HTML
The main tool in this area – the language of hypertext markup HTML. It is mainly used to mark up a document, that is, a page in the browser. With its help, the developer creates structure, adds headings, lists and performs other formatting of content.
Using HTML
CSS
If a developer learns HTML, he must also learn CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). This language is responsible for the appearance of the page. With its help, you work with colors, fonts and placement of various blocks. In simple terms, CSS is used to make pages look nice and to set up the layout after the basic structure has been written with HTML.
Using CSS
JavaScript
With JavaScript implemented the implementation of various actions on the page, ie, added animation and response to user requests. For example, the page reacts to cursor movements and mouse clicks, changing the behavior of elements in accordance with the actions of the user. JS makes it possible to send and receive data from the server without having to reload the page, which means that some tasks are implemented more easily, for example, when it comes to sending and receiving messages.
Using JavaScript in frontend development
Frontend is the area in which the developer creates the interface elements visible to the user and all the functions for interacting with websites and applications. All of this is closely connected with the backend, which we will talk about next.
Backend Development
It is believed that the backend-development is more complicated than the frontend, because the programmer has to do without the visible elements of the interface, because he works on the logic of the site. The user does not see this area, because all the action takes place outside of his browser or even computer. As soon as a request comes in (for example, when you pressed Enter on a search engine query), the signal is immediately sent to the server, where it is processed to further display the information on the screen. This is the logic of the site, which consists of three simple steps:
sending the information from the user,
its processing on the server,
receiving information and formatting the code in a readable form.
The programming languages used in the backend
If in the case of the frontend there is no variability, as developers always use the described programming languages to achieve the desired result, so with the backend, everything is a little different. The choice of language and tools depends on the server. Often there are no restrictions, and the developer chooses almost any universal language. These include:
Java;
PHP;
Python;
Ruby and others.
Choosing the right programming language for backend development
In most cases, the backend developer will need knowledge of database management, of which there are also many. Most popular is MySQL, but there are also PostgreSQL, SQLite, MongoDB. From the chosen database management system changes and responsibilities of the developer, because the actions are carried out in different ways.
The above description gives an answer to the question “what is backend”.
Frontend and backend interaction options
To conclude, let’s look at a few examples of how these two areas of development interact. We’ve already talked about the principles of work above, so it only remains to understand the relationship between these areas. Let’s divide the working principles into four popular variants:
The first type involves sending an HTTP request to a server, where it is searched, embedded in a template and returned to the user in readable HTML page form.
There is also a toolkit called AJAX. In this case, the request is sent using JavaScript, which is connected in the web browser. The response is returned in XML or JSON, and JS does an excellent job of reading these formats.
There are one-page sites that load data without first refreshing the page. This is done using AJAX or the Angular and Ember frameworks.
Ember or React libraries are designed to use the application simultaneously on the server and on the client side. The two areas in question are linked via AJAX and HTML code with processing on the server.
To summarize, we would like to note that the requirements for specialists in the backend and frontend are different, usually each deals with its own business, but there are also fullstack developers, simultaneously programming both the logic of the site/application, and its appearance. You’ll need to familiarize yourself with the above schemes and programming languages to see which is closer to you.