The browser displays everything that it receives from the server and “understands”. This gives reason to determine the display process and the process of generating data into two components. The visitor, viewing the page, takes action, which gives the basis for the functionality of the page "manage" the server.
The server forms the first page when the browser "enters" the site. Then the server waits for "instructions". In this situation: front end and back end development is really an occasion to give work to two categories of developers in parallel.
The site is a single system
There has always been a case and there was a general opinion on how to do this thing. It has always been dynamic advanced and stable - the rear. It has always been so, in any direction of technological progress, and if not theories, then universally recognized rules have developed. In the field of information technology, there is still nothing universally recognized, but there are many correct ideas that are used as necessary.
The science of the infosphere is not yet drawn. The stage of "building" programs and sites is already behind. The field of information technology is developing quietly, and the developers act at their own peril and risk, respecting the opinion of colleagues, not particularly criticizing the options for each, taking what is happening as it is, in all its diversity.
Static pages are long gone, site management systems have become familiar. A significant part of developers continues to write “pens”, and all others who use templates, CMS, frameworks and similar tools to accelerate work on sites from time to time add codes to their products in server or browser languages.
What to do, there are no perfect tools in the field of site building yet, you have to use everything that is available.
About front-end features
The book "Front-end. Client-side development for professionals ”is a kind of concentrate of high-quality and practical description of JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS3, aimed at a qualified developer, striving to develop high-quality" client "code.
Node.js, ES6, REST, practical examples and great style. Without a doubt, "Front end: client development for professionals" is an excellent and useful publication, the fundamental basis for a developer is a bible of knowledge and processes for their effective application.
It is difficult to argue that a specialist in the field of information technology does not differ from specialists in other professions. As elsewhere, there is also an opinion: the specialist is similar to flux - the completeness of his knowledge is one-sided. You can’t be a JavaScript expert and be perfectly fluent in CSS3.
It was believed that there are independent qualifications in hypertext (HTML), in the XML language, in cascading style sheets (CSS) and other areas. Naturally, it’s hard not to split the work:
- browser environment;
- "Philosophy" of the server.
So to speak, obviously, front end development is what it is: it is fundamentally important, but it does not work on the server at all.
About back-end features
The world of the Internet serves a great variety of servers and technologies. Here, Apache, in all its current versions, is still a trendsetter. The Unixoid family to this day has not ceded the palm in server business to any other platforms.
From the developer's point of view, simplicity, reliability and the desire to create systems that are not prone to blue screens and “panic”, but surely provide an adequate way out of any unforeseen situation, won.
This is the level of server technology, that is, it is not a front-end development, what it means is kind of clear: there is no browser, but there is PHP or another server language.
The HTTP protocol (or another) allows the browser to contact the server to retrieve the page, and the browser reciprocates. The server language fulfills the functionality created by the "back-end" developer and passes the "front-end" to the browser. This can be the first page, page refresh, or transition to another page, including following a link to another site, that is, to another server.
Combining back-end + front-end development: what is it, is it possible?
Any well-tuned server offers the developer a lot of modern languages and tools for any answer to the browser. The client has nothing to do with it, it acts only through the browser. Although the client may be:
- Internet robot
- "Spider" is a fashion brand in the field of parsing;
- other software product.
There are many browsers, but its DOM logic and JavaScript in 99.9% of cases are the basis for displaying the server response. The browser tries to transform any flow of information from the server into the DOM and expects to find in it:
This holy trinity makes up the front-end and development: what it is and how to apply it - it seems to be extremely clear.
DOM is a tree, it sounds so familiar and traditional. In fact, the DOM is a well-designed system, and JavaScript is its native language. In this context, knowledge is Front-end: client development for professionals in pdf format is very good, but ideal in the format of a handbook that is always in sight.
Essential: when the browser opens the site, it builds the DOM and then refines it while the client is within the competence of the page opened by him. Moving the client between pages, both by internal and external links, changes the content of the DOM and JavaScript-functionality. The front-end developer has every reason and ability to be comprehensively managed in a browser without losing control over the controls.
The server has a different philosophy. There are many customers here, you can’t follow each one. But this is not important, but the fact that it is impossible to build a permanent system of objects for each open connection. In fact, a qualified developer can do it, but this moment is not legalized either by the server or by any server language.
Client + server system
If we talk about the browser, this is always a finished product, it has its own aura, and it is obliged to execute specific functionality, otherwise it is not a browser. The server is also a complete product, the functionality of which is much wider, and the responsibility is much higher.
Both the browser and the server are completely independent and independent systems. By the way, sites are not the only thing that browsers and servers are capable of. These are just great software systems that suit specific applications.
A web resource is the reason why the browser and server start interacting and continue it until the client leaves for another site.
You can divide all the builders into masons, carpenters, plasterers and painters, but the house they build is one. This factor is absolutely independent of the foundation, although it always takes into account its features, the specifics of the territory, the climate zone and the mentality of the inhabitants.
A site can be created by several developers, but it should be a team. The team is qualified and closely related. One can create CSS rules, the other can only compose HTML tags, the third can inspire JavaScript functionality by tags, rules and events. But this should be an interconnected command that takes into account the server part, without separating it from the browser part.
It is not possible to write code in PHP that does not own what the CSS developer wrote, put together an HTML specialist, and designated a JavaScript programmer. Otherwise, the site will not become a system, and if the site is not a system, then this is not a site, but a waste of time and energy on creating front-end pages that reflect what they can make out from the back-end. The latter reciprocates, understanding as it turns out, everything that flies from the browser.
World Wide Web Point: Site = System
The Internet is already so stable and familiar that it began to live according to its own laws, and these laws have not been controlled by developers, such as creators, for a long time ... There are no longer those who created it on the Internet, but the active active potential of all developers who work for front-end, back-end, and in general, just work, not being divided into qualifications and knowledge cohorts.
Naturally, as soon as the Internet became a full-fledged and self-developing system, it turned into an environment for the existence of web resources for various purposes, but the functionality of each resource also became a very specific range of requirements.
If a web resource meets certain requirements - it is and is available on the network. If not, it doesn’t matter how the back-end and front-end are related - what it is will remain a mystery.