I'm not sure what you mean by "a new mental paradigm", the web is a complex system you cannot expect it to be completely reducible to a few simple constructs. Y

I'm not sure what you mean by "a new mental paradigm", the web is a complex system you cannot expect it to be completely reducible to a few simple constructs. You generalize the word backend programming as if it's just one thing. There are hundreds of ways to program a backend system, you can choose from .NET to C/C++ and rarely they are hack-free as you suggest that's not even to mention the platforms they run on like for example BSD, Unix is a series of hacks on top of others, there are often 1000s of different ways to do the same thing. I simply don't buy your point that "backend" environments are somehow more elegant to work in and easier to reason about than the web. You still have to decide which backend platform you choose and each has its own series of convoluted hacks associated with it.