Front End or Back End Software Development?

With the application of software development in virtually every sphere of human endeavour, it is apparent that its approach will continue to evolve. In spite of its remarkable success there is still need for constant improvement to enable wider application — which is the reason why there is specialization in the field for effective service delivery. Generally, software development is categorized into Front End and Back End.

Front End specifically refers to that aspect of programming that deals with visibility, user interaction, and user experience. And is subdivided into two parts namely: “Web design” and “Web development”.

Web design involves the use of applications like photoshop, fireworks and other frameworks while web development employs coding in HyperText Markup Language (HTML), Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) and JavaScript to provide structure and interaction for software products.

Ultimately, front end development engages browsers for their input.

Back End development on the other hand deals with server, application and database. It requires mastery of languages such as PHP, Python, Java, etc to store and manipulate data. The Back end provides the architectural structure for the software through portable, clean and well documented codes.

Software development is interwoven and it is increasingly becoming difficult to view each category as a separate entity. However, it is desirable that a software developer attains a “Full-Stack” status — being skillful on both ends so as to enhance competitiveness and relevance.

Contributor: abidemi oyeleke