The argument about which is easier between frontend and backend development has continued to breed lots of sentiments in the technology industry.
While backend developers believe that their counterparts pass through little or no stress to get their work done, frontend developers on the other hand feel the backend devs only finish up a little of what is left after they are done.
This article does justice to this lingering sentiment, by explaining, especially to newbies in the web development space, how frontend and backend developers work.
What exactly do frontend developers do?
Frontend developers are professionals who build websites and applications which users can see and interact with.
They use programming languages such as HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), CSS (Cascading Style Sheet), JavaScript, etc. to code what pops up on the screen when you click the URL of a website.
They achieve these by doing the following:
Designing:
Web design is the primary job of a frontend developer.
It entails the look and feel of the website, and contains features which the user can interact with.
The features include the texts, buttons, forms, drop-down menus, animations, etc.
The frontend developers also style the features, to enhance their appearance and make them sizable.
A frontend developer needs knowledge in the following areas to successfully design websites:
Graphic design: It is an artistic skill which helps a developer to create meaningful texts or graphics that communicate to the user.
User experience design: Also known as UX design, is a skill used to determine how a user would feel while using the website. It is done by mentally empathizing with the user and comparing his needs and goals to what he would encounter while using your website to meet them.
User interface design: The UI design is mainly focused on the architectural innovations that a user uses to communicate with the website. It can be graphical e.g. desktop, or voice controlled e.g siri, or gestural e.g. virtual reality games.
Mathematics: It is true that one does not necessarily need to be grounded in math before you can code successfully. However, a basic knowledge of mathematics will help you. While some web design does not need anything more than basic numerical operations, others do. Sprinkle a little math there. It won't hurt.
Programming languages: Languages as basic as HTML and CSS can build you almost any type of web design you want. You can as well spice it up with JavaScript.
Search Engine Optimization: How do you make your website rank high in search engines? Optimizing the website! That is another nut a web designer has to crack.
Web responsiveness:
A frontend developer does not stop at designing the website. He goes further to ensure that the webpage will fit in sizably in all kinds of screens and devices, big or small.
It should be accessible to people using desktop, tablet, or mobile phones with maximum satisfaction.
This is achieved when the developer uses:
HTML: It is one of the best languages in responsive web design, in that, its liquid layout allows any design made using HTML to automatically become responsive to any kind of device, mobile or desktop.
CSS: The features in CSS are used to enlarge, reduce, adjust, hide, and as well make the layouts flexible.
Testing:
The frontend dev has yet another frog to eat after designing and making his website responsive.
Of course, you do not just create a product and throw it out into the market without checking if it works.
The questions the frontend developer asks after designing are:
Is it usable?
How well is it functioning?
Is the performance good enough?
Is it aligning to its purpose?
Is it secure enough?
Are there errors I need to correct?
When you are able to answer these questions, then you have tested your website.
Fixing errors:
What happens when a frontend dev notices an error while testing? He fixes it to avoid problems in the future!
In web development, this is known as DEBUGGING.
Bugs are errors (tiny or big), found in codes, that have the potential of disrupting its function.
Ignoring bugs can be disastrous, as it can crash your website.
Creating new versions:
If you ever thought that the job of a frontend dev ends after releasing his website into the market, well, you thought wrong.
A frontend developer constantly tracks his website and thinks of new ways to make it better.
He continually comes up with ideas and features that will enhance his product, and codes them into the system.
All these are achieved by using a software known as VERSION CONTROL.
Some examples of version control softwares are:
Git
Darcs
Azure DevOps
Apache SVN
Mecurial
Concurrent Version System (CVS server)
What exactly do backend developers do?
Unlike frontend developers, who take care of everything you can see on your screen, backend developers are experts who control how the website works.
Backend, like the name goes, constitutes everything that goes on behind the scenes in the website.
Backend developers use programming languages such as Java, PHP, C#, Ruby on Rails, Python, etc to control proper functionality of the website by:
Managing databases:
When a frontend developer creates a system where a user can input any form of data, the data does not go anywhere, because there is no database where it can be saved yet.
This means that if a user wants to create, recreate, read, update, or even delete his data, it is not possible.
This is where the backend developer comes in!
Using the Database Management System (DBMS), he stores or hosts databases (as the case may be), to allow efficient user interface.
Some examples of DBMS are:
MySQL
MongoDB
Microsoft SQL server
Amazon RDS
SQLite
Oracle Database
IBMDb2
Writing API:
So, you must be wondering how a frontend application talks to a backend application.
What method and function can be used to communicate between these applications?
The Application Programming Interface (API) is a software used to interface with other softwares using a set of procedures/protocols.
It is the backend developer who incorporates this API into the software.
To learn more about APIs, click here.
Networking:
When developing web applications, the principles of computer networking can never be overemphasized.
The backend developer uses the following to exchange data and share resources:
TCP/IP model
Port numbers
IP addresses and networks, etc.
Application logic:
The backend developer will need to understand and executive exactly what the web application is built to accomplish.
Whether it is in databases, meta-level descriptions or encoding rules for behavior of the website, a backend developer never overlooks application logic while structuring web applications e.g structuring web search and web information.
Website availability:
When the URL of a link is clicked, it opens into a webpage and is accessed by the user.
However, server or software failures may hinder the availability of the website.
The backend developer ensures that the website is available at all times, and this is checked by using online services such as:
Uptime
Dot-com monitor
CurrentlyDown
Host Tracker
StatusCake, etc.
Website scalability:
This has to do with how well the website can cope when the number of its users start to increase.
The backend developer ensures that there is an increase in traffic on the website, and that this increase does not in any way hamper its functionality.
This, they do by either increasing the number of resources in the server, or increasing the number of severs in the system.
Overall performance:
This entails:
Measuring the loading-time of the webpage and
Ensuring smoothness of running.
The backend developer monitors the speediness and blockers-free running of the website before and after designing.
So, which is easier?
We are no longer oblivious to the fact that frontend and backend developers are children of the same mother with different destinies, judging by their duties mentioned above.
Frontend developer attributes include being:
Creative
Innovative
Visionary
Artistic
Empathetic
Curious
While backend developer attributes include being:
Analytical
Logical
Organized
Detail-oriented
Systemic
Conclusion
In web development, it is almost impossible for frontend and backend developers to do without each other.
Each developer has his own skill, preference and special field of interest. This does not make one field less easier or difficult than the other.
Web development is already complex, and I personally consider these comparisons unnecessary.
Just keep creating mind-blowing websites!!!
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