🌐 Web Development – Comprehensive Notes
📌 1. What is Web Development?
● The process of creating and maintaining websites or web applications.
● Divided into:
○ Frontend Development (what users see)
○ Backend Development (server logic, database)
○ Full Stack Development (both frontend + backend)
🧑💻 2. Frontend Development
🔹 Core Technologies:
Technology Description
HTML (HyperText Markup Structure of the web page
Language)
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) Styling and layout
JavaScript Interactivity and dynamic
content
🔹 Key Concepts:
● Responsive Design: Websites adapt to different screen sizes (via media queries or
frameworks like Bootstrap).
● Semantic HTML: Using tags like <header>, <article>, <section> to describe
content meaningfully.
● Flexbox & Grid: Modern CSS layout techniques.
● DOM Manipulation: JavaScript interaction with HTML elements using the Document
Object Model.
🔹 Frontend Libraries/Frameworks:
● React.js – Component-based UI library
● Vue.js – Lightweight framework
● Angular – Full-featured framework by Google
● Tailwind CSS – Utility-first CSS framework
🖥️ 3. Backend Development
🔹 Common Languages:
● JavaScript (Node.js)
● Python (Django, Flask)
● PHP
● Ruby (Rails)
● Java (Spring Boot)
🔹 Responsibilities:
● Handling requests/responses
● Managing databases
● Authentication & Authorization
● APIs (e.g., REST, GraphQL)
● Server-side rendering (SSR)
🔹 Web Servers:
● Apache
● Nginx
● Express.js (for Node.js apps)
🗃️ 4. Databases
🔹 Types:
● Relational: MySQL, PostgreSQL (uses tables, SQL)
● NoSQL: MongoDB, Firebase (document or key-value based)
🔹 Basic Concepts:
● CRUD: Create, Read, Update, Delete
● Schema Design: Defining structure of data
● Indexing for performance
● Data validation and sanitization
🌍 5. HTTP & APIs
🔹 HTTP Basics:
● GET, POST, PUT, DELETE: Common request methods
● Status Codes:
○ 200 OK
○ 404 Not Found
○ 500 Internal Server Error
● Headers: Metadata (e.g., Content-Type, Authorization)
🔹 APIs:
● RESTful API: Follows standard HTTP methods
● GraphQL: Query exactly what you need
● Often returns data in JSON format
🔐 6. Authentication & Security
🔹 Authentication:
● Sessions & Cookies
● JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
● OAuth (e.g., Google/Facebook login)
🔹 Common Security Practices:
● Input validation to avoid XSS & SQL Injection
● HTTPS for encryption
● Secure password storage (bcrypt/scrypt hashing)
● CORS (Cross-Origin Resource Sharing) policies
⚙️ 7. Development Tools
🔹 Version Control:
● Git (with GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket)
🔹 Package Managers:
● npm (Node.js)
● pip (Python)
🔹 Build Tools & Bundlers:
● Webpack, Vite, Parcel
🔹 Task Runners:
● Gulp, Grunt
🔹 Browser DevTools:
● Inspect HTML, CSS, JS
● Monitor network requests and performance
🧪 8. Testing & Debugging
● Console.log() and breakpoints
● Unit Testing: Testing small parts (e.g., Jest, Mocha)
● Integration Testing: Testing modules together
● End-to-End (E2E): Testing whole app (e.g., Cypress, Selenium)
☁️ 9. Deployment & Hosting
🔹 Common Platforms:
● Vercel / Netlify – Great for frontend projects
● Heroku – Good for full-stack apps
● Render / Railway – Simpler alternatives to cloud platforms
● AWS / Azure / Google Cloud – Enterprise-level hosting
🔹 Deployment Essentials:
● Domain + Hosting
● Environment Variables
● CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions)
● SSL Certificates (HTTPS)
📦 10. Web Development Best Practices
● Mobile-first design
● Clean, semantic HTML
● Reusability and DRY principle
● Accessibility (a11y): Use alt, aria-*, proper labels
● Performance Optimization:
○ Minifying CSS/JS
○ Lazy loading images
○ Reducing HTTP requests
📚 Optional Extras to Learn Later
● TypeScript (typed JavaScript)
● Progressive Web Apps (PWA)
● Serverless functions
● WebSockets (real-time apps)
● Headless CMS (e.g., Strapi, Sanity)
