I’ll lead you to the simplest and most effective path to becoming a Web Developer who can solve any programming task.
Couldn’t be happier that you’re interested in web development. First, let’s differentiate between web developer and a web designer.
A web designer is a person in charge of the visual aspect and layout of the website.
On the other hand, the web developer takes that design and vision from a static design to a fully functioning website that is live and accessible to the world.
What type of developer you want to become. Do you want to learn more front-end or back-end?
What is Front-End development?
Front end development is mostly focused on what some may coin the client side of development. Front end developers will be engaged in analyzing code, design, and debugging applications along with ensuring a seamless user experience.
A front-end developer is responsible for the look, feel and ultimately the design of the site.
Front End Technologies
Front end technologies include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You’ll also learn tons about responsive design along with typography, layouts, grid system, and single page applications etc.
HTML & CSS
Start with learning HTML & CSS first. HTML is a markup language, not a programming language that helps layout the structure of a website.
CSS is a next skill you should learn. CSS stands for cascading style sheets. It’s much of design rules that help beautify a web page.
It’s used to customize the look and feel of the HTML elements on your page.
HTML and CSS are the building blocks of all web development.
Here’s a good starting point to learn HTML & CSS if you are a complete beginner.
Javascript
Next thing you should learn is a programming language. I recommend Javascript, here’s why.
Javascript has become so popular among the software industry. Currently, it’s used by 99 percent of sites on the web.
JavaScript is the most widely used programming language in the world. According to GitHub, Javascript has over 1.2 million repositories, and there are over 1.3 million questions asked on Stack Overflow compared to all other languages. The difference is stellar.
jQuery
jQuery is a must know Javascript library for every Javascript programmer and web designer. jQuery makes you a better web designer & front-end developer.
jQuery is a JavaScript library that is tremendously helpful to use when doing website design. A JavaScript library is a collection of several pre-coded features that a web designer would commonly use.
React.js / Angular.js
Next, you can either learn Angularjs or Reactjs. Angularjs and Reactjs are Javascript frameworks that put structure around building a modern web application.
They will help you building an entire application. In fact iLoveCoding is built on Angularjs the entire front-end is Angularjs based.
AJAX
AJAX uses Javascript to reload certain portions of web pages without reloading the entire page.
Ajax stands for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML. Ajax is not a technology but a technique which is used in web programming to transfer information over the internet. AJAX websites and web apps are easier to navigate than traditional ones.
Sites and applications using AJAX technique: Gmail, Facebook, YouTube, Google and Google Maps etc.
Job Titles for Front-End Developers
- Web Designer
- Front End Web Developer or Front End Engineer
- HTML Developer
- Front-End JavaScript Developer
- UI/UX designers
- Front-End Accessibility Expert
What is Back-End Development?
Back-end Development refers to the server side of development where you are primarily focused on the functionality of the website. Making updates and changes in addition to monitoring functionality of the site will be your primary responsibility.
This type of web development particularly consists of three parts: a server, an application, and a database. Code written by back-end developers is what communicates the database information to the web browser.
Back-End Technologies
Now, you can learn typical back-end technologies like PHP, Java, C#, Python, Ruby etc and enter the different worlds they’re out there. But, I have a better recommendation.
Javascript
JavaScript can now also be used as a server-side language through the Node.js framework, and since Node.js is fairly new, the community is gaining a lot of momentum.
Node JS
Node.js is an open-source, cross-platform run-time environment for developing server-side Web applications.
You already know Javascript. You just now need to learn node.js which is a technology that enables Javascript to become a back-end programming language.
The language is the same, you still know Javascript that’s the same baseline, node.js just extends Javascript’s capability to the back-end as well.
But with the help of Node JS, you can run JavaScript on the machine. This means that now JavaScript can run on the browser as well as on the machine. JavaScript can now replace and compete with other programming languages such as Ruby, Python, Java, PHP etc.
This drastically speeds up your learning curve and immediately makes you a back-end developer, but not so fast.
Express JS
You must learn a little bit more about how a back-end works and built back-end APIs. And this is simply accomplished by learning Express.js
Express.js is a Javascript library, that helps you build APIs, web APIs with Javascript. Once you know this, you’re a back-end developer!
Mongo DB
MongoDB is an open source database that uses a document-oriented data model. It allows you to store and retrieve information.
If you know both Front-End and Back-End, you are considered as a Full-Stack Developer.
Make a Choice
Out of “Front End”, “Back End” or “Full Stack” Developer.
Which type do you prefer?
User Interaction? Become a front end developer!
Data Interaction? Become a back-end developer!
Knowing both Front-End + Back-End makes you a full stack developer!
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It’s tremendously difficult to get a job without any experience. So start building personal projects, it’s useful to have a way to manage and publish your code. For that, create an account on GitHub.
GitHub is an online source code repository built on the Git platform. It enables you to store, manage, and publish your code. If you are a developer today, you must have a GitHub account.
It’s an endless learning process when it comes to web development, and you will always be learning new technologies. As you learn new technologies, put knowledge into practice and build something practical.
iLoveCoding.org teaches beginners how to become a Full Stack Developer. A person who knows both Front-End and Back-End. Learn how to create practical applications, how to create a snake game, calculator app, to-do app, photo slider app and much more.
I hope you enjoyed reading this. Cheers x
