I have been making Web apps for a while now. Mostly frontends.
I have always wanted to make fully functioning websites, and therefore, my question.
The question might be dumb, so please bear with me...
I have realized that there are two ways I can develop web apps:
1. I initialize/work with stacks (MERN, LAMP). Everything inside one folder. The
backend throws the HTML code (as far as I understand).
-----or-----
2. I make a Frontend service (localhost:3000 for React (for example)) and I create
a RESTful API (with its own endpoint, say localhost/somethingBackend or
something like localhost:8000).
My question is:
Did I understand this right ? Is this how webdev works ?
And the more important one, WHEN TO USE WHAT ?
What is faster or better ?
Normally I'd google something like this, but there's either not much Information about this, or more probable, I'm searching the wrong thing.
Please help me clear my concepts.
Thank you for reading this long post :)
Both are correct approaches.
But the first one is a more traditional approach towards web app but it comes with the difficulty of writing sensible, reusable code in it compared to writing random-looking nonsense which happens to work, along with performance and reliability issues.
Writing code with a RESTful approach is what I personally prefer. The majority of frameworks use this approach. Maintaining code between teams is easy.
Modern backends like nodejs can also throw HTML as a response(see templating engines) but as I said option 2 is always preferred.
This is kind of a trick question. I started working in a company that uses this framework, the thing is that they can't do simple things I design. The UI seems outdated and simply awful. I wanted to know what do you think about this framework? Am I being dumb to ask to start using new front-end frameworks?
I am not going to say that i know smartgwt that much, but from the showcase looks like something designed to enterprise application with really complex UI, smartgwt is based on GWT, and there is many alternatives some are old and some are old, sencha GXT is one, other newer and more modern alternative are GWT material design and the future proofed which is already working with j2cl and the next version of GWT -GWT3.0- is domino-ui.
and no you are not dumb for asking to start using new frontend frameworks, but you also needs to count for the cost of the switch, is it worth the switch? what is the size of the application? how many developers working on that application? how much logic is shared with the server? can you really recruit enough people for the new framework? what is the switch plan and how you make sure it will work out? .. so simply there is more to it than just what framework you want to use.
And really i dont think this is a good place to ask the question, but maybe you need to discuss with people who may know the framework better, maybe you need to give the gwt gitter channel a try
I'm following the Heroku scala tutorial at https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/scala
I was able to get everything working, but I have absolutely no idea where to go from here. I'd like to avoid using a framework (for now) if I can since the point of this is to learn scala and create a website with it. Their webwords example they list as a followup is completely different from the basic hello world example.
Mainly, I have no idea how heroku/scala/sbt know how to actually start the app and respond to requests since the samples are so different. I've looked at some frameworks and they seem pretty similar in that regard.
I'd really just like to know what the standard method for creating routes is (if there is such a thing). Any other tips about how to create a small MVC framework would also be of great help to me. A lot of the tutorials I see seem to make assumptions about what you already know (e.g. you would already know how to create routes and the like) but I can't find any tutorials that are even simpler.
Ultimately, the purpose of creating any web site, regardless of the technology used, is to offer some sort of content or functionality. You can't just say "I want to create a web site." any more than you could say "I want to build a building."
Once you have defined what the web site is supposed to do, then and only then is appropriate to consider how to implement it. The purpose of most frameworks to provide easy to use solutions to common and often difficult problems. For example, using a web application server like Jetty, Tomcat, or Glassfish trivializes most of the "route" issues. Any time that you save by using available tools can then be reinvested in creating better content.
On the other hand, if you really do want to implement an entire web server from scratch, the place to start is with the basic Hello app. In Hello.apply, you can start by looking at the HttpRequest (JBoss JavaDoc). getURI() will give you the request URL, and you can work out, from there, how to handle the different routes that you want to support.
I need to develop a client application for a site that host and show images.
The client should shows all new images and take a picture and send to website.
I'm a newbie to iOS programming so this question:
In an application alike this, there's the need to create a Model? I ask this question because I think I can do anything with Controllers but maybe I'm wrong.
While there is never a "need" to create a model, it's good form to do so, and it'll likely save you many headaches down the road. Ultimately, you're going to need to deal with images and websites and how they interact with each other and whatnot, so you might as well do it in models from the outset.
I'm as guilty as anyone for wanting to see immediate results and hack together something quickly, but I always regret it later on, and have to spend more time than I'd expected refactoring it into something usable.
The MVC pattern as used in Mac OS and iOS applications isn't something best explained in an answer box but here's a link to some simple documentation about the roles of Models, Views and Controllers
Some good basic introductions to start with, which also have relevant links to the next stage of documentation are:
Cocoa Core Competencies
Cocoa Application Competencies for iOS
Read these excellent articles first. You'll learn better and faster if you do some basic reading.
