If you don't mind server-side JavaScript, I've fallen head over heels for SailsJS[0]. It's a Node framework built on top of Express that has MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite integration. The hook is that it automatically generates a REST API for all of your models. So you "sails new project", "cd project", "sails generate model thing", edit models/thing and add the attributes, and you're done. Backbone routes are created automagically. (You can also define more complex API functionality in the controller as usual, and it also has built-in socket.io support.)
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If you don't mind server-side JavaScript, I've fallen head over heels for SailsJS[0]. It's a Node framework built on top of Express that has MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite integration. The hook is that it automatically generates a REST API for all of your models. So you "sails new project", "cd project", "sails generate model thing", edit models/thing and add the attributes, and you're done. Backbone routes are created automagically. (You can also define more complex API functionality in the controller as usual, and it also has built-in socket.io support.)
[0] http://sailsjs.org