DEV Community: BeautyJames

Basic concepts of Java

BeautyJames — Sat, 30 Oct 2021 17:10:14 +0000

Hello readers, Beauty James here again with another exciting article. I’ve been talking about Frontend development for some time now so I’ll be considering Java, one of the many examples of programming languages used for Frontend development. I will be discussing the following headings below;
• What is Java?
• History of Java programming language
• Java Features
• Java Architecture
• Components of Java Programming language
• What is Java Platform?
• Types of Java Platforms
• How is Java Platform Independent?
• Uses and applications of Java

What is Java?
Java is a high level class based object oriented programming language designed to have just a few implementation dependencies. It is a multi platform and a network centric language. As other programming languages, it is a platform for application development. Java codes can be Compiled to byte codes to run on all platforms supporting java without recompilation. Java is particularly popular for its client-sever web applications with more than 9 million developers under their belt.

History of Java Programming Language
Java, originally called oak was developed in the early 1990s by James Gosling and 4 other developers at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (later acquired by oracle in 2009) and released in 1995. At the time, the internet and the WWW were becoming more and more popular but the C and C++ programs used were not platform independent (they had to be compiled and recompiled for different hardware and processors) and required more memory. So the 5 developers sought to create a language that could run on any operating system regardless of the systems hardware or software configuration. The program used for java is small and portable and could be transported over any network. This new development attracted developers in no time because it also allows communication between consumer electronics, making Java the most popular programming languages to this time. Although James Gosling developed java in the early 1990s, he left the company after its acquisition in 2009 by Oracle Corporation to work with Amazon web services.

Features of Java
• Object oriented: Java is a fully object oriented language and possesses features such as encapsulation, polymorphism, inheritance, abstraction, class and object.

• Robust: With features such as automatic Garbage Collection and Exception handling, it helps programmers to create reliable applications which eliminates error prone codes.

• Simple: The language is easy to learn and the syntax is clean and easily understandable.

• Security: Java programs run in Java Runtime Environment (JRE) which makes little or no interaction with the Operating System, making the program free from virus attacks because it can’t be invaded from the outside.

• Multi-threading: Java makes use of multi threading features which makes it possible to execute multiple tasks at the same time, resulting in highly interactive and responsive applications.

• High Performance: Since Java cannot be as fast as C or C++, it makes use of a Java compiler which changes java codes into bytecodes so java applications can run at full speed.

• Independence: Any machine with Java Runtime Environment can run Java programs because all java programs are compiled into bytecode which is platform Independent.

Java Architecture
Java Architecture compiles and interprets a program. It explains the process involved in formulating a Java program which includes converting the codes written in java into byte codes, which is done by the Java Compiler. The byte codes are then converted into machine code by the JVM (Java Virtual Machine) which is executed directly by the machine.

Components of Java
There are three main components of Java language.
• Java Virtual Machine (JVM): This is a component that gives developers an environment to execute Java programs by converting byte codes into machine codes. JVM, first of all, loads the code into memory and verifies it. After that, it executes the code and provides a runtime environment. Hence, JVM performs actions in this order: loads the java codes, verifies them, executes them, and then provides a runtime environment for the codes.

• Java Runtime Environment (JRE): JRE builds a runtime environment in which Java programs can be executed. It is located on the on-disk system which takes the Java code, combines it with the needed libraries, and starts the JVM to execute it. JRE contains libraries and software that your Java programs need to run. JRE is a part of JDK.

• Java Development Kit: JDK is a software development environment used to develop Java applications and applets. It contains development tools such as an interpreter/loader (java), a compiler (javac), an archiver (jar), a documentation generator (javadoc).

Java Platforms
A platform is a hardware or software environment in which a program runs. Java has its own run time environment known as JRE(Java Run-time Environment) and Java Virtual Machine(JVM) which converts Java codes to machine codes, making it possible to develop and run the programs that are written in Java Programming language. Java platforms includes execution engine, compiler and set of libraries.

Types of Java Platforms
By the late 1990s, Java grew beyond the World Wide Web and as a result, Sun Microsystems created varieties of Java for different purposes, also known as Java editions, such as:
• Java platform Standard Edition: Java Standard Edition is a computing platform that targets work station environments, offering the Java programming language’s core functionality. It is used for the development and deployment of portable codes used in desktop and server environments. It is also used in networking, security, database access, Graphical User Interface (GUI) development, and XML parsing.

• Java platform Enterprise Edition: is a set of specifications that targets large distributed enterprises or internet environments with features such as distributed computing and web services. The application runs on reference runtimes which handles transactions, security, scalability, concurrency and the management of components to be deployed. Applications of Java Platform Enterprise include e-commerce, accounting, banking information systems.

• Java Platform Micro Edition: This is a computing platform used for the development and deployment of portable codes for embedded and mobile devices like micro-controllers, sensors, gateways, mobile phones, printers, etc.

