What is Full Stack Development?

‘What is Full Stack Development?’ – Let’s clear it once and for all!

The term full-stack development refers to the development of both the front-end (client-side) and back end (server-side) components of an application. This web development process encompasses three layers of the software program – the presentation layer, the business logic layer, and the database layer. While the presentation layer is the front-end part that deals with the user interface, the business logic layer is the back-end part that deals with data validation. Full-stack development takes care of all the steps involved in the process right from the conception of an idea to the actual finished product.

In fact, ‘full stack’ implies a collection or a set of series of technologies required to complete a software or web development project. The word ‘stack’ here refers to a collection of sub-modules. These software components or sub-modules are combined together to accomplish the expected results and to ensure that the application works without the need for other modules.

Having separate professionals work on each of these different subsystems of the web development process can be extremely complex and expensive. That is why most software development companies are now looking for proficient full-stack developers who are well-trained in working across multiple stacks. To know more about what is full-stack development and what are the technologies involved in it, keep reading!

What is a full-stack developer?

A full-stack developer is a software programmer or a web developer who works on both the front-end and back-end of an application or a website. They are equipped to tackle web development projects that involve building user-facing websites, managing databases, or working with clients during the planning stage of the projects.

Being a full-stack developer does not necessarily mean that you need to have mastered everything that comes under the front-end or back-end of web development. It just means that you are capable of working on both sides and understand all the elements that are involved in the development of an application.

Technologies related to full-stack development

Understanding the technologies involved in full-stack development is an essential part of learning what is full-stack development. Moreover, in order to call yourself a full stack developer you need to know and learn these basic tools and technologies. Here is a quick guide to what are those:

Front end development

In web development, the front end is the visible part of a web application or a website and is responsible for user experience. The user can directly interact with the front-end side of the web application or the website. It includes the web design and the content production of the website. 

Front end languages

The following languages are used to build the front-end portion of an application or a website development:

HTML: HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language. It is used to design the front-end part of web development using a markup language. HTML is the combination of Hypertext and Markup language. Hypertext determines the link between different web pages and the markup language defines the text documentation within the tag and fixes the structure of the web pages.

CSS: CSS refers to Cascading Style Sheets and is a designed language that simplifies the process of making web pages appealing. CSS enables you to focus on your web design and lets you apply a style to web pages. Moreover, it allows you to do this independent of the HTML that makes up each web page.

JavaScript: JavaScript is a scripting language in web development that can be used to add functionalities to a website to make it interactive for the user. It is used to enhance the user experience and add features to websites and web-based software.

Front-end frameworks & libraries

AngularJS: it is a JavaScript open-source front-end framework that is used to develop SPAs (single page web applications). It is a constantly growing and expanding framework that offers advanced ways to manage web development. It converts static HTML to dynamic HTML. Moreover, it is an open-source project that can be used and changed by anyone freely. It extends the attributes of the HTML with Directives, and consequently, the data is bound with the HTML.

React.js: React is an efficient, flexible and declarative JavaScript library maintained by Facebook. It is used for building user interfaces in web development. It is an open-source, component-based front-end library that is responsible only for the presentation layer of the app.

Bootstrap: Bootstrap is an open-source free tool collection for building responsive web applications and websites. It is the most popular CSS, HTML, and JavaScript framework used for developing mobile-first, responsive web design.

jQuery: it is an open-source JavaScript library that streamlines the interactions between JavaScript and an HTML/CSS document (or more precisely the Document Object Model, DOM). jQuery simplifies HTML document manipulation and traversing, DOM animations, browser event handling, cross-browser JavaScript development, and Ajax interactions.

SASS: it is the most mature, reliable and robust CSS extension language in web development. It is used to extend the functionality of the existing CSS of a website that includes everything from variables, inheritance, and nesting.

