A web developer is concerned with building websites and other web-related applications.
The work of a web developer differs from that of a web designer, who deals with the layout and appearance of a website or application.
Web developers are mostly engaged with back-end development and work mostly on programming, coding, running and testing functions, as well as compatibility with various web standards and protocols. They also, with time, update their applications to ensure it does not become obsolete.
So as a web developer, or an aspiring web developer, it is essential to know the programming languages you ought to be using, so as to perform according to expectations, while being efficient.
Working with clients that don’t really understand the concepts of web development can be trying. These clients, at times come up with ideas on how they want the site to look or function, and you don’t really have a way or code to go about it.
So, you hit search engines, looking for a piece of code, or programming language that meets the idea described by the client. You spend hours on trial and error. Testing every code you come across, until you become exhausted, hereby shifting the project to another time.
Most times, however, there are programming languages that have distinct functions in a website. Here are the fundamental programming languages for web development
HTML
HTML is an abbreviation for Hypertext Markup Language. It is the fundamental programming language used to develop websites, and have them displayed on browsers.
All websites are virtually made of HTML. Thus, its is imperative to have a good working knowledge of the programming language.
HTML is fairly easy to learn, if mind can put to it. It does not incorporate large chunks of code that takes so much time to understand, but a beginning and ending format.
Before you can begin writing in HTML, you need to know how to start a page for HTML:
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
</head>
<body>
In the above format, change the “Page title” to the name of the web page, as desired. The page title displays on the browser tab as shown below:
After starting the page with the opening format, and including your page title, you will then need to write what you want to show under the body (<body>) tag.
What you can add to the body includes text, layout instructions, images, videos, and so on.
To learn more on the basics of HTML, Check W3School HTML Tutorial
CSS
CSS is an abbreviation for Cascading Style Sheets. It is the standard for styling HTML documents. Styling here refers to colors (in American standard), backgrounds, fonts, layout, and appearance in general.
Virtually all websites use CSS for styling. The technology has so improved that nowadays, CSS frameworks are rather used for modern websites. Bootstrap, Bulma, and Semantic UI , to mention but a few, are popular CSS Frameworks used nowadays.
CSS is very easy to learn. It does need the opening format of HTML, all it requires is inclusion in under head (<head>) tag.
Before you begin writing CSS, you are to include the following under <head>:
CSS code goes here…
</style>
Adding it under <head>, it would appear like this:
<html>
<head>
<title>Page Title</title>
<style>
CSS code goes here…
</style>
</head>
<body>
Under the <style> tag, you can add properties to other HTML tags, which includes: colors, background, fonts, alignment, and so on.
To learn more on the basics of CSS, Check W3School CSS Tutorial
JavaScript
JavaScript, abbreviated as JS, adds interactivity and motion to your website. It is not just enough to create a website with text, colors, and images, or a rather dull website. Activity also helps to catch interest and keep your website visitors onto the content. This is where JavaScript comes to play.
With JS, you can validate forms, control videos, add slides, create animations, pictures, shapes, to mention but a few.
There are several ways you can include JS in a web page – under the <head> tag, (using <script>), under the <body> tag, (using <script>) or by linking to an external JS file (under <head> or <body>).
To learn more on the basics of JavaScript, Check W3School JS Tutorial
PHP
A recursive acronym, meaning Hypertext Preprocessor. It is a scripting language that is installed and run on servers such as Apache.
PHP allows your website to store user data in databases. It also allows to interact with visitors, get their browser information, create cookies, among other things.
If you are building a user registration site, whereby users can register on your site ( i.e you collect their essential details and store). login, upload profile picture, reset password, and others, you will need to activate PHP on your web server.
When active, You can include PHP in your web page, under <body> tag using the following :
PHP code goes here…
?>
Learning PHP takes consistent practice and dedication to master the basics and use it in web development.
To learn more on the basics of PHP, Check W3School PHP Tutorial
SQL
SQL is a abbreviation for structured query language. It is used to communicate with a database.
In web development, SQL can be used with PHP on a web page to connect and manipulate databases.
Database queries are requests to retrieve data from a database. They are simple commands that indicate where and what the program will derive from a database.
On a web page, before data can be requested from the database, you must first establish a connection with the database.
$name_server = “servername”;
$user_name = “username”;
$pass_word = “password”;
// Start connection
$conn = new mysqli($name_server, $user_name, $pass_word);
// Check if connection is successful or not. If not successful, display the error. Otherwise, display Connected successfully
if ($conn->connect_error) {
die(“Connection failed: ” . $conn->connect_error);
}
echo “Connected successfully”;
? >
As the database contains sensitive information, extreme caution should be observed when connecting on a web page.
To learn more on the basics of SQL, Check W3School SQL Tutorial
Read also: Top Free E-Learning Websites For Nigerians
