Babel Shelf

Project Overview

Babel Shelf is a polyglot experiment: the same CRUD bookshelf application, built in every language. Each implementation shares the same Postgres database and exposes an identical REST API on port 8080. The goal is to compare languages, frameworks, and idioms by holding the problem constant and varying only the tool.

Architecture

babel-shelf/
├── db/                  # Shared Postgres schema
│   └── init.sql
├── go-bookshelf/        # Go implementation
├── docker-compose.yml   # Orchestrates app + Postgres
└── README.md

API

Method	Endpoint	Description	Status
POST	/books	Create a book	201
GET	/books	List all books	200
GET	/books/{id}	Get one book	200
PUT	/books/{id}	Update a book	200
DELETE	/books/{id}	Delete a book	204

Key Features

Polyglot Comparison

• Same problem, different languages
• Identical API contract across all implementations
• Shared database schema for fair comparison
• Dockerized for consistent environments

Clean Architecture

• Each language follows its own idiomatic patterns
• Separation between HTTP handling and data access
• Proper error handling and status codes

Technical Implementation

Technologies Used

• Go: First implementation with net/http and pgx
• PostgreSQL: Shared relational database
• Docker Compose: Orchestration of app + database
• Dev Containers: Consistent development environments

Learning Outcomes

• How different languages approach the same problem
• Framework conventions and trade-offs
• Database driver patterns across ecosystems
• Dockerizing applications for consistency