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Explain the difference between Front End developer & Back End Developer

Alan K on January 29, 2022

I have heard about both front end developer & back end developer. But, i always wonder what is the real difference between a Front End developer & a Back End Developer.

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Ben Halpern

Not to cover every possible interpretation of language which can sometimes be flexible, but backend development is the work done on the "server", and frontend is the programming that happens on the "client" and governs the interaction between the human and the program. The client may pass information to the server and then the server has a bunch of work to do (generally in private) to return information to the client.

The little notice telling you that your password needs to be 8 characters and must include a number is frontend development. But when I submit the password the work to verify that it is valid generally happens on the backend where nobody can falsify what is going on (because you're in control of the server environment).

What type of programming should happen on the frontend vs backend is not set in stone. Certain security-oriented work should never happen on the frontend, but lots of stuff is more up for debate and the needs of the project.

This article might be a little advanced, and is sort of a tangent, but speaks to some of the nuance and evolution in this discussion.

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Alan K

Thank you so Much for the explanation . Really, helpfull!

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CuriousDev

I like how you mention, that certain requirements can be part of Frontend or Backend. Sometimes these belong to the one or the other, because of technical restrictions or just for important reasons, like security, sometimes it is optional.

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CuriousDev

In sense of roles in Software Development, if your system can be split into two parts (Frontend and Backend system), which are developed independently, you can find these two roles: Frontend and Backend Developer.
If you develop for the Frontend, then it is the client, which is used by the users, just like a Web Client developed with JavaScript and HTML. If you develop for the Backend, it is most likely the server doing all those tasks, which need to be processed centralized. An example can be a server with a database connection to store and retrieve articles for the clients. Finally these two parts need to communicate with each other.

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Alan K

Thank you so Much for the explanation

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invalidlenni profile image
InvalidLenni
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Alan K

Thank you so Much for the explanation

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TechMan09

To make it short:

Frontend: JavaScript, HTML, CSS. Frontend code can be viewed (And changed) by the viewer and browser.

Backend: Java, Go, PHP. Backend code cannot be viewed by the browser. It is run on the server, and exports frontend code (HTML, CSS) that the browser can read.

@invalidlenni made this awesome post:

dev.to/invalidlenni/frontend-vs-ba...

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InvalidLenni

Thanks! ❤️

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devshirt.club

Besides technology, people working on frontend are usually more people oriented and have a happier look and feel. People working on backend tend to be a bit more darker. Similar to this t-shirts and countless memes:
frontend vs backend tee

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Jean-Michel 🕵🏻‍♂️ Fayard • Edited

As a backend developer, I would say the main thing is that I don't understand CSS.

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JeanneTucker

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