The Fundamental Elements of Web Development: From Servers to Programming Languages.
Web development is actually the work of creating websites or applications for the Internet. Web development is not concerned with website design but the coding, programming and ancillary work involved in creating a website and maintaining its functionality.
From the simplest static webpages to social media platforms or apps, e-commerce websites or online encyclopedias — all the online tools we use every day are web development.
Also read Outsource Web Development
Some basics of web development and So what exactly is a website?
Before starting the discussion about Web Development, let us know a little about "Web". Although invisible to our eyes, this "web" that surrounds the world is a huge system that plays a role in its functioning.
First, the web of information connected around the world is called 'WWW' or 'World Wide Web'.
Three parts of WWW (World Wide Web) technology-
•Browser (to display information.)
•Server (to store data.)
•Protocol (for connecting the browser to the server.)
•Browser
We constantly use Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera Mini. These are different browsers. These software applications send requests to collect data from the World Wide Web and display the data on our PC screen.
•Server
The system that collects and provides information to the browser is the server. Some servers store the data themselves, while others connect directly to the browser where the data is stored.
As soon as the request is received, the server finds the information and sends it to the browser. As part of the server, there is a software application, which formats the data into a language that can be displayed in the browser.
'Apache, 'nginx' or 'IIS' are examples of some widely used servers.
•Protocol
A protocol is some established set of rules for data exchange. It facilitates the exchange of information between two devices on the same network, or between browsers and servers, through predefined protocols.
The protocol determines how the communication between the client and the server will take place. When you go to the Internet, the text 'http' 'https' is visible at the beginning of all addresses, but this is a protocol.
So far we have been talking about the information on the server, it is what the browser displays as a webpage. And a website is basically an integrated form of some webpages.
After you type an address in the browser's address bar, the browser sends it to the server through the protocol. The server locates that address and collects the information or file from there and sends it to your browser in the form of a displayable page. And then you see the desired Information or file on your screen. This is called a website.
What is the URL?
In simple terms, URL is what we write in the address bar of the browser. Full form (Uniform Resource Locator).
It has certain parts that indicate its various properties. For example, http://www.example.com/file.html is a URL. We already know that 'http' stands for protocol and www means you are going to the world wide web.
The "example.com" part is the domain name that points to the server, and file.html is the file whose data you want to access. Again the device you are accessing through URL can also be shown as 'IP Address'.
What does IP address really mean?
During the discussion we got a new term, that is IP address. IP stands for Internet Protocol. An IP address is basically a string of numbers. Every device connected to the Internet has its own and unique IP address. Which looks like this - 123.45.321.1... (To know the IP address of your device, type "What is my IP Address" in Google and enter the first links.)
All web servers therefore have their own IP address. The data or files to be displayed as webpages are hosted there, along with the hardware and software needed to deliver them to the browser.
This string of numbers is replaced with a domain name to make it easier for people to remember. For example, facebook.com is a domain name. Knowing this part, we can reach Facebook without needing to remember its IP address.
HTTP ,Whats meaning of the HTTP?
While giving examples of protocols, we know that http is a protocol. HTTP Its full form is "HyperText Transfer Protocol". It is a network protocol that, like other network protocols, dictates how information is exchanged between a client's browser and a server.
In HTTP, HyperText refers to a document containing a hyperlink (a hyperlink is text or an image that, when clicked, takes the user to another document),
Transfer refers to the sending of a requested webpage from a web server to a browser, and Protocol refers to the bits of bytes or characters that are used. Exchange of information will be its customs.
Other such protocols may be File Transfer Protocol (FTP) or HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS)—all of which serve the same purpose.
Database Technology
Databases ensure that files and content required for website function are easy to search, organize, edit and save. Databases also run on servers, and most websites use a relational database system (RDBMS).
However, non-relational databases are also gaining popularity recently as they are more convenient to use when dealing with massive amounts of data. It appears to be used in the work of large websites.
What is CMS?
CMS means "Content Management System" or CMS is a web application or series of programs used to facilitate the creation and management of web content.
Although CMS is not required to create a website, its plug-ins and add-ons enrich the website and are also very useful in website maintenance. WordPress, Joomla, Drupal – these are some examples of CMS.
Also read Offshore Web Development
What does programming language really mean?
In the world of web development, languages are the building blocks of creating websites, apps or software. As a house is made of bricks-stone-cement, a website is made of different languages.
The names of the languages, libraries and frameworks that web developers have to work with to create a website or app have already come up in our discussion several times.Let us know a little more about them-
The languages required for web development can be classified into four categories –
1.Programming languages,
2.Markup languages,
3.Style sheet languages,
4.Database languages.
Programming language:
A programming language is basically a set of instructions and commands that tell the computer to produce a specific output such as:
High level language
The language in which programmers write code is called a high-level language. They are made up of human understandable logical words and symbols. As we humans speak our own language, programmers communicate with computers through this language. High-level languages are of two types - compiled or interpreted.
Compiled languages:
C++ and Java are compiled high-level languages. They are written and saved in a text-based format that humans can understand but computers cannot. The computer understands the source code by converting it into low-level language i.e. machine code and produces the output accordingly. Compiled languages are generally used to develop software applications.
Interpreted Language:
Code written in an interpreted language such as 'Perl' or 'PHP' can be read and executed by an interpreter program. An interpreted language is used for running scripts, for example, for content generation in a dynamic website. Python is also a very modern and dynamic interpreted language.
Markup language
Markup language is used to specify the formatting of a text file. That is, the software that is displaying the text tells the markup language how the formatting of the text will be. This language consists of some small tags and some standard words that humans understand.
