many posts on HN are like this, assuming that every obscure webservice is common knowledge. "Jabberwocky has reached version 1.1! Performance increased by 30%, users must migrate from 1.0 by the 12th. Use Jabberwocky in your business now! New users get a free trial!" OK that's nice but what tf is it and why should I care?

Yesterday I built a 100M user social network using Jabberwocky. It took me just 25 minutes, bro, and now I've retired to my own private Caribbean island.

So it's you on my Caribbean lawn! Now get off it.

nowhere in there I was able to find what's Parse

This is a major failing of a lot of open-source projects and a lot of real companies as well. Fortunately Wikipedia often provides some background. It's my go-to place whenever I'm confronted with some un-navigable home page filled with hipster jargon about how a company wants to "empower" me with "cloud" "solutions".

Here's a brief history of Parse: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parse_(company)

I'd assume the main goal of the open-source Parse Server is to provide some support for previous users of Parse? Who would already know what Parse does.

Attracting new users unfamiliar with the technology seems at best secondary ( and possibly, unwelcome) to the Parse Server community now.

Parse.com was a BaaS(backend as a Service) acquired by Facebook in 2013. Using the platform was possible to build and host most of all your app backend(database, legacy code, integrations, Push notifications, send emails, social login, ...) and to integrate with your app front-end using the SDKs or even using a REST API. Parse Server is the open source version of Parse.com launched after the Parse shutdown announcement.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com