• Java FX: JavaFX is used for creating desktop applications and Rich Internet Applications(RIAs) which can run on a wide variety of devices including desktop computers and web browsers. Its user hardware-accelerated graphics and media engines helps Java take advantage of higher-performance clients and high-level APIs for connecting to networked data sources.

How is Java Platform Independent?
A platform can be called independent if it can run on all available Operating Systems with respect to its development and compilation. Now, Java is platform-independent simply because it produces a unique format called bytecode. First, source code is used by Java compiler and is converted in class file. The class file code is in byte code form and that class file is used by JVM to convert it into an object file. After that, you can see the final output on your screen. Any machine with Java Runtime Environment can run Java Programs. In short, the Java source code can run on all operating systems. Therefore, Java is a platform-Independent language.

Uses and Applications of Java
• Mobile App development: Java is supported by Android Studio which helps facilitate secure and efficient development for a wide range of mobile applications. It becomes much easier for developers to develop android applications such as Spotify and twitter with the use of Java.

• Game development: Java is often used by game development companies because of its support for the open-source most powerful 3D engine which provides unequalled capacity in designing 3D games. The most popular games developed using Java are Minecraft, Mission Impossible III, etc. Bear in mind that some developers avoid developing games using Java because of its garbage-collection issues, which results in performance problems and frequent pausing in the apps. It is riskier to use Java for the development of bigger AAA games due to this very problem.

• Cloud based Applications: A cloud application is an application that involves data processed on a cloud server. Thanks to factors like top-notch performance, scalability, and reliability, Java has been able to provide the environment to develop cloud-based applications, providing low cost services to its users. There are many types of services that use cloud computing, with the aid of cloud apps like Dropbox, Amazon Web Services, Slack, and Salesforce for storage and file-sharing purposes. Gmail, for instance, is an example of a cloud-based application built with Java.

• IoT devices: IoT is a technology that connects the devices in its network and communicates with them without human intervention. Combined with technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Java can help power devices remotely, connect appliances and other objects through devices such as health gears, smartphones, wearables, smart lighting, TVs, etc. The IoT is also applied in many industries, including healthcare, security, supply-chain management, and others. IoT programmers gravitate towards Java because it is secure, flexible, and versatile.

• Web applications: Web application development was one of the first uses of Java and it still remains a first choice language for this because of its security, scalability, and high performance. Due to these factors, many businesses, large and small, turn to Java when they are looking for a quick turnaround for a high-performance web application. Using this technology, users can develop a variety of applications such as LinkedIn, AliExpress, web.archive.org, IRCTC, etc.

• Scientific applications: Fields like healthcare and research use Scientific applications frequently to integrate and use math to perform practical, real-world computations, and calculations. Java is often used for creating these apps because they depend on accuracy, reliability, security and not to mention high performance. They can access plenty of support and receive help with troubleshooting.

• Enterprise Applications: This software is often used for enterprises (large businesses) that need streamlined services delivered in one place because it connects and gives access to various departments and employees. There is also an entire set of Java Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for enterprises called Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) that facilitates efficient and easy scripting. Its platform independence supports company-wide integration and compatibility, making delivery more convenient. Scalability in Java also makes it easier for growing enterprises to keep up with their efforts.

• GUI applications: GUI applications can also be developed using Java because it provides frameworks such as AWT, JavaFX, and Swing which enables developers to design, create, test, debug, and deploy Rich Client Applications (RIAs) that behave consistently across multiple platforms.

CONCLUSION
At this point, readers should be able to understand the basic concepts of Java such as its definition, architecture, features, components, platforms and its applications. Note that Java is not the same as JavaScript although they are often compared to each other. Java is a programming language that creates applications that run in a virtual machine or a browser while Java Script is a scripting language that runs on a browser only.
These are some of the core upgrades done as a part of Java 8 and 11 release respectively:
Java8;
• Ease of Use
• Increased productivity by providing Optional Classes feature, Lambda Expressions, Streams etc.
• Improved Polyglot programming (performs the same operations in multiple programming languages).
• Improved Security and performance.
Java 11;
• Standardized http client
• Lazy Allocation of Compiler Threads
• Enhanced KeyStore Mechanisms
• Updated Locale Data to Unicode CLDR v33
• JEP 331 Low-Overhead Heap Profiling
• Includes support for Unicode 10.0.0
• JEP 330 Launch Single-File Source-Code Programs
• JEP 181 Nest-Based Access Control
• Added Brainpool EC Support (RFC 5639)
• JEP 332 Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.3

CSS (Cascading Style Sheet)

BeautyJames — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 22:37:15 +0000

