Getting started with Web Development...
Hello everyone, this is my first blog. To be true coming up with topics for a blog is difficult, even if you know topics writing them is more difficult. So I thought why not start with something I struggled a lot with. And yes it was getting started with web development. I am a mechanical engineer who has decided to make a career shift to web development.
When starting with web development I was lost with how much content I could see when I googled it. So this blog will help beginners who are looking to get into web development.
Let's now dive right into how to structure your learning about web development.
Learn how the web works
One would say why to learn how the web works when are learning about web development. But this is one important topic to understand while learning web development.
Watch this video to understand how the web works.Dive into the basics
To create a website one needs to learn these few languages/technologies as a web developer.
- HTML
- CSS
- JavaScript
The above-mentioned languages can be learned from youtube,website, books for free :
- HTML : FreeCodeCamp , The Net Ninja , W3schools
- CSS: FreeCodeCamp , The Net Ninja , W3schools , Css-tricks
- JavaScript: FreeCodeCamp , Akshay Saini's JS playlist , JavaScript.info * , Eloquent JavaScript Book **
Above mentioned resources are enough for one to get going with these languages. Once comfortable the best thing to get become better at these is to practice small projects.
Projects links:
Learn a JavaScript Framework
Once you think you have understood the core technologies used in web development then the next step is to pick a frontend framework/library. Why do we even need a library/framework when we know the core technology? The simple yet perfect answer would be to reduce time and ease in building websites. Frameworks/libraries help us to build highly reactive web user interfaces by taking away the nitty-gritty details you'd have to take care of while using vanilla javascript (plain javascript)
I will be mentioning three frontend technologies only because I think one of the three one will be easily able to grab a job if he or she is wanting to learn web development.
- React.js
- Angular
- Vue.js
The best way to learn these is to go through their documentation. React.js docs , Angular docs , Vue.js docs
I am at the moment learning React to build basic websites. So I will include other resources that we can use to learn React.js -
After learning the frontend framework then you can get your hands dirty and start making frontend websites. You can watch this video for example basic projects
Learn Server-Side Development
Web development is about two main areas: Frontend development and backend development. We had a look at frontend development - the obvious next step is to learn backend (server-side) development as well.
What does the backend do? Well, the Backend or server-side handles a few of these things such as storing user data, complex operations, registering product orders, etc. These would all be tasks that happen on a server.
Why do we need a server? We will need a server for security, performance, and storing data in one place.
By server-side development, we will need to learn a server-side language and understand how a database works(used to store data ).
I would recommend if one wants to learn backend development then start with Node.js as a server-side language together with Express.js which is a very popular server-side language with the framework.
Resources to learn :
Learn How To Work With Databases
While learning databases you can learn one of these to get started ie. a SQL or a NoSQL database. This video will help you choose between one.
For SQL, the most popular engine is MySQL. It's free to use!
For NoSQL, MongoDB is the most popular option.
I am learning MongoDB so I will add its resources:
Master The Basics
Once you have a grasp over the frontend as well as the backend then the next thing you should and must focus on is to practice your knowledge by making projects. For ideas, you can start with cloning any website, app for example Spotify, youtube, Twitter clones, etc. All these will help you get a better grasp of all the detailed topics that you have gone through.
To master Full Stack development is frontend as well as backend you will need to keep practicing.
I will end this blog with this simple quote:
Practices Makes a Man Perfect
Happy Coding!!!