➡️Web development
an introduction to digital creation
Web development comes in two main flavours:
The front-end (presentation-oriented programming, i.e. the display)
The back-end (data and logic-oriented programming, i.e. the data)
We will see later on this page that:
the line between the front-end and the back-end often blurs
computer science theory plays a large role in web development in surprising ways
The front-end
To present data, we connect the following "3 S's":
Structuring (i.e. HTML)
to enforce the sensibility (order) of visual components
to ensure that everyone has access to a web resource
Styling (i.e. CSS)
to enhance the visual look-and-feel
Scripting (i.e. JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, etc.)
to manage user input and data changes
to connect the front-end with the back-end
Sometimes, front-end developers may have to take part in:
Imaging (e.g. Photoshop or free Photopea)
to adjust (resize, crop, etc.) visual assets provided by a client
to take the load off the design team who might work with more complex imaging and graphics projects
The back-end
The back-end usually involves:
Scripting (e.g. also JavaScript, with some PHP, Ruby, Perl and older programming languages)
to process the results from database querying
Database querying (e.g. GraphQL, MongoDB, MySQL)
to get/set data from a database
Security
Authorization - allowing a user into a system
Authentication - checking if the user is genuine
All developers
Each developer may also have to take part in:
Versioning or version control (e.g. Git or Mercurial)
to not only submit content "to the cloud" but also to ensure backups if something goes wrong
to allow for collaboration by multiple developers within the same project(s)
Deployment (e.g. FTP, Jenkins, Netlify, etc.)
to get that web project onto the Internet!
usually nowadays handled by a specialized team called development operations (or dev ops)
Documenting (e.g. GitBook!)
to communicate cases and learnings for obvious reasons
Organizing (e.g. SCRUM)
to ensure that all the programming, layout, look-and-feel, content, images (and any other assets) all come together, so that the development experience goes as smoothly as possible
to send completed projects for quality assurance and correct defects
to determine a release's suitability to go "into production" (i.e. on the internet)
Optimizing
for more universal accessibility, better usability, improved speed
for enhancing the experience of the "finished" product
note: no product ever really gets "finished"
As one can gather, a lot of web development involves tasks other than simply programming!
To begin with web development, let's have a look at our workspace!
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