Hi everyone, it’s me again, Beauty James. In my previous articles, I discussed frontend and its languages. So today, I’ll be talking about CSS, another Frontend language. As we move further, we will discuss the following;
o What is CSS?
o Types of CSS
o Effect of Priority on CSS
o CSS Frameworks
o What is CSS used for?
What is CSS?
CSS ( Cascading Style Sheet) is a frontend language used to describe the presentation of web pages including background colors, font sizes and layouts. The basic function of CSS is to design the view for html, but it can also be used to display html in various types of devices such as printers and different types of screen sizes.
Types of CSS
There are generally three types of CSS which are stated below;
o Inline CSS: This is used to style a specific html element and add a style attribute to each html tag without using selectors. It is used whenever the users requirements are very small, as it will only affect a single element. Inline CSS in html is useful in web development, although managing a website may be difficult if the developer chooses to use only inline CSS.
Pros of inline CSS
 It allows the creation of CSS rules on html pages.
 Different documents cannot be created and uploaded.
Cons of inline CSS
 Page size and download time of web pages could be affected because it styles multiple elements simultaneously.
 It must be specified on every html tag which makes the code quite large and complex and is very time consuming, making it one of the least best options for programmers.

o Internal CSS: This is an effective way to style single pages because it has style tag in the head section of the html document. Internal CSS is used when the user wants the style to be used in the complete html body because it performs action on the entire html body.
Pros of Internal CSS
 Internal CSS cannot upload multiple files when the user adds the code with html page.
Cons of Internal CSS
 Adding documents in html will reduce the page size and loading time of the web page.

o External CSS: In external CSS, the web pages are linked to an external CSS file created by a text editor. It is used whenever users have many html attributes. There are basically two methods for creating CSS file; The first, is to write the CSS code in Notepad and save it as .css file while the second is to directly add the style sheet in your Solution Explorer and direct visual studio to use it on your html page.
Pros of External CSS
 Files are smaller in size and have a cleaner structure.
 In external CSS, the same .css file is used for multiple web pages.
Cons of external CSS
 Uploading many CSS files can prolong the download time of a website.
 The external CSS has to be loaded first before the pages can be delivered directly.
Effects of Priority on CSS
Bear in mind that when looking at the properties of CSS, the order of priority is very necessary. Inline CSS has greater priority compared to the internal and external types. Internal comes next, and then the external CSS which has least priority. In other words, Inline>Internal>External. The following are the effects of priority on the different types of CSS:
 Any styles defined in the internal and external style sheets are overridden by Inline styles since it has the greatest priority.
 Internal CSS will override the styles in the external style sheet because it stands second in place in the priority list.
 External style sheet are applied for html tags if there are no styles defined either in Inline or internal style sheets.
CSS Frameworks
CSS Frameworks are tools used by web developers to make their job easier. It gives developers the option to use predefined codes instead of creating new ones from scratch and helps maintain synergy across websites and web pages, saving you the time and energy of trying to remember your specifications for each element. Frameworks are also very helpful when creating themes for use in more than one project.
Though frameworks make jobs easier for web developers, it also has its downsides to it. For example, for every new kind of design you want to implement, you would have to learn a new framework thereby, restricting the flow and designs of developers. It is also a little ambiguous for beginners, as a result, only senior developers find them intriguing to use.
There are 2 main examples of CSS Frameworks (Bootstrap and Foundation) used by frontend developers which will be discussed below;
Bootstrap:
Bootstrap was the first framework that made it possible for responsive deign to be carried out on smaller screens. The design automatically adjusts for different screens, all you need to do is to include the relevant Bootstrap classes.
Pros of Bootstrap
o Pre-built items and community support will always be available in numerous amounts due to the fact that the number of website layouts, themes, UI components and admin panels built using Bootstrap is amazing.
o Less cross browser bugs.
o Light weight and customizable
o UI components like navigation fps, cards, buttons, badges, modals, and lots more are offered by Bootstrap.
o Free and professional templates
o CSS is backed by Twitter making it easier to gain trust from enterprise customers.
o It offers a great grid system
Cons of Bootstrap
o Everything built with Bootstrap looks very much alike, so heavy customization is needed while creating a design.
o Styles on bootstrap are verbose, leading to a lot of output in html which is not needed.
o Files created by Bootstrap can be huge in size thereby slowing down things for the user quite heavily as well as draining battery.

Foundation: Foundation is a framework that makes it easier to design apps, emails and responsive websites that looks amazing on devices. It provides its users with JavaScript, html, CSS that can be built upon.
Pros of foundation
o It is customizable and the website doesn’t look familiar to other websites created by foundation.
o It is a modular collection of tools with command line interface that aims at solving any kind of frontend problems.
o Training courses and professional consulting are offered for large customers as a form of support.
Cons of Foundation
o Due to how complex foundation is, it often takes time for beginners to learn and use it.
o It has less community support compared to Bootstrap.
o It offers less supports for QA sites and troubleshooting issues.

