Tag: programming languages

Web Development, programming skills and professions

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 31st March 2022
No Comments on Web Development, programming skills and professions

As the term itself suggests, Web Development is about building (developing) the application from scratch for the web. It is therefore about websites, web pages or anything else that runs on the Internet.

So, delving a little deeper into IT & Tech terminology, web development refers to the development of programming source code, the creation and organization of databases and markup languages, network protocols, web servers and computer security.

To start with, we will take a look at how to create a website and when it is necessary and recommended to contact a web developer. Furthermore, we will talk about the different specializations of web development.

Table of Contents

1. How to create a website

Wed development - how to create a website

Today, creating a website is not as difficult as it used to be. It is not necessary to have a technical or computer background. To create a dynamic website, it is sufficient to be able to install a CMS (Content Management System) software such as WordPress or Joomla on a hosting space and that’s it.

Consequently, anyone can put a simple website online themselves and manage it easily with a publication control panel.

Although CMS software is a perfect solution for creating a blog or a small web magazine, CMSs are not suitable for the development of more complex websites.

If the website is the front-end interface of other corporate information systems, it still requires design (web engineering) and programming (web development) skills.

According to the company’s needs, computer language professionals work on all the website’s functionalities. They then propose tailor-made solutions to fulfil their mission in the company.

Also explore the role of Web developer and Robotics Engineer

1.1 How a website works

A website is a set of hypertext documents and multimedia elements (images, videos, etc.) organized in web pages. In other words, the webmaster uploads the document files onto the web space of a server computer (host) connected to the Internet 24 hours a day.

Today, web developers are increasingly in demand. Indeed, the rapid developments in the IT sector and the digital transformation that all companies must manage have led to a strong demand for new programs, websites and applications. No company can do without a web presence, so it will need an IT professional who can structure and manage it in an appropriate and up-to-date form.

When users (client) connect to the host’s address via their browser, the server sends them the requested hypertext document. In this way, users can navigate between documents on remote computers, even on the other side of the world.

Also discover the role of a Web Designer

2. Difference between Internet and Web

Although people use them as synonyms, internet and web are not the same thing. The Internet was born about twenty years before the web. The Internet (network of networks) is the technological infrastructure, while the web (World Wide Web, better known as WWW) is a protocol.

2.1 From web 1.0 to web 2.0

Over the last twenty years, web development has evolved from the first generation to the second ( web 2.0 ). Web 2.0 is the era of social media, social networks and CMSs.

2.2 What is web 3.0?

In the coming years it will further evolve to the third generation ( web 3.0 ) with the spread of intelligent websites with artificial intelligence. It is a technological revolution that has already begun. Just think of chatbots, online virtual assistants and the recent improvements in the use of the Internet.

Another evolving trend is RPA (Robotic Process Automation) that promotes productivity gains through the automation of business processes.

Also explore the role of RPA Consultant, highly sought-after profile in today’s business world, particularly in digital services companies.

2.3 Responsive and mobile websites

Web development is no longer just about the PC platform, but multiplatform, because users access the web with different devices, including mobile (e.g. tablets, smartphones, consoles).
Therefore, it is necessary to develop a responsive website that automatically adapts the layout to the device used by the user.

As mobile technology is growing exponentially, so are IT professions related to app development. The role of the Android Developer is to develop applications for all devices that run on this mobile operating system.

Also explore the skills needed to position yourself for the booming job role of Android Developer.

3 Frontend & Backend Web Development

In addition, let’s delve a little deeper into the web development field and see how different IT specialized professionals work to develop a website for the internet.

There are two classifications for the Web Development:

Frontend Development
Backend Development

Frontend Development refers to the part of a website that the user interacts directly. For this reason developers call it the ‘client side’ of the application.

Backend Development is the server side of a website (the part of the website that users cannot see and interact). The portion of software that does not come in direct contact with the users and where developers store and arrange data.

Also read our article about Mobile Application Security Development Cheat Sheet

3.1 Who is the Front End Developer

The front end developer is the IT professional figure who is responsible for creating the graphical interface of a website or web portal, inserting the elements in the page, styling them (colours / fonts) and animating them.

