Front-end web development or ‘client-side’
It is the use of data and converting it to graphical interfaces that the users can see and interact with on a website. Text colors and styles, graphs and tables, images, navigation menu, and buttons, are some of the things that are included in client-side development.
Naturally, the overall design, structure, content, and behavior of the website are done by front-end developers. These developers have two main goals in mind: performance and responsiveness and in order for them to ensure that this is being upheld, they use different languages.
Common front-end languages
HTML or Hypertext markup language is used to design a website using a combination of hypertext and markup language, it also links the different web pages together. Web browsers receive HTML documents from web or local servers and generate multimedia pages.
HTML 5 was the fifth and last major version of HTML that is a World Wide Web Consortium recommendation
CSS or Cascading style sheet is a designed language that simplifies the process of making web pages more presentable. It allows you to apply different styles and enables you to do this independent of the HTML that makes up each page.
CSS is a cornerstone technology of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and JavaScript.
JavaScript is a scripting language that is mostly responsible for making the website more interactive and enhances its functionality. It’s also used in running different applications or games and other web-based software.
JavaScript has curly-bracket syntax, dynamic typing, prototype-based object-orientation, and first-class functions
There are many more frameworks and libraries that are being used in front-end development but let’s save those for a later time.
Back-end web development
If the front-end deals with the user-facing aspect of a website, the back-end, as you’ve guessed it, deals with the server side of things. It deals with storing and arranging of data and makes sure that the client-side works perfectly. It is the part of a website that users cannot see or directly interact with.
There are more than a handful of languages used in back-end development, each with its different sets of uses and functions.
Common back-end development languages
PHP is a language designed specifically for web development. Many different companies use PHP for their server-side development, most notably Facebook. It is also robust in that it can work seamlessly cross-platform across UNIX, Mac, and Windows.
PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited to web development.
Python arguably is the fastest-growing programming language. Its simple commands or syntax, coupled with overflowing online tutorials and guides make it easier, even for programming beginners, to pick-up and learn. Its codes are often described as ‘beautiful’ and ‘elegant’. Companies like Uber, Spotify, and Netflix use this.
Python is an interpreted, high-level, general-purpose programming language. Its design philosophy emphasizes code readability with its notable use of significant whitespace.
SQL or Structured Query Language is the most widely used query language, it directly interacts with servers and databases. Like Python, it is also great for beginners in that it is a declarative language. It allows programmers to ‘declare’ the results they would like to see without necessarily specifying the steps or process of the said result.
SQL is used to communicate with a database. According to ANSI (American National Standards Institute), it is the standard language for relational database management systems.
Whatever web development end you decide work on, we know that this shortlist of languages can help you narrow your choices a little bit more.
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