UI kit: UI kit is a lightweight modular framework that allows you import only the features you need, creating fast and powerful web interfaces. It is mostly chosen by users because it offers minimalistic but elegant designs with clean cuts.
Pros of UI kit
o There are ready-to-use themes available in the official website.
o UI kit can be easily customized and extended to fit the need of the designer.
o The code is pretty clean and follows well defined conventions.
Cons of UI kit
o Classes of UI kit are often complex making it complicated to read and obtain desired results.
o Bug fixes are often slow and selective.
o UI kit is not very popular and as a result, it is difficult for users to find learning resources.
o Components and styles are predetermined, making it difficult to stun end users with uniqueness or a specific look.

Skeleton: Skeleton is at times not even considered a CSS framework. It is boilerplate, and was designed for small projects that requires a little bit more than layouts and positioning.
Pros of skeleton
o It is a very simple framework and as a result, is very easy for beginners to learn.
o It suits Devices with smaller resolutions
o Clean and beautiful codes
o It is very good for carrying out small projects
Cons of skeleton
o It takes longer to develop compared to other CSS frameworks.
o It is not suited for easy prototyping.
o The templates are limited and offers only one demo at a time.

Milligram: Milligram is a framework that allows its users to change the design however they want. It is under 2kb in size and was designed for speed and productivity.
Pros of milligram
o Users can start with a clean slate when creating interfaces, improving performance and productivity.
o Milligram doesn’t come with any default styles so users don’t have to reset or override properties when customizing.
o It is very easy to learn and set up, so it is very convenient for beginners.
Cons of milligram
o Milligram has a small community so finding support won’t be as easy as other popular frameworks.
o It doesn’t possess pre-made or template-like features so it is only convenient for users who want to apply a specific design.

Materialize: This is a modern and responsive frontend framework designed by Google that is based on material design and aimed at making its users productive as fast as possible. Materialize consists of only a few components and classes to learn as well as customization options.
Pros of materialize
o This framework has mobile-like components which is used to create progressive web applications.
o It makes use of material designs which make developers creations easy to use.
o It makes use of animation which provides visual feedback to users, making it easier for developers to work with.
Cons of Materialize
o Due to its strict design language, it is only good with users that are working with material design.
o Materialize CSS is not flexible enough to use in some situations because it only uses google components.
o It is a very large framework, making it difficult for others to have and use it.
o The materialize community has no cooperate support.
Bulma: Bulma is highly praised for its simple syntax and minimalistic yet aesthetic design. It comes with a small but very reliable and passionate community. Bulma for most users, has the most readable classes and is definitely easy to learn.
Pros of Bulma
o Bulma comes with naming conventions which are easy to use and remember.
o Its default settings are so good that even if you don’t change them, you’ll end up with a clean and modern design for your webpage.
o Its default properties could be easily customized using SASS.
o It doesn’t include JavaScript features.
Cons of Bulma
o Bulmas style is quite distinct and as a result we could end up with very similar-looking websites.
o Since the framework is fairly new, it has a small community.
o To alter the properties of the framework, the user will have to find that specific code and modify it by themselves.
Pure: Pure is a set of small, responsive modules created by Yahoo that you can use in every web project. It makes creating columns a lot more flexible.
Pros of Pure:
o Unlike most CSS frameworks, pure has a large community because it is supported by Yahoo.
o The framework is tiny and only takes up to 3.7kb (compressed) when all modules are used.
o It consists of pre-made, responsive components that are made for the modern web.
o Its reusable and responsive modules can be added to any web projects.
Cons of Pure
o Pure is not convenient for less experienced developers as they need to create their own designs to make use of the framework.
o It has restrictions for choosing the templates and design patterns of the web design.

Semantic UI: Semantic UI is a development framework that helps create beautiful, responsive design using human friendly html. It has nice looking layouts by default and up to 3000 different kinds of themes. Although it possesses features such as concise html, intuitive JavaScript and simplified debugging, it has one of the steepest learning curves and very strict conventions.
Pros of semantic UI
o It makes use of semantic class name for its styling, making it easier for beginners to understand.
o Many users are satisfied with its futuristic and beautiful design.
o Its documentation is well written and easy to use.
o It has various UI components you may need for almost every project you will embark on.
Cons of semantic UI
o Due to its extremely large file size, it is better to use specific modules and components.
o It is difficult for developers who are not familiar with JavaScript.
o It contains a lot of UI inaccuracies and has small number of classes.

Tailwind CSS: Adam Wathan, the creator of tailwind often shared his thoughts on how utility-based CSS was always superior to semantic CSS but it wasn’t till 2019 that developers started to embrace his idea and adopting them into their codes. Tailwind never encourages its users to use the same design twice even if the features for each design is similar. If you are bored of your current CSS frameworks and you need a completely new approach to your work, Tailwind is definitely the new and radical framework you could always opt out to.
Pros of Tailwind
o Developers do not have to override existing styles since it doesn’t come with pre-designed components.
o It allows developers to reuse their own custom components throughout their projects.
o It is a responsive and mobile friendly framework with rare bugs and breaks.
o It also offers thousands of built-in classes that do not require you to create designs from scratch.
o It is one of the fastest frameworks when it comes to styling html.
Cons of Tailwind
o Due to the built-in classes, tailwind often takes time to learn.
o It lacks significant styling component and as a result, developers have to spend time implementing these features manually.
o Tailwind has a steep learning curve, making it not the best choice for developers.

