What is Front-End and Back-End Development: Key Technologies and Concepts
By: Hansana De Silva
Tags: Web Development, Framework, JavaScript, Front End Development, Back End Development

Front-End Development

The website’s Front-End is everything you see and can interact with using a browser. So, creating this visual part is called front-end development. You could even say that designers creating user interfaces and planning experiences are also front-end developers, as they are working in collaboration on the same part of the project.

To render the front end, engineers use HTML (for basic page and content structure), CSS (for visual editing), and JavaScript combinations (for making websites interactive). The same techniques are used to develop progressive web apps — mobile apps which are native but are produced using technology on the front end.

Back-End Development

The Back-End, on the contrary, is something that is happening, okay. It involves servers that locate the website and the reasoning behind which the functions and processes of this site are controlled. If you want to find this out, we have a thorough overview of the internal functioning of web applications.

The back end is built using a different set of technologies, including Java, PHP, Ruby, C#, and sometimes JavaScript, which we’ll explain in a corresponding section.

The Key Front-End Technologies

HTML

HTML is a programming language designed to build websites that are then explored by everyone on the Internet. This language is called Hipertext Markup Language. The structuring of a web document typically includes HTML. It identifies elements such as headlines or paragraphs and allows photographs, video and other media to be inserted.

How HTML works — →

HTML consists of a set of shortcodes called tags, which a website designer normalizes into a text file. The text will then be saved as an HTML file and accessed through a browser. The browser scans the file and interprets the text in a visible form and, at best, makes the page as designed by the designer.

Hyper Text is the way by which we travel across the web by clicking hyperlinks — specific texts taking you to other pages. Hyper means it’s non-linear, which allows for moving to any other place, as there is no predefined order to do so.

is the way by which we travel across the web by clicking hyperlinks — specific texts taking you to other pages. Hyper means it’s non-linear, which allows for moving to any other place, as there is no predefined order to do so. Markup determines the qualities that HTML tags apply to the text inside them. Tags mark it as a particular type of text.

determines the qualities that HTML tags apply to the text inside them. Tags mark it as a particular type of text. As a Language, it holds code words and syntax like any other language.

For example:

The text between <html> and </html> specifies the web page, while the text between <body> and </body> determines the visible content.

<!DOCTYPE html> on the top is the Document Type Declaration for HTML5. If it’s not included, different browsers will render it in their way.

This is how we gradually move to HTML5.

HTML5

HTML has undergone several changes since its first publication in 1991. In 2014, HTML5 was released. Added features such as support for offline media storage, more detailed contents (e.g. header, footer, browse) and audio and video embedding support.

2. CSS: Styling Your Facades

CSS is a sheet style language (or cascading style sheets). It is used to describe how HTML-elements must be displayed for various screen-sized devices on a web page in style, layout and variations. CSS masters the layout of several various web pages simultaneously.

How it works. CSS interacts with HTML elements, the components of a web page.

To communicate with HTML, CSS uses selectors . A selector is the part of CSS code defining which HTML piece the CSS styling will impact.

. A selector is the part of CSS code defining which HTML piece the CSS styling will impact. A declaration contains properties and values that are employed by the selector.

contains properties and values that are employed by the selector. Properties define font size, color, and margins. Values are the settings for these properties.

If we take an example,

P (for paragraph) is selector, { font-size:24px; color: blue; } is a declaration, font-size: and color: are properties, while 24px; and blue; are values.

CSS is written in plain text over a text editor or word processor on a computer. If you were to examine how the CSS code is implemented to HTML content, there are three ways to do so:

The external style sheets are stored in the form of.. css files. Instead, additional instances of CSS code are attached to any HTML feature that must be changed to determine the appearance of a whole web-site. In order for a sheet of external type to be used, .html files must have a header region attached to the external sheet.

Internal style sheets are CSS directions put straight into the header of a particular html page.

Inline styles are snippets of CSS recorded into HTML code itself.

CSS Frameworks

A default collection of CSS and HTML files is a CSS application. It expands the capabilities of a front end website design developer. CSS frameworking also provides distinct and symmetrical lay-outs, helping to construct a responsive interface, saves developers from writing code at any time from ground zero. Typically, the platforms and the screen sizes are considered a perfect choice. CSS Frameworks considerably speed up development workflow with standard user interface elements, grid structures, templates and many other features. In the CSS universe there are several frameworks:

Full featured (Bootstrap, Foundation, Semantic UI, and more),

Aimed at Material Design: (Materialize and Material Design Lite), and

Lightweight (Pure).

3. DOM: The Web Page Structure

The Document Object Model (DOM) is defined as a programming interface for HTML and XML documents. It interprets the page so that programs can modify the document structure, style, and content. The DOM renders the document as nodes and objects, enabling programming languages to connect to the page.

