If you're new to IT and puzzled over finding a developer who can build a web-based project for your business needs, then keep reading! We're going to learn a thing or two about web application technologies and programming languages utilized in this field.
After reading this short guide, you'll become much more confident about the tech terms and conceptions, and will be able to better formulate a vacancy text or finally understand what kind of specialist you are looking for.
First of all, let's learn what kind of job the web developers typically do. Web developers design and build websites or web apps (it was simple!). Some developers are specialized in creating user interfaces. In contrast, others primarily deal with the technical background, ensuring the best possible performance and capacity, which affect a website's speed and ability to process the incoming traffic. Here we come to a more specific understanding of these two primary layers:
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The front-end is the website the users interact with (user interface), including website layout, content blocks, buttons, forms, etc.
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Back-end, which is responsible for specific mechanisms under the hood of a website, including database-server communications and more.
Different kinds of web development languages are used on separate layers. Let's check some of them.
How to choose a web development language?
Front-end and back-end web app languages are both required for developing a serious web project. It doesn't include comparatively simple informational websites where people can find many articles, photos, and business contacts. Still, if you need a customized multi-functional website, supported with the database, allowing personalized access for users, etc., then you'll need both types of programmers or a full-stack developer who's a highly paid expert in both fields of web development.
Here are just some popular programming languages, but not all existing:
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Front-end development languages include HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
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Back-end web development languages are Python, Java, Ruby.
Front-end languages mostly contribute to user experience and are closely related to website design, while back-end languages are working in the background, maintaining the functionality of the project, and their effects are not visible to users. There is an ocean of information about web languages, with many nuances, but let's try to boil it down to a few lines for each.
Purpose of different languages for web applications.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is a lightweight markup language, a very basic tech, which is very important for structuring the website interface layout, but limited in its capabilities. Almost everything we see on the web, all common elements, is coded using HTML: all the general website interface elements, blocks, buttons, controls, paragraphs, hyperlinks, lists, tables, images, etc.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) regulates how HTML elements should be displayed on web pages. It saves a lot of time for developers as it governs the layout of multiple web pages all at once. Moreover, CSS provides developers with additional interface tools to shape the web pages, such as using unique styles, including custom typography, which is very important for the aesthetic and unique look of the website.
JavaScript is the most widely used tool among web developers. It is intended to add some dynamic data to the website (as HTML is not capable of doing so), such as a possibility to show or hide information when you hover your mouse over certain interactive elements on a website, switching elements to a different look, or color when you interact with it, displaying animations, zooming article pictures, and other things of this sort.
Java is one of the earliest object-oriented programming languages used in back-end programming, which allows creating dynamic programs that can run in many environments. It is known for its capability of making small application modules or applets that can run in a cross-platform mode and thus are highly portable for moving to different host systems. It is widely used in server applications for online forums, stores, HTML forms processing, and much more.
Python is a powerful and flexible language for web development. It's known for its compact syntax enabling programmers to implement more functions with fewer amount of code lines. Its object-orientedness allows programmers to easily connect applications created in Python to other popular technologies, creating a powerful mix. Python has a raging community and lots of support materials.
Ruby is another general-purpose scripting language that can be used in both front-end and back-end web development. It is a dynamically typed, object-oriented language with an extremely understandable syntax that is even said to be close to coding in plain English.
Who can help me in choosing a web application language and finding the right developers?
Well, choosing the most suitable language and the most efficient stack of technologies for your web project is a challenging and time-consuming task, if you're not an IT professional yourself.
Some developers are specialized in creating user interfaces. Starting from simple business websites to medical website design etc.
You can delegate the whole thing to the outsourcing professionals, such as Bridge Teams, which can help you in drafting a well-grounded tech plan for reaching your web development objectives along with hiring some cost-efficient yet skillful specialists (as you know, hiring a good developer in the USA or Western Europe can be a costly business).
