Web applications
In simple terms, web applications are websites that, combined with a server, provide functionality for interacting with users over the internet and communicating with databases. That communication is what lets a browser generate different results and let users take action, not just read a static page.
Some examples of web applications: online banking apps (like a mobile bank app), social networks (Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram), online reservations (Kayak, Booking.com, Hotels.com), e-commerce and shopping cart applications (Amazon, Walmart), interactive games, online training, online polls, blogs, online forums, and content management systems.
Client-side coding
Client-side coding is the scripting executed and interpreted by the browser. It’s generally viewable by any visitor (via “View Source”), so think of it as the face of the website — the “front-end.”
Common client-side technologies:
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
- CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)
- JavaScript
- Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML)
- jQuery — a JavaScript framework library commonly used in Ajax development
- MooTools — a JavaScript framework library commonly used in Ajax development
- Dojo Toolkit — a JavaScript framework library commonly used in Ajax development
Server-side coding
Server-side coding is the scripting executed and interpreted by the web server. It’s not viewable by visitors — think of it as the inner structure of the website, the “back-end.”
Common server-side technologies:
- PHP — a very common server-side scripting language, open source, usually paired with a MySQL database
- Zend Framework — PHP’s object-oriented web application framework
- ASP — Microsoft’s web server (IIS) scripting language
- ASP.NET — Microsoft’s web application framework and successor to ASP
- ColdFusion — Adobe’s web application framework
- Ruby on Rails — Ruby’s open-source web application framework
- Perl — a general-purpose, high-level scripting language that has lost ground to PHP over the years
- Python — a general-purpose, high-level programming and server-side scripting language
If you want to go deeper, LearnCodeAcademy’s YouTube channel has a long but genuinely worthwhile video that lays out the current landscape of web development and how it branches into different specialties — well worth the watch for a solid grounding in where web development stands today.