Tachyons: Tachyon is a fast loading, highly readable and lightweight framework. It achieves its super easy design system by keeping all of its codes in the html file through the use of single utility classes. It helps users understand their project design patterns and promotes reusability through out their projects.
Pros of Tachyons
o This framework allows users to create reusable properties to build diverse and flexible components.
o It includes many pre-made components too.
o It defines classes identically for each break point.
Cons of Tachyons
o Tachyon is not as popular as most CSS frameworks and as a result, has a small community, making it harder for developers to find tutorials and materials on it.
o Some developers find it boring to use in the long run since it is said to be feature complete (new features are barely added).
Uses of CSS
Most web developers use CSS for one or all of the following reasons:
 CSS is generally used for defining the style of webpages.
 It makes it possible to control the presentation of html documents.
 CSS helps define the loom and formatting of a document written in a markup language.
 It makes it possible to change an entire website by just changing a single file.
 It makes the maintenance of a website easier by providing a flexible look to the website that can be altered in a convenient way.
 Through CSS, flash files and animations are created directly.
 CSS frameworks can be used to develop online web-based application or community.
 Social media based platforms inter-relate with CSS frameworks which makes updating the user interphase easier.
CONCLUSION
Although there are other types of framework languages used by developers, each language has its own purpose and helps developers differently. From this article, I hope readers are able to understand what CSS is about and how it can be used for web development. Readers should bear in mind that;
• CSS is independent of HTML and can be used with any XML based markup language.
• CSS frameworks with more features and pre-made components are better suited for beginners while those that offer styling are often more convenient for experienced developers.
• When using external CSS, a link to the CSS root file has to be mentioned in the html source file.
• CSS is not exactly a programming language because it only determines the structure and style of a webpage. They do not contain any instruction like other programming languages.

HTML, a frontend language.

BeautyJames — Fri, 15 Oct 2021 16:44:05 +0000

Hello everyone, Beauty James here again with another intriguing topic. Since I talked about Frontend development in my previous article, I figured it would be beneficial to include topics about frontend languages on this blog.
So, today we will be considering HTML, a frontend language. We’re going to start with the basics as we discuss the following;
• What is html?
• Basic concepts in HTML
• What is an html editor?
• Features of an html text editor
• When do you need an html editor?
• Examples of html editors
• How to write html codes?
• Basic text formatting in HTML
• Uses of html
What is HTML?
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the code that is used to structure the web and it’s content. Structuring contents could be within a set of paragraphs, a list of bulleted point or using images and data tables. It tells the web browsers how to structure the web pages you visit. It could be complicated or really basic, depending on how the developer wants it to be.
Basic concepts in HTML
 The program you need: HTML is written in plain text. All you need is a simple text editor that is already in your system. For Macintosh, you could use a simple text editor and for Windows, that will be Notepad.
 Rules in HTML: In HTML, the rules are fairly simple. For example, HTML tags are always surrounded by angles (< >).
 Case sensitivity: HTML tags are not case sensitive. This means that you can use either uppercase or lowercase. For instance, is the same as .
 Elements; HTML consists of a series of elements which you use to enclose, wrap or markup different parts of a content to make it appear or act in a certain way. They are the building blocks of HTML pages. Elements are indicated in the documents by tags enclosed in angle brackets for example

. The extent of an element could also be indicated by a pair of tags: a start tag

and an end tag

. The text content of any element is placed within these tags. Note that the browsers do not display the tags but only use them to interpret the content of the page
For example, consider the text below
My dog has a temper.
If you want to make the text stand by itself, you could specify that it is a paragraph by enclosing it in a paragraph

element.

My dog has a temper

In the text above, we can denote that the opening tag is

, while the closing tag is

. The sentence “My dog has a temper”, becomes the content while the element here becomes the opening tag followed by the content and the closing tag. To understand this better, we will further look into the anatomy of an element.
i. The opening tag; This consist of the name of the tag wrapped in opening and closing angle brackets but it marks where the element begins.
ii. The content; This is simply the content of an element. In this example, it is the paragraph text “My dog has a temper”.
iii. The closing tag; This is the same as the opening tag except that it has a forward slash before the tag ends. It marks where the element ends.
It should be noted that although the terms Element and Tag could be used interchangeably, they are not exactly the same. An element consists of an opening tag, the content and the closing tag while a tag simply marks the beginning or the end of an element.
 Empty elements: Empty elements consists of a single tag which is usually used to insert something in the document. It doesn’t follow the anatomy of a regular element (the opening tag, the content and the closing tag) as mentioned above.
 Attributes: These are special codes placed within the html elements that describe how the element should look like. They contain extra information about the element that won’t appear in the content.
An attribute should always have:
i. The attribute name followed by an equality sign
ii. Space between it and the element (in cases of multiple attributes, the attributes should also be separated by spaces)
iii. The attribute value wrapped around opening and closing tags
Examples of attributes are the color attribute which changes the color of the webpage and outline attribute which aligns the text either to the left or right.
 HTML structure: All html document are divided into two main parts; The head and the body as shown below;

