In a previous Kenzie Academy blog, we took a close look at full-stack web developers. We explained the difference between a full-stack developer and an engineer, examined the high demand for this type of role, and gave advice on how to land a full-stack developer job.
Now, we’re going to take a step back from the role itself and dive deeper into what it’s all about: the art of full-stack development. Let’s begin by understanding what it truly is and make our way to the reasons why it makes such a fulfilling career.
An Overview of Full-Stack Development
When you visit your favorite website to watch videos, socialize with friends, or keep up with the latest news, you are interacting with full-stack development. Everything you see on that web page is the frontend, or client side, part of the web application. If you were to take a peek behind the curtains at all the moving parts that make your interaction with the web page possible, you’d see the backend, or server side, part of that web application. Full-stack development is essentially the development of the frontend and backend components of any given web application. To make things even clearer, let’s turn our focus to the most important aspects of frontend and backend.
Frontend
The frontend side of full-stack is what you interact with when you visit a website. This can be a link you click, a box where you type your email address, or a command button you use. The professionals who work on this client side are known as frontend developers. Their main focus is to ensure the website provides a high-quality user experience through visuals, effective navigation, features, and ease of use.
To create website applications and make changes throughout the development process, frontend developers use a set of specific programming languages. They use Hyper Text Markup Language, commonly known as HTML, to design the client-facing part of the website. Cascading Style Sheets, or CSS, is a design language used to make the website more visually appealing. Lastly, JavaScript, one of the world’s most popular programming languages, is used by frontend developers to amplify an application’s capabilities.