Furthermore, in the modern web, the front end developer is also responsible for:

interacting with the back-end (to which it sends and from which it receives information to be displayed within the web page);
developing the logic of what happens in the interface.

What follow is a roadmap with a brief description of the languages and tools involved in the development of the front end.

HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is used to design the front end of web pages using markup language. It acts as a skeleton for a website, as it is used to make the structure of a website.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) affectionately called CSS, is a language designed simply to simplify the process of making web pages presentable. It is used to style our website.

JavaScript is a scripting language used to provide dynamic behaviour to our website.

Bootstrap is a collection of free and open-source tools for creating responsive websites and web applications. It is the most popular CSS framework for developing responsive and mobile-first websites. Nowadays, websites are perfect for all browsers (IE, Firefox and Chrome) and all screen sizes (Desktops, Tablets, Phablets and Phones).

With the appearance of new frameworks, the professions around web development are more and more specific and a large number of professionals specialize in a particular technology. Among the different possible specializations is the front-end developer AngularJS.

Also, learn more about AngularJS Developer skills

3.2 Who is the Back End Developer

On the other hand, the back end developer deals with the structure of a website or web application. Back-end developers take also care of the functioning of the site and the management of the data they need to process.

Therefore it is important is to know the basic functioning of most languages and to choose one according to its particularities. Rather than talking about languages, let’s talk about the tools that developers use to implement the functionalities of a site.

As before, here is a roadmap of the back-end development tools.

PHP is a server-side scripting language designed specifically for web development.
Java is one of the most popular and widely used programming language. It is highly scalable.
Python is a programming language that lets you work quickly and integrate systems more efficiently.
Node.js is an open source and cross-platform runtime environment for executing JavaScript code outside a browser.
Back End Frameworks are: Express, Django, Rails, Laravel, Spring, etc

C is a general-purpose language from the 70s, and it is still in use in systems programming and robotics. C++ was born in the 1980s. It is the language of choice for those looking for performance, as it can execute complex code very fast. It is used for the design of mobile applications, the programming of operating systems or video games. Moreover, in the creation of certain military programs.

Want to know more about the role of C/C++ Developer?

3.3 Back-End programmer skills

Web development back-end programmer skills

Also read our Back-End Developer detailed job description

The skills of the backend programmer are:

Back-end languages (PHP, Python, Java, C#, .Net etc.);
Databases, where developers store the data they need to manage. The types of database is versatile and adapt to the needs of the system;
Server, it is important for a backend developer to be able to take care of the online appearance of the site and its maintenance.

There are many specialties and languages in the field of web development, including Swift, Node.js, React.js or Ruby.
Ruby is a free object-oriented and multi-paradigm programming language that is easy to understand and pleasant to use.

Also discover the role of the Ruby developer.

4. What the Full Stack Developer does

What characterizes the full stack developer is the ability to develop both the front end and the back end of a website. Therefore, the knowledge of the full stack developer includes everything that characterizes the two types of developers we have seen above.

An IT professional capable of dealing with the structure of web pages, their styling, animations, creating data structures, designing databases and implementing site functionality. Full Stack developers are familiar with all languages: HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Python, etc.

Despite this vast knowledge, it is very difficult for such professionals to develop a website completely on their own. In fact, their task is mainly to collaborate with front and back end developers and support them in the realization of particular functionalities.

5. Programming languages for creating a website

As we have seen in the different specializations of web development, a programming language is a computer language used by programmers to communicate with computers. It is therefore a set of instructions written in a specific language to perform a specific task.

In conclusion, this is a list of the most widely programming languages used by the industries :

HTML language
PHP language
ASP language
Javascript language
Java language
Python language
CSS style sheets
C language
C++ language
C# language
R language
Go language
Ruby language
Swift

The IT professional that translate a graphic language into a computer language is the HTML integrator. By assembling the different elements of a website, the HTML integrator makes sure that they are aligned with the desired aesthetic and maintain a practical design.

Also delve deeper into the role of the HTML integrator

Some languages are gaining importance with the evolution of the semantic web, including: Open Graph Markup. Very useful to explain the content’s context of a page and gain control of the snippets.