-----the head
………

-----the body

 Nesting: Nesting is the act of enclosing text and graphics using tags. Example, .
What is an HTML editor?
An HTML editor is a specialized piece of software that assists in the creation of HTML and quite possibly CSS codes. It includes features that help streamline your coding workflow and of course allows users to enter raw text. Whether you’re new to HTML or a seasoned professional, a good HTML editor will help you code faster thanks to it’s many helpful features.
Features of an HTML text editor
A good HTML editor should have a few or all of the following features:
o Code Validation: Code Validation simply means making sure that your code’s syntax is error free. This is a basic feature made available to most html text editors. It doesn’t necessarily check for complex errors like a debugging tool would, but it definitely helps to save time and is comparable to a debugging tool.
o A Quick Search Of code: This feature allows you to search for a code instead of going through hundreds of lines of codes for just a single component.
o Auto Completion: This feature automatically inserts components like closing tags when they’re logically supposed to appear, saving you time in the process.
o Syntax Highlighter: Syntax Highlighter makes it possible to visually differentiate between elements so you can quickly determine what you need to write next by emphasizing key elements in different colors.
o Debugging: HTML text editors can sometimes save you from having to scan through line after line of code trying to see and fix tiny errors that are easy to miss. This feature that checks your codes for errors and reports them back to you is known as Debugging
o Insert common HTML Elements: You can easily add HTML element with one click without constantly having to type them in every time you want to use them, saving you time.
o Search and replace: This feature helps you to search your code and replace all instances of your keyword to something else. You only have to type the code once instead of multiple times.
When do you need an HTML editor?
Sometimes you may need an HTML editor, a word processor or an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). Below are general guidelines that will help you to determine what type of software you need.
An HTML editor is helpful when ;
 You’re learning how to write html codes
 You need a professional tool that will reduce errors in your code
 A basic word processor or text editor just isn’t cutting it for you anymore.
 You need to edit an HTML or CSS file.
 It’s essential to efficiently write HTML or other design-based code like CSS.
Examples of HTML editors
Using a word processor or basic text editor will most likely fill your work with errors. This could be prevented by simply using an html editor. With a wide range of HTML editors you could use, the following are the most reliable and efficient ones:
• Brackets.io; This kind of editor works well with html, CSS, LESS, SCSS, and JavaScript, making it perfect for frontend development. Brackets.io provides a professional experience and is an easy-to-use text editor for html, making it one of the best editors used by web developers.
• Atoms; This kind of editor supports multiple panes which helps you to edit multiple files at the same time especially for apple and Linux users. This is especially useful if you’re working on interrelated files. Its user interface is customizable and it has both Git and GitHub. Atom offers professional experience and is intuitive to use.
• Notepad++; Notepad++ is a free html editor that supports CSS, JavaScript, PHP and other programming languages. It has not just the basic features of an html editor, but some advanced features without being overly complicated. Notepad++ is the best option for an html editor that’s great for transitioning out of beginner or intermediate-level web development. It is also great for advanced users who love the idea of a distraction-free interface.
• Komodo edit; This is a free html editor that supports Perl, Ruby, Python, HTML/CSS and more programming languages. Komodo edit is a professional program with great, advanced features, and also includes project management. Although the free version is often perfect on its own for most developers and beginners, it is preferable to upgrade to komodo IDE if professional features are needed, such as for business or enterprise level project.
• Visual studio code; This is a type of html editor that is well maintained by Microsoft and open-source community. Visual studio code supports HTML, CSS, LESS, CASS, PHP, C++, c#, Ruby, Perl, SQL, XML, JSON, Python, and many more languages. It consists of both basic features like syntax Highlighting and advanced features like debugging and Git commands built-in, and tons of other extensions available. The user interface (UI) is Clean and well-organized.
• Dreamweaver; Dreamweaver is one of the best html editors because it supports many web standards including HTML and CSS. It is easier to spot and correct issues in Dreamweaver because it has Error Underlining. With Dreamweaver you don’t have to keep saving your working file and uploading it to your server to check your progress because there’s a live preview editing area built right into the UI so you can streamline your workflow.
• Vim; Due to it’s great advanced features such as error highlighting, and search and replace tool, Vim is sometimes considered as an IDE than a mere HTML text editor. It enables users to undo their actions in an unlimited number of times and it is also customizable.
• Sublime text 3; Sublime text 3 is an excellent option for an HTML editor that is also customizable. It has a clean interface that’s uncluttered and allows users to focus more on their code. Sublime text 3 has features such as syntax Highlighting and a split-pane UI capability as well, which allows users search and find elements quickly thereby, saving time.
Other examples include;
• TinyMCE Editor, and
• Froala.
How to write HTML codes
Writing HTML codes is simply creating your own webpage. We will explain the process of creating a web page through the steps listed below:
STEP 1; Open a text editor
 Open Notepad for Windows
For Windows 8 or later, open the start screen, on the window symbol at the bottom left of your screen, type Notepad.
For Windows 7 or earlier, open Start>Programs>Accessories>Notepad>
 Open TextEdit for Mac
Open Finder>Application>TextEdit
Also change some preferences to get the application to change files correctly. In preferences, Format>Plain text. Then under “Open and Save”, check the box that says “Display html files as html codes instead of formatted text”.
STEP 2; Write or copy the following code into Notepad or TextEdit