How it works : — Consider a web page as either a text that is displayed in the browser window or as an HTML source. This document can be updated in the Document Object Model (DOM). The DOM represents the web page object-oriented, but can be modified using a scripting language such as JavaScript.

4. JavaScript: Making the Web alive

One of the most common scripting languages is the JavaScript (JS). The company is best known for offering a complete pile of technologies for growth in both front and back-end. As we speak of the first, it is used to improve the interactive web pages.

How JavaScript works : — -

JS increases the interactivity of the website overall. It allows the modeling of animated user interfaces including image sliders, evolving images, comprehensive website navigation menus, etc. JavaScript offers a website with improved features, which otherwise cannot be done with HTML and CSS only. JavaScript enables web pages to react to user behavior and refresh themselves dynamically. This method does not involve a reload of a page in order to alter its representation thanks to JavaScript.

JavaScript frameworks and libraries and why we need them

Many who join this field of expertise may assume that frames and libraries do the same thing, so that various visual elements may interact. And we’re not too far from the facts, let’s be honest. There are, however, a variety of distinctive characteristics. So, let’s describe what a JS system is, what a JS library is, and how it serves.

Frameworks are website or web application models. They are designed to coordinate the whole project (such as a skeleton or a scaffolding). The layout with particular assigned areas to include a framework code is defined while the framework sets the page templates.

JavaScript frameworks are also full tools to build a website or web application.

Libraries are pre-written snippet collections that are used and reused for JavaScript core functionality. If required, the snippet can easily be inserted into an existing project code.

Libraries are also advanced coding tools, not a user friendly machine to carry out the entire current project.

Main Frameworks

Angular is a Google-powered front-end application compatible with most popular code publishers. In Angular dynamic, single-page web applications (SPAs) and progressive web applications are developed. The framework was most recognized for its ability to transform HTML-based documents to interactive content after its initial release. Angular is one of the best known implementations of front end. Vue.js is an additional platform for open source SPA. It uses a development model focused on components and allows components to be incorporated into a project. Vue.js is a library example which is more of a setup. The application of Vue.js includes an absolute knowledge of HTML and CSS. It allows for the creation of a whole range of models and patterns. For limited document size and HTML-based syntax Vue is often recognized. React is an open-source library for the development of Facebook-born, interactive user interfaces. The framework is used to build multiple dynamic components of web applications. The Facebook PHP language extension depends on JavaScript and JSX. Reaction permits the creation of reusable front end HTML elements. React also provides React Native, a mobile development system for cross-platform applications.

JavaScript for the Back-End

In terms of JavaScript as an end-to-end development environment, its backend implementation must be stated. As JavaScript is so popular, JS is adapted to backend specifications in the software engineering world.

Node.js has currently been one of the most popular tools for web server creation using JavaScript. It’s not a structure or a library, though. Node.js is a Chrome V8 JavaScript-based runtime environment.

Communication Between Front- End and Back-End

The Front-End is not separated from the back end or the server supplying data. Let’s look at the principles for customer server messages.

Asynchronous Operations

One of the main principles that explained how the web worked was AJAX in the 2010s. The word is called JavaScript and XML asynchronous. Basically, the development of websites and web applications is a complex of techniques. Let’s analyze the key AJAX components.

Asynchronous — the basic component of the toolkit. The main task of the approach is the asynchronous renovation of Web material. The consequence is that if a small part of the content needs any alteration, for example, you don’t have to load the entire eCommerce web page again to add a further filter to the search results. The resulting web browser must be reloaded. You just need to update these results.

How to become a developer

Almost every Front End Developer job includes HTML, JavaScript, and CSS based on what you have read so far. For any web development jobs, framework knowledge like JSON and jQuery is also needed. PHP expertise or frameworks with server-side templates may be needed for Senior Front End job descriptions.

Development positions are subtly different from one sector to another. The most popular languages are ruby, python and Php, while the popular tools are SQL and MySQL database administration. Some industries may prefer to have Java experience or the . Net system of Microsoft. Our own student results show info, which language students use in their careers.

An advanced degree is not required for web dev jobs. Most jobs on Glassdoor are looking for practical experience instead of advanced education.

You now know what Back End vs Front End is, if you want to become a developer, you’ll have to learn code. Start building technical know-how and find out what excites you on a technological career. Web growth is only a common starting point for a coding profession and differs from mobile development. By designing Android apps or iOS apps, you can specialize. All depends on your interest

I think now you can understand about Front-End and Back-End Development. Thank you very much for your valuable time.

References : -

https://www.w3schools.com/