Chapter 12 Full-stack development (PHP)

Testing Framework

Automated tests that verify the web application components are working properly, independently and together. Developers should write tests to insure the business logic is implemented correctly and write tests that automate interaction with the web application in the web browser.

Client side (front end)

Client-side (or front-end) refers to those technologies that run in the web browser like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

ASP.NET

Collection of web development technologies Mrst released in 2002 by Microsoft that uses the C# or VB.NET programming languages

A web hosting company that hosts websites for free is likely to provide services like automated backups, unlimited disk space, and 24-hour customer support. T or F

F

Web hosting companies generally charge more for hosting on Linux servers than for hosting on Windows servers. True False

False

Python

General-purpose scripting language created by Guido van Rossum in the 1990s that uses frameworks like Django, web2py, and Flask to create web applications.

Security

Hackers may attempt to access a website's data or upload malware to a hosted website that attacks the website, other hosted websites, or the website's users.

Sever and hosting environment

Issues regarding network throughput, cloud storage, virtualization, hardware constraints, multithreading, and data redundancy. Developers should understand how the server components interact and how the components can be scaled-up to support large volumes of traffic.

Reliability

Many web hosting companies guarantee a certain level of uptime, and the level can be increased by paying more. Some companies backup data daily, and others provide little to no backups.

Application programming interface API

Programmable actions that may be performed on the underlying data. Often used by the front-end to interact with the back-end. Developers should understand how to create clear and concise programming interfaces.

Business logic

Programming logic on the front or back-end that determines how data can be created, displayed, stored, and changed. Developers need solid programming skills and the ability to use frameworks and libraries to simplify common tasks.

Factors to consider when choosing a web hosting company include:

Reliability Flexibility Security Price

data modeling

Representing, storing, and retrieving application data in relational and non-relational databases. Developers should know the tradeoffs of choosing one type of database over another.

Node.js

Runtime environment that uses modules written in JavaScript. Originally created in 2009 by Ryan Dahl.

PHP

Scripting language created in 1994 by Rasmus Lerdorf. Currently the most popular server-side language in use.

A VPS generally runs slower than a dedicated host. T or F

T

A small company may host the company's own website on the company's own web server. T or F

T

Relational databases will likely not be used for many web applications in the future. True False

True

Web hosting companies provide various levels of security. True False

True

Java

Used to create applets on the front-end and servlets, JavaServer Pages, and web APIs on the back-end.

User interface UI

Visual part of the application that users interacts with. Developers are often aided by graphic designers and usability experts to create effective UIs, but developers need mastery of front-end technologies to implement UI designs.

Ruby on Rails

Web application framework written in Ruby and created by David Heinemeier Hansson in 2004.

Flexibility

ebsite that become popular may need to quickly scale-up to handle more users. Web hosting companies may offer a virtual private server that can quickly be duplicated on other servers to meet high demand. VPS

JavaScript framework

is a JavaScript environment that dictates the organization of the application's JavaScript to simplify many programming tasks. JavaScript frameworks often dictate how UI widgets receive data or send data to the web server. Ex: AngularJS, Backbone, Ember.

web hosting company

is a company that hosts others' websites on the company's servers, usually for a fee.

front-end developer

is a developer that is proficient in client-side technologies.

back-end developer

is a developer that is proficient in server-side technologies.

full-stack developer

is a developer who has expertise in all aspects of a website or web application's development, including client technologies, server technologies, data modeling, and user interfaces

CSS front-end framework

is a framework that uses CSS or CSS pre-processors to aid in developing responsive websites that work well on every screen size

Structured Query Language (SQL)

is a language for creating, editing, selecting, and deleting data in a relational database.

CSS preprocessor

is a program that converts a CSS-like language into CSS. CSS-like languages simplify the development of CSS stylesheets used in large projects

HTML preprocessor

is a program that converts a markup language into HTML. The markup languages supported by HTML preprocessors are generally easier to use and read than HTML.

compile-to-JavaScript language

is a programming language that is compiled into JavaScript. Compile-to-JavaScript languages provide benefits lacking in JavaScript like type safety, simplified class creation, and module creation.

An isomorphic JavaScript application

is a web application that can run on the web browser and the web server

Single Page Application (SPA)

is a web application that provides a similar user experience as a desktop application, all in a single web page

dynamic web page

is a web page that is generated on the web server when requested, typically personalized to the user who requested the page

virtual private server (VPS)

is an autonomous server that is hosted on a physical server with other virtual servers. Amazon Web Services (AWS) allows organizations to host virtual servers in the Amazon cloud that can quickly scale-up hosted websites when necessary.

Malware

is malicious software designed to cripple a computer system or perform unwanted actions. Some hosting companies offer extra security measures like encrypting web traffic or providing dedicated servers in heavily-guarded data centers.

stack in "full-stack"

refers to the various layers that compose websites and web applications.

Server-side (or back-end)

refers to those technologies that run on the web server like PHP, Python, Node.js, etc

Non-relational databases

sometimes called non-SQL or NoSQL databases, have become increasingly popular over the last few years. Non-relational databases use different methods to store and retrieve data using a variety of data access languages. Non-relational databases come in several flavors: Document database: For storing documents in JSON format with many levels of nesting. Ex: MongoDB. Key-value database. For storing values that are associated with unique keys. Ex: Redis. Object database: For storing objects created in object-oriented programming languages. Ex: Caché. Column database: For storing and processing large amounts of data using pointers that link to columns distributed over a cluster. Ex: HBase. Graph database: For storing graph structures with nodes and edges. Ex: Neo4j.

relational database

stores data in relations (usually called tables)