Some other popular frameworks and libraries are Foundation, Semantic-UI, Materialize, Backbone.js, Ember.js, Express.js etc. Apart from the knowledge of front-end technologies and frameworks, you also need to keep in mind some essential strategies in front end development to become a successful full stack developer. They also come under the basic guide to what is full-stack development. Here are some basic tips to follow:

•       Use text editors to enable shortcuts and its facilities, i.e., Atom, Sublime, Visual Studio etc.
•       Learn Git and git commands like add, init, commit etc for version control and to work with the team.
•       Make responsible user interface using a grid system.
•       Understand the working of HTTP, JSON, GraphQL APIs to fetch data through Axios and other tools.
•       Learn tools like npm & yarn package managers, browser DevTools and sass CSS pre-processor.
•       You also need to learn some design skills to make the web development layout look better.

Back end

As we have mentioned above, back-end development refers to the server-side development of web development with a special emphasis on how the application or the website works. It is accountable for the management of the application database through queries and APIs from client-side commands. The back-end section is developed using the following libraries, frameworks, and languages:

PHP: it is a server-side scripting language designed especially for web development. Since PHP code is executed on the server-side, it is also known as the server-side scripting language.

Java: Java is one of the most widely used programming languages. Java components are easily available and the language is extremely scalable.

C++: it is a general-purpose programming language and is now widely used for competitive programming. It is also sometimes used as a backend language.

Python: it is a programming language that lets you work efficiently and quickly, and also lets you integrate systems more efficiently in web development.

Node.js: it is an open-source cross-platform runtime environment that is used for executing JavaScript code outside a browser. Note that NodeJS is not a framework or a programming language. It can be used for building back-end services like extension APIs for web or mobile apps. It is also used by some major companies like Uber, Walmart, PayPal, Netflix etc.

Backend Frameworks

Popular frameworks used for backend development in full-stack development are Django, Express, Rails, Spring, Laravel etc.

Some other popular backend scripting languages and programs you need to know are C#, REST, Ruby, GO etc. Moreover, to completely comprehend what is full-stack development and the knowledge you need to have for backend development including the following points:

•       The ability to handle request-response of APIs for storing and retrieving data.
•       The knowledge to structure the data in an efficient manner.
•       Please note that the security of data is important.

Remember that JavaScript is necessary for all stacks in web development as it is a dominant technology on the internet.

Database

Database in full-stack development refers to the collection of inter-related data that helps in the retrieval, modification and deletion of data from the database and organizes the data in the form of schemas, tables, reports, views etc.

•       Oracle: Oracle database is the collection of data treated as a unit. This database is used to store and retrieve any information related to the query.
•       MongoDB: it is an open-source document-oriented database and is one of the most popular NoSQL databases at the moment. The database is not based on the table-like relational database structure, but instead, it provides a completely different mechanism for storage and retrieval of data.
•       SQL: Structured Query Language is a standard Database language used to build, maintain and retrieve the relational database for web development.

Read more – Here’s a checklist of web development best practices for beginners. 

What are the skills needed for a full stack developer?

Now that you have better clarity on what is full-stack development and what are the technologies involved in it, let us find out what are the skills needed for a full stack developer. As mentioned above, full-stack developers should have mastered at least a few front-end and back-end technologies and should be familiar with the ones they are not advanced in.

The front-end technologies that full-stack developers should be familiar with are front-end programming languages and the web frameworks that support these languages. This is in addition to CSS and HTML which are basic for front-end development.

For the back end, a full stack developer is expected to be qualified for database management. In this regard, they should have a healthy skill set related to the back-end languages – especially a programming language and a query language.

Additionally, full-stack developers working in web development should know how to work with version control systems (VCS), application programming interfaces (APIs), and servers. If you want to enhance your proficiency then you need to learn and be adept in technologies related to security, testing algorithms and data structures.

Need more guidance? Here are 15 questions you need to ask your web development team before hiring them!

Conclusion

We hope that this guide has been useful to understand what is full-stack development and how you can become a full stack developer. With full-stack developers, you have the opportunity to simplify and manage the complexities of your next web development project.

Make sure that you choose a competent web development company to help you out in the next web development project. Having a team of programmers and developers that are working on multiple sides of your idea is better for more direct communication. Get My Sites comes with a team of web developers, QA testers and digital marketers who can help you achieve your business goals through effective digital solutions. If you are looking for a team of web development experts, then contact us and find out how we can help your brand grow!