[zappo2938]

Off topic... I tried Google search for 'backend workers' and not much information came up. What are backend workers? Where are they hosted and how do they integrate with APIs or triggered periodically? Or, do they just listen for events?

[alangpierce]

"Backend worker" is a pretty generic term, and I think in this context it just means any server that isn't a web server or API server. Examples:

* A "users" microservice in a microservice architecture might load relevant information and permissions about the current user. A web or API server that's directly handling a user request would call that microservice for more information.

* In response to some user action, a task is sent to a task queue to do follow-up processing, e.g. reindexing any changed data. The task queue system sends the task to some worker process that specifically is there to handle tasks.

* A daily cron job on a dedicated machine sends an email to everyone who signed up between three and four days ago.

[zappo2938]

It seems that people are using different phrases and words for the similar things, i.e. message broker, message queue, message pipline, message bus, microsevice, service, backend worker, task queue.