6. Web Development and Cybersecurity Best Practices

IT professionals involved in Web Development need to have a good understanding of the importance of digital hygiene and web safety. In order to avoid common website security attacks, it is crucial to follow the highest cybersecurity standards across the development cycle.

Some cybersecurity good practices to put in place are as follows:

Ensure that the development team has attended cybersecurity training.
Set up a web application firewall (WAF).
Use parameterized statements in SQL tests.
Keep all security platforms and applications up to date.
Partition user data away from API file systems.

These good cybersecurity practices will help reduce human error (which contributes to an estimated 85% of data breaches). They will also increase the quality of applications.

Making cybersecurity a priority throughout every development cycle is therefore necessary to to battle the flood of digital attacks that threaten the modern web.

Tags IT careers, programming languages, web developer career, web development

About us Featured Podcast Interviews

How To Learn Python With Rune

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 3rd September 2021
No Comments on How To Learn Python With Rune

Rune holds a PhD in Computer Science and works as a freelance Python consultant specialising in big data and back-end development. When the pandemic hit, he kickstarted the learning platform Learn Python With Rune to teach others how to learn Python and apply it. He tells us about his career story & how to learn Python, how one should go about mastering this powerful programming language.

🔊 Subscribe to the podcast

You might also enjoy this interview on how to code well.

How did you go from doing a PhD to working in tech?

Back in the days when I started university, I actually didn’t think of doing a PhD in the first place. I was just starting but I thought learning is awesome, so I immediately decided I wanted to get a PhD.

But while I was studying for my PhD, I realised it wasn’t really for me because it wasn’t really deeply about science. It’s more about publishing papers and getting funding to continue your career.

So after I finished my PhD, I started as a developer mainly in the security area (I’ve been working a lot in the security business.) I realised that the one thing that I liked was getting things done, getting projects done. So, I slowly became also a manager type person and worked a few years as a manager. Then I continued working in a SaaS company as an engineering manager for architecture and back-end teams and stuff like that.

But then you went back to development. How is that? When did you decide to kickstart Learn Python With Rune?

I realised I missed programming a lot, and that’s actually where my journey with Learn Python With Rune started.

I wanted to learn programming again. As a manager, you slowly lose touch with programming because you’re not really doing any professional code anymore. And I kind of missed that.

So, a bit more than a year ago, I got the idea. It was actually when the coronavirus pandemic started. I had more time and was working from home, and I was like “I want to program again.” So, I started this small project. I started producing small projects, publishing them on a web page, and one thing led to another. And it just escalated.

Now, I work as a freelance consultant and they hire me and I do programming again in a freelance manner. And the reason I like that is because you kind of get more freedom. So, if you want to have some vacation, you just do it. It’s more freedom.

Why Python? What makes Python so great?

I had to start somewhere, right? I hadn’t been programming that much in Python professionally, but I’ had been programming in C a lot. C is a really low-level programming language and it’s very effective, but you can make so many errors, pointers and stuff like that. It’s just a pain when you don’t know much because you can just do what a processor can do.

But Python is abstracted away. And what happened with Python over the last maybe 10 years is that it has so many libraries. So you can do everything efficiently. It has been developed a lot, for instance, in data science and big data and stuff like that (I myself work with Python in the big data and back-end side of things.) And you can do all this processing now because you have the libraries that can do all the heavy work, but you just manage it in Python code so it can get beautiful.

It’s easy to understand, It’s readable. It’s almost super code. That’s the main reason I love Python. But there are also some things that I’m not so fond of.

Like what? What is Python not so great at?

It does hide some of the things away, some of the objects and how they are represented. When you are programming in C you know everything exactly on a byte level. In Python, it’s kind of hidden away.

And I see a lot of beginners having a hard time and struggling with what an object is and what object-oriented programming is, for instance. Because we say that, in Python, everything is an object, but really, is it?. I don’t know. It depends on the implementation. And then they confuse object-oriented programming on top of that.