I realize that this may be subjective but I truly need an answer to this and I can't seem to find anything close enough to it in the rest of the Forum. I have read some folks say that the framework (any MVC framework) can obscure too many things while others say that it can promote good practices. I realize that frameworks are great for a certain level of programmer but what about individuals starting out? Should one just focus on the language or learn them together?
I think web development is way more than anyone grasps when they first start getting into it! Read this and know that it is all optional...but required to be really good at what you do.
I suggest that you spend time learning your language first. I would suggest learning C# simply because it is vastly more marketable and it is usually directly supported in most of MS products. By learning C# - programming in ASP.NET, console apps, servers, services, desktop apps, etc. will all be within your reach. You can program for most of the MS products as well as on many Linux type platforms.
Once you have this down then you can move to programming for the web as programming for the web has some intricacies that most other environments don't have. Concepts such as sessions, caching, state management, cross site scripting, styling, client side vs server side programming, browser support, how HTTP works, get vs post, how a form works, cookies, etc. are all at the top of the list of things to learn separately not to mention learning the ASP.NET base frameworks and namespaces.
Once you have the programming language down and then the concepts of web programming I suggest that you pause and learn database design. Don't worry about performance just yet...try to first learn good design. Performance will come next. A good start for you is Access (blasphemy I know). It is easy for a beginner to work with. And it translates into a more robust platform such as SQL Server easily. Learn at the very least some SQL...but I suggest that you learn as much as your stomach can handle. I heard someone say that SQL is like the assembly language of the database. The number one thing that slows an application to a halt is piss poor database design and poor queries. Once you have this knowledge - stuff it away in the back of your mind and take a look at a good ORM. NHybernate is probably best at the moment but is more complex that the basic learner needs. For that reason I currently suggest getting LINQ to SQL up and running as it is SUPER EASY to work with. Then look at Entity Framework (although I still think it sucks...and you should wait till EF 2.0...ERRRRR...now 4.0 released with .net 4.0). Then NHybernate.
Now is the time to start to understand the infrastructure that is required by web development. You may bump your head against this as you learn some of the web programming stuff. But you need to understand the basics of DNS, IIS, load balancers, sticky routing, round robin, clustering, fault tolerance, server hardware setup, web farms, cache farms (MemCached Win32, Velocity), SMTP, MSMQ, database mail queuing, etc. Many people may say you don't need this. That there will be some knowledgeable network admin to help you out here. However they generally know things that impact them...not you. The more you know here the more valuable you will be to the company that hires you.
Now you can get into the details of best practices and design patterns. Learn about the basics such as repository pattern, factory pattern, facade pattern, model view presenter pattern, model view controller pattern, observer pattern, and various other things. Follow Martin Fowler and others for suggestions here. Take a look at concepts such as inversion of control, dependency injection, SOLID principle, DRY, FIT, test driven design, and domain driven design, etc. Learn as much as you can here before moving to the next step.
NOW you can think about frameworks! Start by creating a basic application with ASP Classic (comes with IIS for free!). This will give you a flavor of a no frills web development environment. Take a look at ASP.NET web forms (briefly) to see how MS attempted to make things easier by hiding all the complex stuff (which you now know how to manage on your own from your readings of the above materials!!!). Now you no longer need ASP.NET Web Forms. Move immediately to ASP.NET MVC. The MVC framwork gives you all the power you need to create a good easily manageable web application. If you build something really big no framework for pure web development may be able to deal with what you need. However MVC is way more extensible for such UBER custom scenarios.
Now that you have made it through the journey to ASP.NET MVC you can take a look at things such as Microsofts Enterprise Application Blocks (such as they use at MySpace). Take a look at Elmah error logging (a must have). Look at how to build a custom SiteMapProvider for your MVC site. If you need to get into searching stuff understand Lucene.NET.
And if you made it this far...you are ready to figure out the rest on your own as it comes up! Have fun. There is a lot of room in this space for a person with some understanding of all of the above concepts.
You'll be using SOME sort of framework. The question is, what level do you want to learn at?
You'll probably not care to learn about asynchronous I/O and mutlithreaded vs. select/poll styles of web servers.
So then, your language of choice is going to provide a layer atop this, the languages preferred "web interface" API. For Java it's Servlets, the lowest level you'd typically code at for server side web applications.
You should find what this "lower level" layer is in your language and learn the API at least. You should know basic HTTP like status codes, cookies, redirects, POST vs GET, URL encoding, and possibly what some of the more important headers do.
You'll then come to appreciate what these higher level frameworks bring to the table, and be better able to evaluate what is the appropriate level of abstraction for your needs/project.
Web development requires a certain degree of organization, since it relies so much on separation of concerns. The browser, for example, is designed to display data and interact with the user. It is not designed to lookup data from a database, or perform analysis. Consequently, a web development framework can help provide services that are needed to make the browser experience a practical one.
The nice thing about employing a platform is that it will provide core components essential to the making of any web application that you won't (and shouldn't) have to think about, such as user membership, for example. Many of the design decisions and deep thinking about how to implement these services has already been done for you, freeing you to focus on what you actually want you application to do.