This is my first web page

Hello world. This is my first webpage. There is more to come so make sure you don’t miss out ..

STEP 3: Save the file on the computer. A file can be saved as either ‘htm’ or ‘html’.
STEP 4: View the html file in your browser. To preview your document, open it with your browser.
Basic Text Formatting
The following headline, paragraph, line break and horizontal rule tags will make our current web page a lot more exciting:
• Headline tag; In html, you can create text with bold copies by using the headline ranging from

………..

………

. The code of all these headline sizes will be written as

Level 1 headlines

Level 2 headlines

Level 3 headlines

Level 4 headlines

Level 5 headlines

Level 6 headlines

To add the headline to your webpage, follow the steps listed above but instead, your code should look like this

This is my first webpage

Hello world.

This is my first webpage. There is more to come.

Save the file and open it in your web browser to view it.
• Paragraph and Line breaks; To add space between paragraphs, you use a paragraph tag

………

.
To add a single blank line or space, you use a break tag
. This is an empty element and therefore stands alone.
To apply paragraphs and line breaks to your web page, follow the same steps listed above, but your code should look like this

This is my first webpage

Hello world.

.This is my first webpage. There’s more to come

I am learning how to use the horizontal rule, headline, paragraph and line break tags. Writing html isn’t as hard as it seems.

Here is a list of my favorites fruits:
Apple
Banana
Watermelon
But most of all, Grapes

• List items; Most websites users don’t like to read a lot of text so putting your information in form of a list (

……

)either in numbers or bullets will be helpful. The numbered list are called ordered list (

……..), while the bulleted list are called unordered list (

……..). An ordered list goes like this.

my first item on the list
my second item on the list
my third item on the list
my fourth item on the list

In the browser, it will appear like this;

my first item on the list.
my second item on the list.
my third item on the list.
my fourth item on the list. An unordered list or bulleted list goes like this;
- my first item on the list
- my second item on the list
- my third item on the list
- my fourth item on the list
In the browser, it should appear like this;
my first item on the list.
my second item on the list.
my third item on the list.
my fourth item on the list. Uses of HTML • Client-side storage: With HTML5, Client-side storage is feasible Using local storage and index DB. Index DB is a better and larger client-side data store. It can be expanded with the user’s permission. • Web document creation: Html is used to design and create documents on the web(including the head, the title and the body). • Web page development: HTML is mainly used for creating pages on the World wide web. Every page on the web is written using a version of html code and contains a set of html tags including hyperlinks which connects users to other pages. • Data entry support with html: Html5 is used to support data entry. Html5 has developed new attributes to drive on-screen keyboards, validations and other data-experiences to enable users to have a better data entry. • Internet navigation: This is one of the most important uses of html, which is made possible by utilizing the concept of Hypertext. This is a text that enables users to navigate webpages and between websites located on different servers. Other uses of html includes: • Cutting edge feature • Game development usage • Responsive images on webpages • Offline capabilities usage • Native APIs usage to enrich a website CONCLUSION You have successfully made it to the end of this article! At this point, you should be able to understand what html looks like and how it works. If you are able to understand these basics concepts of html, you are off to a great start because usage of html is widespread and has become more sophisticated than ever before. It is your responsibility as a developer to put applications of html concepts in real time usage.

