Full Stack, Front End, Back End - What are they.?

Introduction:

I’m sure you all would have come across the terms such as full stack web development, front end development, back end development etc., but wondering as to what does all these terms actually mean. Some of you might be a front end developer and some back end and others with both the knowledge. We’re now a days coming across companies putting up an advertisement for developers with “front end knowledge” or “back end knowledge” and sometimes even “full stack developers.” So, now what exactly do they mean? How are they different from each other? What does each of these developers do? We will come across all these in this blog.

Meaning:

As the field of web development is picking up now a days with lots of advancements and new technologies in internet, developers are becoming more specialised. This simply means that the web development means that more and more things happen when a web developer specialises in more and more technologies. Here are the three main categories in web development:

Full Stack Web Development: Development which involves or which applies to a web stack, mobile stack or any other programming languages that are specific their own type. This includes both front end and back end development.

Front end Development: Development which includes all the visible parts of an active web page.

Back end Development: Development which includes all those which are not visible but are very important for a site to be active and fully functional.

To understand what each of these terms mean, we will have to go through quite deep. We will now understand what all tools are involved in each of these three terms. Why should a developer know all the tools etc.

Full Stack Web Development

Full Stack Web development is usually considered as a confusing term because it comes up in differently in the job listings. Sometimes you’ll see job openings for full stack developer, full stack engineer and in certain cases for full stack web development. We will now go through and understand the difference between full stack developers and engineers, but before that we will first know the definition of a Full Stack Web Development.

Full Stack Web Development includes pretty much everything with regards to both front end and back end of a site or an app. Essentially, it's any web development that includes both front end and back end development.

Difference Between

Full Stack Web Developer and Full Stack Engineer

Full Stack Engineer: An engineer has a bigger role to play as he is the senior most among the others with an experience and skills of a full stack developer. An engineer also posses an experience in project management such as the system administration i.e., configuring, managing, and maintaining computer networks and systems.

Full Stack Developer: A full stack developer is a web developer or an engineer who works on the front end and back ends of the website or also an application which simply means that they can tackle projects which includes databases, building user-friendly websites, or even work with the clients during the planning phase of a projects.

A Full Stack developers are:

• Familiar with HTML, CSS, Javascript and one or more back end languages.

• Most of the full stack developers specialise in a particular back end programming language, like Ruby or PHP or Python although sometimes in some cases more than one programming language.

• Some full stack developers especially in the year 2019 developers along with programming languages were also getting specialised in either of project management, visual design, web design or user experience skills to complete their “stack.”

As the line between what can be done on the front end versus back end is very thin, now a days, most of the developers are becoming what we call “Full Stack Web Developers.” A lot of employers are looking out for candidates or I would rather say developers with knowledge in both frontend and backend i.e., to work on all the parts of the site which allows them to use all the best available tools

Skills required to be a Full Stack Developer:

You will typically require skills/knowledge in both front and back end of the site or the applications to be the best pick among others:

• HTML, CSS, Javascript knowledge

• At least one or more third party library like ReactJS, AngularJS or any other related programming tools.

• Programming languages and other related/required libraries like Ruby, PHP, Python etc is required.

• If not best, at least intermediate level knowledge in handling the database. This again depend upon the type of developer one is.

• Best control and thorough knowledge in the versions of the tools.

• Ideally some knowledge in the web or visual design along with the user experience best practices.

What is a Front End Developer?

Front end developers are the ones who developers or who works on the visible parts of websites which the users tends to see and interact within the web browsers. This front end development includes the tools such as:

• HTML: HyperText Markup Language) is the basic and is also the backbone of the web. Every website you visit does contain HTML codes. It takes care of all the structure and the content alignment etc. HTML 5 is the current iteration of HTML on the web although sites built with older versions still run fine in your browser.

• CSS: Cascading Style Sheets is what controls the way the HTML looks on the page. CSS works the colors, fonts, background images, and even the way the page is laid out I.e., you can use CSS to arrange to arrange the HTML elements on a page however you want it to be. CSS3 is the current version of CSS on the web and it adds a ton of features for things like basic interactivity and animations.

• Javascript: Imagine you have created a website using HTML & CSS but it is Javascript which adds more value and acts as the game-changer. It lets you add in the interactivity more complex animations and even makes it possible to build fully featured web applications.

In short, front end developers use HTML, CSS and Javascript to code up websites. They’re the ones who take the design and create a fully functional website. Some sites are only built in using these three front end tools. Other sites however have more code hidden away in the back end of the site to augment or enhance the front end of the site.

What is a Back End Developer?

Back end developers are the ones who work on the backend of the web. They deal with the server side of the web i.e., something which the users cannot see and interact with. The backend is much more behind the scenes and can also have some advantages over front end technologies for specific projects. Some of the back end programming languages includes:

• PHP

• Ruby

• Python etc.

Note: You probably would have not seen any kind of job postings that say a company is looking for a “back end developer." Instead you would have seen listings for Ruby developers, PHP developers etc. because the actual programming language a developer knows would come handy at the time of hiring.

As far as backend is concerned, what you can do here cannot be done with using the basics front end tool such as Javascript. Now a days, most of the data management tools and techniques are created using the back end tools. Learning to code will teach you to find the best possible solution for a problem.

Conclusion: The sole purpose of this blog is to differentiate between a front end, back end and a full stack developer. With this we come to the close of the blog. If you are looking out to start a career in this field, we at Infimind Institute are providing top class training with a comprehensive study materials.

Why Infimind for Full Stack Web Development?

• Highly-experienced faculty with 16+ Years of teaching experience

• 10+ hours of projects

• We believe in future readying the candidates

• Course completion certificate

• 24/7 faculty support provided