The two most popular markup languages are HTML and XML.
HyperText Markup Language (HTML)
The full form of HTML is HyperText Markup Language. This language is used in website formatting. Placing HTML tags in a plain text document determines how the web browser will display the document.
eXtensible Markup Language (XML)
XML stands for eXtensible Markup Language. It is similar to HTML, but XML's main focus is to facilitate data storage and transport. This language provides software and hardware-independent means of storing and transporting data, which makes this language very useful.
Style sheet language
Simply put, a style sheet language handles the styling of a document written in a markup language. The most common style sheet language is CSS or Cascading Style Sheets.
For example, if a document is written in HTML and styled in CSS, then HTML determines the content and structure of the resulting webpage, and CSS determines its visual presentation.
Adding color, changing font, giving background or border can be done using CSS. CSS is also used to make proper optimizations for a webpage to run smoothly on different devices. The most updated version of CSS is CSS3.
Database Language
The language is also needed to create and maintain the database that is required to store all the information of the website in an organized manner.
Databases are used to organize and store large volumes of data. Take the Spotify music app. It has to store hundreds of music files to function, as well as users' listening preferences.
Again, social media apps like Instagram have to store users' profile information. All these are done through database. When a user updates their profile, the database of that app or website is also updated.
SQL (SQL) or Structured Query Language is the standard language for relational database access and manipulation. These languages enable developers to work with data in a database system.
In the context of web development libraries and frameworks
Two other things developers work with are libraries and frameworks. Libraries and frameworks are sets of pre-written code.
Web development library
The scope of the library is small and used for specific use cases. A library contains a collection of useful code—grouped together for later reuse. The purpose of the library is to help developers reach an end goal by writing less code.
For example, JavaScript is a language and jQuery is a JavaScript library. Instead of writing 10 lines of code in JavaScript, a developer can use pre-written code from the jQuery library in various cases—it saves huge time.
Web Development Framework
Frameworks are some ready-made components and tools that help developers write code faster. They are also based on specific programming languages, but are more extensive than libraries. The framework that the developer starts working with is the framework that allows the developer to decide many aspects of building a website or app.
So setting the framework is a very important decision. Some popular frameworks are Bootstrap, Django, Rails or Angular.
An easy way to understand libraries and frameworks is to compare a website to building a house. The framework can fix the foundation structure of the house, provide instructions and guidelines for building the house.
And when building a house, many things like sink or stove can be made by yourself, and you can also buy ready-made from the store and install it - buying ready-made is like using pre-written code from the library, and making it yourself is like writing each line of code yourself.
Step-by-step process of building a website.
Although the development process of each website is unique in different aspects, the steps to build it are roughly the same. This section will serve as a brief overview of those steps.
Step-1: Research and Planning
Website purpose, style, audience, content, budget — guidelines to think about
It is important to do relevant research and planning in the beginning, either on paper or on the computer. In that case, it is better to take everyone in your organization or team together to find out the answers to some questions. For example,
>What is the purpose of your website?
>Who is your audience and what do you expect them to do on your website?
>What type of website? (Blogs, informational, memberships, online stores—could be many things.
>What kind of content do you want to publish? What will be the amount of content?
>Considering the big picture, how can your website be structured for the best user experience?
>How is your budget?
Answering these questions will require proper collaboration between the developer, marketing and financial teams. Necessary research should be done. It is better to create a roadmap at the beginning than to get stuck making difficult decisions after the start of the work.
Step-2: Creating the web design
Once the above planning is done, it's time to create the look and feel of your website. A web designer will do this, they will usually create the design as an image.
In this case, constant communication between developers and designers is very important. As the developer has to build the website it is very important to see if the design matches his preferences.
Step-3: Development Front-end/Back-end
This is the most important work. Write the website code. We already know that different programming languages are used for front-end and back-end. There are separate codes for design, interactivity or database maintenance. All of these work together to build and keep your website running.
Front End Development: The front-end of the website can be created with a combination of HTML, CSS and JavaScript. We already know that HTML will fix the content and formatting of the website and CSS will do the styling. JavaScript will work on beauty enhancement and real time experiences.
Back end development:In this part, the developers have to create the necessary software and logic code for the server, create the database. We got an idea about this in the previous sections as well.
PHP, Ruby, JavaScript, Python and Java as server-side languages and MySQL, Oracle, MongoDB as database management tools. PostgreSQL etc. are used.
Also, there are different frameworks to work with, such as Bootstrap or Django. So back-end developers have to be fully proficient in these.
Read more full-stack web development
Step-4: Testing, Delivery and Launching
Your website's IP address is already there. Now for this a domain name has to be acquired. There are numerous sites like Bluehost, HostGator, GoDaddy to buy domain names. Domain registration has to be renewed after a certain period of time.
Before launching a website, check whether everything is functional, whether there are any last-minute compatibility issues. Besides, it should be seen whether all the code of the website is valid, that is, whether it meets the current web development standards.
Then upload your website files to the hosting server through an FTP (File transfer protocol). AWS, Google Cloud, Digital Ocean, Azure— these provide infrastructure for hosting. Before going live, it's a good idea to double-check everything for glitches, SEO optimization, and more.
Step-5: Maintenance
Even after the website is published, it needs regular maintenance. Regular content uploads, bug fixes keep the website running smoothly. In this case, the use of CMS can make the task easier, but to integrate it with the website should be done at the development stage.
But if you have the habit of working with regular hours, these problems are reduced a lot. Because, in the world of web development, patience and skills are needed more than degrees.
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