So, I think it does a really good job, but there are some areas that are not easy to understand in Python. But the pain you get from that is way less than the efficiency and productivity you can get from writing code in Python.

How should one learn Python? What are your main pieces of advice?

Nowadays it’s difficult to start actually, in some sense, because there’s so much information out there. So my first advice is to ask yourself: what is it that you want to achieve with Python? What is it that you want to learn? What is it you want to code?

If you just start thinking “I want to program in Python,” then you start a little bit here, a little bit there. All the information is available. The problem is that it’s unstructured. So you get excited about this little bit here, and then you do that, but they are different types of using Python.

If you want to program back-end like I’m doing, then that is one kind of doing. If you just want to do data science, that’s a different way. You don’t really need to master programming that well, you just need to use some libraries and understand a little about math and so on.

So it really depends on what you want to achieve. I think people often go around too much. So, advice number one is figure out what it is that you want with it.

Then find one teacher, one style. It’s just easier. If you take a little bit of this tutorial on the Internet, then a different tutorial, people can do things very differently and it can be difficult to have a cohesive approach.

The third issue is about managing your expectations about how fast it is to learn. When you learn a new language, you can listen to it and understand it. But when you have to express yourself, it’s different. It’s difficult. You don’t know how to say things, but you understand it. And it’s the same with programming.

Suddenly, when you see the solution, how people solved it, you go “yeah, I understand it all and that makes total sense.” But when you have to write it, you might have no idea how to solve problems. And that’s kind of the same problem you have right when you start. You understand Python, but you cannot express yourself in it.

So, I think that would be my three main pieces of advice for beginners.

One: figure out what you want to do. Two: find one tutor or one style of programming, one book. Three: manage your expectations. It takes a bit more time to learn to write Python than to read it.

What’s the difference between a senior Python developer and a junior one?

There are actually some aspects I think people overlook.

One of them is that, when you have a junior in a work environment, you need to help them. If you take somebody straight out of college, for instance, there are a lot of things they don’t teach in college. You know, how to do metrics, monitoring, how to ensure everything is healthy in your system. They don’t teach them that, so that’s one thing they’re lacking. It’s the experience.

Another thing that juniors tend to do is focus on building small systems. Most college-educated and self-taught people tend to do small projects because they’re easier and you have greater chances of success.

But there is an enormous difference between having one tiny system with one tiny server and a distributed system with tens and sometimes hundreds of systems that need to interact with each other and you need to figure out what to do.

What happens when you make changes to this small thing here? How do you rebuild it when it breaks? How do you build systems that scales in features and amount of users and volume of data?

Juniors usually can solve small-scale problems, whereas a senior developer can handle bigger scale problems.

Another aspect I noticed over the years is that juniors are often a bit afraid. When starting in a team, when starting to develop, a junior will not be so quick to contribute to it and will want people to check the code more often and to help them more, because they are a bit afraid.

So, when things go wrong, they don’t really have the confidence to just do stuff. and break stuff and put it back up again. They like that kind of experience and confidence.

My advice for new people is to build something bigger. Build something with somebody else.

You might have done tiny projects in college, or you may have worked together with other people for a bit. But try to make something bigger because you need to be able to build interfaces that interact with each other., where somebody builds one piece and somebody else builds another piece. That will teach you the kind of architecture design principles behind all of it.

I still think that’s a less important part today because there’s a tendency to go to all these microservices or services that are small in framework. And that makes them easier to understand, easier to debug, easier to maintain by other people.

So it’s not as difficult as back in the day when you had this one big monolith that was running everything. Right now, you have small services that are easier to understand, but it also moves the problem somewhere else. How do you find where the problem is when the system goes down? You need to have really really good monitoring to find things nowadays.

So you actually move some of the complexity over to the infrastructure guys or the SREs (Site Reliability Engineers). That’s why they are paid a higher rate now than they used to be. A good SRE is so valuable when you need to find problems in big systems.

For more tips on how to master Python, make sure to follow Rune on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook.

He’s working on a new course portfolio focusing on how to use Python for financial analysis, so stay tuned!

Check out more of our interviews from our podcast episodes.

