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General Discussion

Posted by Maria Te
Maria Te
8,521 Points

What is the difference between a front-end developer and a back-end developer?

I have been creating websites and everywhere I hear something called front-end developer and a back-end developer. Some people say that it's the same thing. Many say that it's too complicated to explain. Can someone please explain the difference in a simple way?

Maria Te
Maria Te
8,521 Points

I only want to hear from people who can explain it in a simple and understandable way. Ask Steven Parker

Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points
Steven Parker
Steven Parker
231,236 Points

:bell: Hi, I was altered by your tag. It looks like Shay beat me to it and left a pretty good description. I would only add that back-end technologies are generally about implementing server apps. It's the front-end that communicates with them.

Maria Te
Maria Te
8,521 Points

Thanks Steven :-)

2 Answers

Shay Paustovsky
Shay Paustovsky
969 Points
Shay Paustovsky
Shay Paustovsky
969 Points

Hi Maria,

I'll do my best to explain this subject.

Front-End

Is referring to developers which use technologies, to build/create/program content which is visible on the client side. In the context of Front-End web development the technologies are: (HTML, CSS, JS).

Back-End

Is referring to developers which use programming languages such as: Python, Java, Ruby, PHP, to communicate with servers and databases to : retrieve, manipulate, add data to & from the server.

In-Conclusion

Back-End Technologies will be: PHP, Python, Ruby, Java, & more... What differentiates Back-End from Front-End is that Back-End technologies are used to communicate with servers and databases to perform the aforementioned tasks. Front-End technologies are used to build/construct the visual appearance or client-side of a website.

So to summon it up: Front-End: **Visual content which is available to the user. **Back-End: Non-Visual content, rather focusing on programming languages for server/database communication.

Hopefully I've cleared any confusions you've had Maria, if it was unclear I'm referring to Steven Parker for any additional information/fixes he might add.

Happy Coding,

Shay

Maria Te
Maria Te
8,521 Points
Maria Te
Maria Te
8,521 Points

So Front-End's main thing is what the client see's on the website using languages like HTML, Javascript, and CSS. While Back-End is mainly for databases, servers, and non-visual stuff on the website. Is that correct? Thanks so much!

Shay Paustovsky
Shay Paustovsky
969 Points
Shay Paustovsky
Shay Paustovsky
969 Points

Yes this is absolutely correct Maria, it's not that confusing to understand but sometimes can be.