Front end Vs. back-end development

What is Frontend development? Front end web development is something that the end user can view, feel and experience! Though it’s an intangible thing still the user can well feel it through his eyes and mind. Whatever a user sees on the browser is none other than the front end part. The design, the interaction, the attraction and the visual effects are the parts of Front end development. In tech world, we can say front end is the combination of HTML and CSS being tightly coupled with JavaScript for generating enterprise standard user interface for any web solution. In fact, today’s industry is highly influenced by the look and feel of any application besides the core functionalities. Hence industry is inclining more towards Front end development considering its future potential.

What is backend development? If front end is our skin or complexion or beauty then Back end is our Heart and Mind!! Though it is absolutely hidden from the rest of the world but, we can never express our feelings without our mind and heart. The back end part keeps the secret of the application i.e. the core logic. Whatever the user sees on the browser is the result of the instruction from the back end part. All types of interactions that make the user feel delight is in fact controlled by the back end codes. Though, JavaScript plays an important role in rendering user focused data on the browser; but, at the end of day it’s the backend that enables the hidden data to come in front of the user. The whole database and the core logic are well written in the back end section with lots of codes in a programming language like JSP, ASP, PHP or Python etc.

Components that make a lot different: If the two major ends of a web application have different contribution; then obviously their components must be different enough from each other. Let’s see what the major components of front end development are!

1. HTML & CSS: As we discussed above HTML and CSS are the most important part of front end development. It’s like the skin of the web application. HTML is the content that we see on the browser while CSS is the style or look and feel that is being imposed to the HTML contents. In other words, HTML contents are designed with the help of CSS for better look and feel of the application. HTML is written in the form of tags whereas CSS gives styles to the contents inside the tags. They are well coupled with each other in creating a splendid web application.

2. JavaScript is a must: Though the look and feel is crafted by HTML or CSS but what about the user interaction? JavaScript is there for the purpose. JavaScript enables the web solution to work in parallel with the HTML and CSS contents in a magical manner. The user is given more power to customize the web page through different triggers i.e. events. Events are like a triggering function that enables any web page to behave in a systematic manner as per the demand of the user. The user on the other hand, feels more privileged with those powers given by the JavaScript events.

3. Frontend web frameworks: Frameworks are nothing but powerful tools to make the life of any web developer easy. For front end design, there are lots of tremendous frameworks available in the industry with which the developer can design highly scalable yet efficient enough web applications without more effort and time. Mostly, frameworks are developed in JavaScript or CSS; because they play the important role in crafting interactive and attractive web applications. JS tools like Google’s AngularJS, KnockOutJS, BackboneJS and NodeJS etc are in high demand in the industry due to their unmatched quality and reliability in different scenarios.

Back end components in web application development: Just like Front End development, Backend is also supported by many components that enable the application to run smoothly behind the screen. It is essential to know those components from the developer’s point of view especially when we are considering Web application development process.

1. Programming Skill: This is the most important part of back end programming; just like HTML and CSS here the Programming language plays an important role in back end application development. There are many back end programming languages in the industry like C#, Java, PHP or Python etc. These programming languages are use in creating the logic section of the application i.e. how the application will behave under different circumstances. It deals with different types of data type, methods, classes and many object oriented approach to make the web application a successful one.

2. Logical analysis: Without proper logic or analysis a web application is like a scrap!! If all the functionalities of the application are not well defined by the back end programmer then the application will never be a reliable one. For the same, back end web developers analyses a lot before starting coding. They take the requirements from the client and analyses what should be the functionalities of different modules followed by how the code should be written for better performance. Why better performance? Functionalities can be written in different manner and it varies from developer to developer; but the code that is highly stable and optimized is given priority; because this affects the overall user experience of the application. An un-optimized code will load slowly and it will even stretch the loading time under bandwidth constraints like mobile networks; resulting with a bad user experience.

3. Server communication: This is yet another important component of back end application development. The data is stored in the database and being retrieved by the user as per requirement but by an intermediate stage i.e. the server communication. Usually in data driven web solutions, servers like Apache Tomcat is used for efficient server side communication., They implements threading concept into the application but with time, it is now performed by JavaScript (nodeJS); but will discuss it in a different chapter.

At the End of day, it’s all about user Experience (UX): For the success of any web application, the user experience remains at the top priority. Because if the user rejects an application then, no one can save it!! Isn’t it?

Mindfire Solutions has been developing practical, user-friendly software solutions for its clients ever since it started operations 16 years back. If you need any form of assistance be it in the form of an interactive front end or you need help in building a robust back end or both, just let us know at sales at MindfireSolutions dot com and we will be getting in touch with you in one business day.