AHM

When I was learning software development, I kept coming across the word nginx. I had no idea what it was or why it kept showing up. Eventually I sat down, figured it out, and it was one of those moments where something just clicked. Here is what I wish someone had told me earlier.

Before anything else, a lot of people get the pronunciation wrong. It is read as "engine-x". The name comes from the way it was written, nginx, and the x at the end is literally the letter x. So next time you see it, you know exactly how to say it.

So what is nginx?

nginx is software that runs on a server and manages all the traffic coming in and out of a web app. Every time someone opens your app, logs in, clicks a button or loads a page, that action travels through nginx before anything else happens. It decides where that request goes, how fast it gets handled, and what comes back.

One of the most important things nginx does is act as a reverse proxy. To understand what that means, you first need to understand a forward proxy, because they are two different things that people mix up all the time.

A forward proxy sits on your side of the connection. It acts on your behalf. A good example is a VPN. When you use a VPN, your requests go to the VPN server first, and the VPN server visits the website for you. The website only sees the VPN's IP address, not yours. You are hidden from the internet. That is a forward proxy. It protects the user.

A reverse proxy is the other way around. It sits on the server's side and protects the app, not the user. When you open a web app, your request does not go straight to the application. It hits nginx first. nginx receives your request, figures out which server or service should handle it, passes it along, gets the response, and sends it back to you. The whole thing happens in milliseconds. You never knew the actual application was even there.

A simple way to see the difference:

Forward proxy: You are at work and your company blocks social media. You use a VPN to get around it. The website you visit sees the VPN, not you. You are hidden.

Reverse proxy: You open a banking app. Your request hits nginx first, not the app itself. nginx decides which backend server handles your request, processes it, and returns the result. The internal system is hidden from you.

One hides the user. The other hides the server.

In nginx, setting up a reverse proxy is straightforward. You tell nginx which domain to listen on and which internal server to forward the request to. From that point on, all traffic goes through nginx and your actual application never has to deal with the outside world directly.

Why does any of this matter?

Without something like nginx in front of your app, the application is exposed directly to the internet. Anyone can flood it with thousands of requests and take it down in minutes. nginx absorbs that, filters out anything suspicious, and only lets through what is legitimate.

Speed is another reason. Your app should not be wasting time serving images, fonts or CSS files to every user. nginx handles all of that on its own so your app can stay focused on its actual job.

And when a lot of people start using your app at the same time, nginx spreads that traffic across multiple servers automatically. No single machine gets overwhelmed. Everything keeps running and the user never knows anything happened.

That is why it is one of the first things you run into when you go deeper into software development. It solves real problems that come up in every serious app.

1 in 3 web apps on the internet use nginx. Once you know what it is, you start seeing it everywhere.

If you are just starting out and passionate about software development, I hope this taught you something new today. Everyone begins somewhere and the fact that you are curious enough to read this far already puts you ahead.

The feature is rolling out starting in the United States, with Google not yet confirming when it will become available in other regions. For now, users outside the US may not see the option in their account settings.

Link to the full story is in the comments section.

Not official.
Just checking out some ideas but I'm not even a graphic designer 🤣.
Btw, which one would you choose?

I've been working on something exciting since 2025. It's a taxi app called "ZAXI", built right here for Bougainville 🚖

The idea is simple. Make transport in Arawa and Buka more reliable, convenient, and easier to access. Whether it's getting a ride quickly or helping local drivers connect with passengers, I believe this could really make a difference.

Right now, the project is on hold, but I wanted to share this and hear from you all.

Would you use a taxi app like this in Arawa and Buka?
What features would you expect or want to see?

I'm also open to connecting with individuals, businesses, or organisations who see potential in building local tech solutions like this. If you're interested in being part of the journey in any way, feel free to reach out.

WhatsApp: 78877684
Email: [email protected]

Your feedback means a lot 🙌
Let's build something useful for Bougainville.

Will Ai replace Human Developers?

Lately, I've been seeing many posts claiming that AI will replace programmers. As someone who actually builds software, I don't think that will happen anytime soon.

Yes, AI tools can generate code from prompts. I've tried many of them myself. For simple frontend projects with nice colors, layouts, and themes, they can do a decent job. But once you move into real backend logic, system architecture, debugging, and handling complex rules, things quickly become much harder. That is where human thinking still matters the most.

Programming is more than just writing syntax. It is about understanding a problem, breaking it down into manageable parts, designing a solution, and making logical decisions step by step. AI can generate code, but it does not truly think. That type of reasoning, creativity, and problem solving still comes from human developers.

Another point many people forget is that using AI effectively still requires programming knowledge. You need to understand programming languages, syntax, frameworks, and how systems work. AI cannot magically transform someone with zero programming experience into a developer. Using a calculator does not make you a mathematician, and in the same way, using AI to generate code does not automatically make someone a programmer.

Real world examples show the limits of AI. The fintech company Klarna replaced hundreds of customer service employees with AI, but later started hiring humans again after the system failed to meet quality expectations and customers preferred interacting with real people. AI is powerful, but it still has limitations.

In my view, AI will not replace programmers. Instead, it will make good programmers faster and more productive. Tasks that might normally take months could potentially be completed in weeks with the help of AI. However, the thinking, the problem solving, and the responsibility still belong to the developer.

So the real question is not whether AI will replace developers.

The real question is whether developers who learn to use AI will outperform those who do not.

The MERN stack shines when you want fast development, flexible data structures and a smooth workflow using JavaScript from the front end to the back end. It is perfect for modern apps that deal with unstructured data, real time features, activity feeds and systems that need to scale quickly.

There are situations where a SQL database like PostgreSQL or MySQL is the better choice. SQL is important when your application depends on strict structure, complex relationships, accurate transactions and reliable data integrity. Systems like finance, accounting, school management, HR and inventory management work much better with SQL because the data must remain consistent and correctly linked at all times.

Both approaches are powerful. MERN gives flexibility and speed while SQL databases provide structure and reliability where precision is critical

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