Of the available frameworks, I find that frameworks that implement the MVC (model-view-controller) pattern are very practical. They clearly organize different functions of web development, while giving you full control over the markup presented to the browser.
All that said, you will need some fundamental skills to fully realize web development, such as HTML, CSS, and a core programming language for the actual underlying program, whether you use a platform or not.
I don't think I agree with the Andrew. I don't think learning C is a pre requisite for web development. In fact, learning something like Javascript, Action-script or PHP is often easier due in large part to the vast numbers of sites and tutorials available, and are enough to expose you to the fundamentals of pretty much every programing language. Variable, Conditions, Loops and OOP. I just think learning C# introduces a lot of learning that isn't really relevant to web development such as pointers and memory management.
As for wether you should learn a framework first? Definitely not. Never ever. You need to be able to stand on your own two feet first and be comfortable with HTML/CSS, Server Side Scripting (PHP/ASP/Python/Ruby whatever) and love it or loathe it, but you're going to have to have a decent understanding of Flash and Action-script.
The order in which you learn these is entirely up to you. But my learning plan would go like this...
Start with HTML. It takes about half an hour to get the basics (it's made up of tags with attributes, end of lesson 1) and it's good to get it out of the way first.
Then start leaning CSS. You'll get the basics again, very quickly. But CSS is a minefield so expect to spend the rest of your life figuring it out.
Next up Action-script. Most people wouldn't agree with me, but bear with me. HTML and CSS aren't programming languages. Action-script is. And learning a programing language for the first time is difficult and tedious. The advantage Action-script has over most other languages is that the results are very visual. It's enjoyable to work with and you can sit back and take pride in your accomplishments at regular intervals. This isn't possible with server-side scripting languages or Javascript and there's a whole host of stuff you need to learn to get server side scripting up and running. You can't build space invaders in with PHP for example.
I've changed my thinking here. I would encourage beginners to ignore ActionScript and focus on Javascript. I still believe that being able to see stuff on screen quickly is a good motivator, but I would encourage people to look at canvas tag tutorials and frameworks. Javascript has come a long way since 2009, and is now the lingua franca of programming, so it's incredibly useful. My initial point about HTML and CSS not being programming languages still stands.
Then, you can start with your server side language. At the same time, you're going to have to figure out the database stuff. I recommend PHP and MySQL because it's free.
Again, I've changed my thinking here. I would encourage beginners to use Javascript on the backend (Node.js), and split their database learning between relational databases and noSql solutions such as Mongo.
Then.... learn your framework. Or better yet, roll your own. That's what I've been doing and it's supercharged my learning.
If you're getting into web development, You HAVE to know how those building blocks work. You don't have to be an expert in all the areas, but you should try to become an expert in at least one of them. If you start learning a framework before you get the fundamentals you'll be in a sticky middle ground where you don't understand why things don't work which will infuriate you, and anyone who has to work with you.
you should learn how to use framework because it would be helpfull for u in the future also it is easier to learn.
MVC will help you a lot .. trust me ... i was developing web project not using mvc and it is like mess ... (in the past there are no well know mvc and i never heard about it)
Short version: yes, and then some.
FWIW : This more generic answer may be of use to someone out there.
What: Frameworks take out tedium of using boiler-plate code again and again. They hide complexity and design issues under wizards and conventions. They also use special libraries, design patterns etc. in ways that are far from obvious to a beginner.
So using a framework is good for getting things done without knowing exactly how - like using an ATM without knowing the internals. You just add your code bits in certain places and things 'just work'.
HTML > CSS > Ruby > SQL > Rails/Javascript framework > Libraries would make for a good learning track. Rest you learn as you go along by being curious, hanging out on forums or as extended learning as need arises.
HOW: The problem starts the minute you step outside simple text-book examples (i.e. when you try to get it to do something even a bit different).
Decoding cryptic error messages when it seems like you've done everything right but things still don't work. Searching on error strings in forums may help out. Or just re-starting from scratch.
Reading up articles and books, videos, trial-and-error, hard-work, search-engines, stackoverflow/forums, local gurus, design articles, using libraries, source-code browsing are a good way to climb the learning curve gently and on a requirement basis.
Working-against-the-framework is the number one problem for beginners. Understanding what the framework expects is key to avoiding white-hair in this phase. Having enough insight to manually do what the framework automates may help reduce this second-guessing effort.
WHY: For more advanced debugging/design, it's good to know what the framework is doing under the hood esp. when things don't work as you planned. Initially you can take the help of local-gurus or forum gurus who've already done the hard work. Later as you go deeper you can take on more of that role. For example there's a "rebuilding rails" book which looks under the hood of Ruby on Rails.
Note: Some of the tips are oriented towards Ruby/Rails but you can easily substitute your favourite language/framework instead.