What is web development?
The effort that goes into creating a website is referred to as web development. This might apply to anything from the creation of a simple plain-text homepage to the development of a large online application or social network.
In addition to web markup and code, web development includes all related development tasks such as client-side scripting, server-side scripting, server, and network security settings, e-commerce development, and content management system (CMS) development.
Why is web development important?
You could be a business owner seeking a freelance web developer, a marketer pitching a vision to your development team, or a student interested in pursuing a career in development. Regardless of who you are or why you’re reading this course, understanding the principles of website design can be advantageous in today’s technology-driven world.
The internet will not be phased out anytime soon. In reality, it has evolved into the world’s principal portal for research, connection, education, and entertainment. There are 4.2 billion internet users worldwide as of 2019. That’s more than half of the world’s population, and they use the internet for a wide range of purposes.
What is the one thing that all of these factors have in common? They demand a website, and each website necessitates the services of an experienced web developer.
Web development is a rapidly growing sector as well. Web developer employment is predicted to increase by 13% between now and 2028. That’s a lot faster than most other IT jobs.
Web Development Basics:
Now that we’ve defined web development, let’s go over some web development fundamentals to help you get a better understanding of the subject.
• What a Website Is
Websites are saved files on servers, which are computers that host (or keep) website files. These servers are connected to the internet… sometimes known as the World Wide Web (to use 90s terminology). We’ll talk into servers in greater depth in the next section.
Browsers, such as Google Chrome or Internet Explorer, are computer programs that load websites over your internet connection. The client is another term for your computer.
• What an IP Address Is
The Internet Protocol (IP) is a set of rules that govern how people communicate over the internet.
To visit a website, you’ll need to know its IP address. An IP address is a one-of-a-kind string of integers. Each device has an IP address to distinguish itself from the billions of websites and gadgets connected to the internet.
While an IP address can be used to reach a website, most internet users prefer to utilize domain names or search engines.
• What HTTP Means
The HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) establishes a connection between you and your website request and the remote server that stores all website data. It’s a set of rules (a protocol) that governs how communications are conveyed across the internet. It enables you to navigate between different site pages and websites.
While you type a website into your web browser or use a search engine, HTTP offers a foundation that allows the client (computer) and server to communicate in the same language when sending and receiving requests and responses over the internet. It acts as a translator between you and the internet, reading your website request and the code returned by the server.
• What Coding Is
Coding is the process of writing code for servers and applications using computer languages. A set of vocabulary and grammatical rules for communicating with computers is referred to as “language.” There are also special commands, abbreviations, and punctuation that can only be read by devices and programs.
All software is written in at least one coding language, however, languages vary by platform, operating system, and style. There are a plethora of coding languages from which to choose… These are separated into two categories: front-end and back-end.
• What Front-end Means:
As an internet user, you see and interact with the front-end (or client-side) of a website or software. Front-end coding languages allow a website to run without needing to constantly “connect” with the internet when data is transmitted from a server to a browser.
Front-end code allows users like you and me to engage with a website by playing videos, expanding or shrinking photos, highlighting text, and more. Web developers that work on front-end coding undertake client-side programming.
• What Back-end Means
You don’t see the back-end when you use the internet (or server-side). It’s the digital infrastructure, and it appears to non-developers as a mess of numbers, letters, and symbols.
By a factor of two, back-end coding languages outnumber front-end coding languages. Because only JavaScript is supported by front-end browsers, a back-end server can be customized to support nearly any language. After that, we’ll delve deeper into back-end development.
• What a CMS Is
A content management system (CMS) is a software application or group of tools for creating and managing web content. (Content management systems are distinct from site builders such as Squarespace or Wix.).
While a CMS is not essential to create a website, it does make things easier. It gives you the building pieces (plugins and add-ons) and allows you to code the structure. CMSs are most commonly associated with e-commerce and blogging, but they can be used for any sort of website.
• What Cyber security Is :
As long as the internet exists, users will continue to look for flaws in websites in order to divulge private information, steal data, and crash servers. Cybersecurity is the practice of protecting data, networks, and computers against numerous threats.
The techniques used by hackers, as well as the security measures used to counteract them, are continually changing. It’s possible that failing to understand how your website might be targeted will result in tragedy.
It’s critical to have at least a basic understanding knowledge of web development fundamentals.