Tags behind the screens, Data Science, how to learn python, how to learn python with rune, interview, podcast, programming languages, Python, rune

Press review Tech Magazine

Weekly News: The Best Language for Economic Research

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 28th August 2020
No Comments on Weekly News: The Best Language for Economic Research

The Best Language for Economic Research

Python, Matlab, Julia — R. Who would win the battle of the best language for Economic research? That’s probably one of the most common online queries in the programming world. There is just something about humans and our obsession with chasing the very best of the best.

Discover Python Projects to Try – From Beginner to Advanced

In reality, of course, each language has its nuances and areas
in which it shines. Anyone claiming to have a definitive answer on the matter
should come up with some solid arguments to back their verdict.

And that’s exactly what two London School of Economics researchers did. They looked at different languages based on the power of available libraries, the speed and possibilities when handling large datasets, and the speed and ease-of-use for a computationally intensive task.

Hint: the winner has a woman’s name.

Thanks, but no thanks

That’s the polite
version of what UK students were shouting in front of the Department of
Education over a week ago. The cause of their anger was an algorithm.

University admission exams had been cancelled because of the
pandemic. Teachers proposed predicting their student’s scores as a way to
compromise. The education department dismissed the idea on the grounds that
previous research had proved such estimates to be biased. Instead, they decided
to use an algorithm.

Well, that one turned out to be even more biased. Close to 40% of students received lower grades than what their teachers had predicted, potentially harming their chances to get into their university of choice. Those in working-class and disadvantaged communities were disproportionately affected.

The issue has now been fixed, but it’s a textbook examples of the dangers of AI bias.

Join our community and find your next job or expert in IT

How To Learn Python With Rune

Tags AI, AI bias, Julia, language for economic research, MATLAB, programming languages, Python, R, tech news, technology news

Job Descriptions Web Developer

React.js Developer : Job Description

Post author By Mindquest
Post date 18th June 2020
No Comments on React.js Developer : Job Description

Use our template to create a compelling and comprehensive React.js Dev job description to attract top talent.

In the field of web development, there is a diversity of jobs depending on the programming language or environment concerned web developer, full-stack developer, swift developer, node.js developer… The React.js Developer is among these different specializations.

React.js is a JavaScript code library used for creating user interfaces. React.js developers are mainly responsible for front-end web application development.

Discover the 10 of the Best SAP Experts in Germany to Follow Online

What is the role of a React.js Developer?

User interface development

Firstly, the main mission of the developer React.js lies in front-end development. Using the JavaScript library allows coders to quickly develop user interfaces. React.js is generally used for creating projects that require a certain aestheticism. Easier to read and write than PHP and offering good performance; React.js quickly won over the developers community and its adoption keeps on growing within the industry.

Unit testing

Further, performing unit tests makes it possible to verify that the developed application works perfectly and does not have any problem with its code linking.

In addition, it is a guarantee of quality that the developer must not neglect in their activities to perfectly meet the expectations of the client or project.

Writing technical documents

To avoid misunderstandings and to better cater to the end user’s needs, React.js developers may also be required to write technical documents.

Required skills of the React.js Developer

Mastery of languages

These developers must, of course, master the React environment.

For instance, being familiar with other languages such as HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and a number of APIs… Technical tools and frameworks related to web development are also great complementary assets.

Curiosity

Moreover, the developer must be curious about the advances in web environments and cutting-edge technologies. In order to apply the latest innovations to the design of interfaces.

Adaptability

The web environment is constantly evolving with new tools and languages. This requires developers to be also able to easily adapt to the changing ecosystem to remain at the forefront of development.

Within the industry

React.js was created in 2013 by Facebook to manage the network’s news feed. Instagram, Netflix, Airbnb or even WhatsApp use this library.

React appeals to developers because of its quick interface creation capabilities and ease of use.

Salary of the React.js Developer

The average daily rate of a React.js Developer fluctuates between €350 and €500.

Training of the React.js Developer

To become a React.js Developer, it is recommended to follow a computer engineering training specializing in web development. More specifically in React.js

Discover all the web development programming skills and professions

Tags Coding, IT careers, programming languages, react.js, React.js developer