Today we are going to explore two basic terms: Front-End (or frontend) and Back-End (or backend).
Each one of those terms is related to a web application or software side. Furthermore, behind each one there is different profiles and skills. We’ll see what are the Front-End and the Back-End, how there are working together and who is working on them.
The Front-End
The Font-End is the visible and public side. In all applications, it’s the part which the user has interactio, so all is displayed on the screen. We talk often about the client part, the user one.
In web, the Front-End developer is the webdesigner and also theHTML integrator (as this one combine both). We can also add the web graphic designer. HTML, CSS, Javascript (with its libray as Jquery) are a part of their tools. For applications we are using more application designer.
Le Back-End
After the Front-End definition, you must have an idea of what the Back-End is. Often we talk about the server side with the Back-End, everything you don’t see on the screen. If in the case of an application connected to a network or the web, the servers’ administration teams are among the Back-End teams, it is not just them. The Back-End also includes the entire hidden part of an application and therefore everything related to programming. This will include what is related to CMS engines (like WordPress nucleus code, a plugin, a computer graphics game engine like Unreal Engine, a game feature coding, …).
The Back-End developer is a network and/or programming specialist for web or software application. He works with programming languages like PHP, C++, Java, MySQL (for databases)
Front-End and Back-End together
A combined work
It’s obviously now Front-End and Back-End are closely linked. One cannot work without the other. They work together, because the creation and operation of a website or the development of an application often requires the skills of the two.
When the user performs actions via the interface, the Front-End sends requests to the Back-End which treats them. Once the treatment is completed, it sends the result to the Front-End which transmits them to the user.
More important and ambitious are the projects, more they will ask specialists on each side. This is the case in video games, for a large number of studios, including some independents, given the complexity and skills necessary for each aspect of the project. This is also the case for software (Adobe suite for example) or platforms (Facebook, Twitter/X), which have specialists for each field.
Two fields sometimes fused
It happens sometimes a same person works on the Front-End and the Back-End. It’s not impossible to acquire skills in both areas and sometimes it can be requested.
It’s often the case for CMS like WordPress or Joomla. With such tools, a Front-End developer may have less to deal with the technical and Back-End part of his project and conversely, a Back-End developer with the available themes and knowledge can modify them without a Front-End developer.
The most advanced specialists both in the Front-End and in the Back-End will be able to draw the maximum from the potential of CMS. They’ll can modify themes or even create their own, and also their own extensions.