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What’s the Difference Between Frontend and Backend in Application Development?
What’s the Difference Between Frontend and Backend in Application Development?","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"faqQuestion":"How does the frontend of an application work?","faqAnswer":"
The term frontend refers to the graphical user interface (GUI) that your users can directly interact with, such as navigation menus, design elements, buttons, images, and graphs. In technical terms, a page or screen that your user sees with several UI components is called a document object model (DOM). \n Three primary computer languages affect how your users interact with your frontend: \n JavaScript can trigger changes on a page and display new information. This means the frontend can handle fundamental user interactions (or requests), like displaying a calendar or checking if your user has entered a valid email address. The frontend passes on more complex requests to the backend.","id":"seo-faq-pairs#how-does-the-frontend-of-an-application-work","customSort":"2"},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"seo-faq-pairs#faq-collections#whats-the-difference-between-frontend-and-backend","name":"whats-the-difference-between-frontend-and-backend","namespaceId":"seo-faq-pairs#faq-collections","description":"
What’s the Difference Between Frontend and Backend in Application Development?","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"faqQuestion":"How does the backend of an application work?","faqAnswer":" Sometimes called the server side, the backend of your application manages your web application's overall functionality. When your user interacts with the frontend, the interaction sends a request to the backend in HTTP format. The backend processes the request and returns a response. \n When your backend processes a request, it usually interacts with the following: \n The backend uses several communication protocols and technologies to complete a request. Additionally, it handles thousands of distinct requests simultaneously. The backend combines concurrency and parallelism techniques, like distributing requests across many servers, caching, and data duplication. \n What’s the Difference Between Frontend and Backend in Application Development?","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"faqQuestion":"Key differences: frontend vs. backend","faqAnswer":" Frontend and backend are broad terms that logically group any application's different technologies and software layers. The frontend focuses on those aspects your users can see. Conversely, the backend is everything that makes your application function. \n You can think of the frontend as the exterior of a car and the backend as all the machinery inside. A beautifully designed car will only run optimally if the internal machinery works properly. However, certain aspects of exterior design also contribute to speed and performance. Similarly, your application's frontend and backend have to be designed cohesively for the best results. \n Next, we discuss other key differences between frontend and backend. \n Full-stack development aims to create responsive, efficient, and functional applications. Frontend and backend developers have different goals to create the final application. \n Frontend developers aim to develop a positive user experience, optimize the application for accessibility and performance, and create responsive designs. Their main development goals are to ensure the frontend is easy to interact with, well designed, and fully responsive on different platforms and devices. \n Backend developers build and then maintain the server-side operations of an application. Their main development goals are to create reliable architecture that performs application functions accurately and efficiently. They aim to meet user requirements while fulfilling all security and cost considerations. \n Frontend development touches upon the user-facing side of a website. These technologies include computer languages like JavaScript, CSS, and HTML. Frontend software development also uses frontend frameworks to speed up production efficiency. \n Backend development uses programming languages like Ruby, Java, and Python to write server-side logic. Backend developers also use databases, storage technologies, and API technologies so applications and systems communicate with each other. \n Read about databases » \n Read about APIs » \n Concurrency is the ability of an application to run multiple tasks simultaneously. On the frontend, every user has their own copy of an application in their browser or mobile app. This means that there are no concurrency issues with frontend development. \n On the other hand, the backend may have to handle thousands of requests simultaneously. Backend developers use several strategies: \n In a distributed computing approach, developers may divide backend tasks over multiple nodes so the backend manages data-intensive workloads concurrently. \n Read about distributed computing » \n Caching temporarily stores copies of application files, which makes them easier to retrieve the next time they are needed. You can use caching to improve an application's load time and performance. \n On the frontend, a browser or the client application caches data like a header image the first time your user accesses it. The next time they access that same content, the frontend loads the cached files to improve performance. \n Backend development uses caching to reduce the load on the application server. What you store in the backend cache depends on your application itself. Cached content includes static pages, database query results, API responses, session data, images, and videos. \n One strategy is storing files on a content delivery network (CDN), which acts as an intermediary between the frontend and backend. Whenever a user makes a request on the frontend, the CDN checks if the data is available and responds directly. \n Read about CDNs » \n Frontend security focuses on user-facing components. These include input forms, client-side scripts, and the user experience in security workflows like authentication. \n Common frontend development security strategies include input validation, disabling settings that allow your users to enter code in text boxes, and multifactor authentication workflows. Your user is responsible for several frontend security aspects, like keeping their password or device safe. \n Backend security focuses on data security in storage and transit. It manages all aspects of authentication, access control, and session security. It covers all backend services, including connected databases, APIs, and server-side programming languages. \n Core backend security practices include secure coding, encrypting sensitive data before and after transmission, and secure authorization and authentication systems. \n Frontend developers understand the customer experience and accommodate user needs. Their primary skills involve proficiency in JavaScript, CSS, and HTML and design knowledge in creating visually appealing user flows. Frontend developers also learn several frontend frameworks and know how to conduct performance optimization. \n Backend developers code application functions and make apps more secure, error-free, and fast. A backend developer is proficient in several programming languages like Python, Ruby, Java, and PHP. They know application development frameworks like Django, Ruby on Rails, and Laravel that integrate the frontend and backend. Backend developers also know how to manage and design relational and non-relational databases. \n Full-stack developers have skills across both frontend and backend development.","id":"seo-faq-pairs#key-differences-frontend-vs-backend","customSort":"4"},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"seo-faq-pairs#faq-collections#whats-the-difference-between-frontend-and-backend","name":"whats-the-difference-between-frontend-and-backend","namespaceId":"seo-faq-pairs#faq-collections","description":" What’s the Difference Between Frontend and Backend in Application Development?","metadata":{}}]}},{"fields":{"faqQuestion":"Summary of differences: frontend vs. backend","faqAnswer":" \n
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","id":"seo-faq-pairs#how-does-the-backend-of-an-application-work","customSort":"3"},"metadata":{"tags":[{"id":"seo-faq-pairs#faq-collections#whats-the-difference-between-frontend-and-backend","name":"whats-the-difference-between-frontend-and-backend","namespaceId":"seo-faq-pairs#faq-collections","description":"![\"\"](\"https://d2908q01vomqb2.cloudfront.net/fc074d501302eb2b93e2554793fcaf50b3bf7291/2022/06/15/Microservices-backend-with-the-micro-frontends.jpg\")
\nDevelopment goals \n
Technologies \n
Concurrency \n
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Caching \n
Security \n
Developer skills \n