Frontend Development

BeautyJames — Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:39:40 +0000

Hello everyone, I’m Beauty James, A Frontend Engineer. I thought it would be important to share my knowledge about frontend web development with everyone on this platform especially the upcoming web developers. From my experience, I would say these are the most Frequently Asked Questions(FAQ) about frontend
• What is frontend development?
• What is backend development?
• Differences between frontend and backend development
• Tasks of frontend developers
• Why you should learn frontend development?
• What pays more frontend or backend?
• Frontend languages
• Career path of frontend developers
What is Frontend development?
Frontend development also known as (client side) development is the practice of producing CSS, html and JavaScript for a website or web application so the user can see and interact with them directly. As a frontend developer, your job is to code and bring to life the visual elements of a website.
They build elements like;
 Buttons
 Layouts
 Navigations
 Images
 Graphics
 Content organization
The Tools used to create the front end of a website changes Constantly. This is a major challenge to developers so they need to constantly be aware of how the field is developed. The objective of which is to ensure that when viewers open sites, they see information in a format that is relevant and easy to read, irrespective of different screen sizes and resolutions.
What is back end development?
Backend development also known as server side of a network helps in storing and arranging data while also ensuring the front end is functioning well. A backend developer helps manage the database of a network and site content stored on it. They help to ensure that frontend elements on social media websites can continue to function properly as users browse.
Backend developers build elements like;
 Building codes
 Troubleshooting and debugging web applications
 Database management
 Framework utilization
Differences between frontend and backend
Frontend development focuses on the visual elements of a website or app that users will interact with (the client side), while backend development focuses on the side of website users can’t see (the server side).However, they work together to enable users make purchases, use contact forms and any other interactive activity you might participate in while browsing a site in a dynamic website.
Tasks of frontend developers
Although there are certain degrees of variation across companies, you can generally expect a frontend developer role to include all or some of the following;
• They optimize user experience by analyzing the client side performance of a web page so as to improve consumer understanding
• Detect problems and design engaging solutions.
• Developing and maintaining user interface
• Creating tools that improve site interaction regardless of the browser the user is on
• Managing software workflow
• Bring concept to life by imagining, creating and deploying interactive and mobile friendly applications for the web using the latest web technologies including HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript (ES6+) and React
Why should you learn Frontend development?
Listed below are the reasons you need to study or partake in a career of frontend development;
 Frontend developers are in demand
 Creativity
 Flexibility
 Ever evolving field
 Many career options
 Lucrative career
 Easy to learn, use and scale technologies
 Involves real time programming
 Speedy development and user drive outcomes.
What pays more frontend or backend?
Since there is an obvious difference between the two, you may be wondering, which to take on in your new career path and the pay may have a great influence in your choice. Mid career, Front end developers take in an average annual salary of $76,929 in the U.S., according to Glassdoor. While U.S based mid career Back end developers may bring in an average of $101,619 annually. According to this research, backend developers earn more than frontend developers. But before choosing a career path, money should not be the only factor that determines which to partake in. Careful study and analysis should be made on both frontend and backend development to determine which career path you enroll in.
Frontend Languages:
 JavaScript: JavaScript is a text based programming language used both on the client side and server side that allows you to make web pages interactive. It gives web pages interactive elements that engages a user. It converts web pages from static to interactive ones, thereby improving user experience. JavaScript is the world’s most popular programming language.
 HTML: HTML (hypertext markup language) is a language that defines the structure of your content. It consists of a series of elements which allows you to enclose or wrap various parts of the content to make it appear in a certain way or act in a certain manner. There are several web editors used to write html codes, but for Windows, visual studio code is mostly advised and atom for both apple and Linux users.
 CSS: CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation of
a document written in HTML.
Other frontend languages include;
 React
 jQuery
Career path of a frontend developer
Not only is the career path of a frontend web developer high potential, but it is also fun and challenging. Frontend developers are often excited about what they do because they’re able to leverage their creativity. According to Stack Overflow’s 2020 Developer Study, a full 37.1% of surveyed programmers world wide identified as frontend developers. If you’re thinking about taking up frontend developing as a career path but hesitant due to job opportunities and pay rolls, well don’t be, because according to research, jobs for web developers are expected to increase by 13% between 2018-2028. A frontend developer with up to 3 years of experience can earn up to $80,000-$119,500 and need I mention, there are 6000+ job openings for frontend developers with a steady and consistent search interest in the last 5 years.
Bear in mind that it is possible to have a career in frontend development without formal education but you will need to:
 Educate yourself about the fundamentals which means you will have to enroll your self in boot camps, colleges or you could be self taught.
 Build up your portfolio; After you’ve achieved your education, you need to convince managers that you have the necessary skills in performing whatever role you’re applying for. That’s where your portfolio comes in. These are tools that professionals use to demonstrate their competencies. The portfolio you compile should demonstrate technical prowess, design capabilities, communication skills and good coding practices. You could make a great portfolio by making your content accessible, improving load times and opening a personal blog.
 Land an entry level position; After you have successfully built up your portfolio, landing an entry level position should be your next step. You should begin your job hunt by tailoring your resume to the position you hope to achieve. Make sure to highlight personal projects and any relevant experience and be sure to list off all of the specific tools and programming languages you know
 Progress to a senior role; After you get a few years of experience under your belt, you will be able to progress to a more senior role on your web development team in which you will be responsible for overseeing a team of junior web developers, cooperating closely with developers at the backend team and providing high level input on coding projects. Here, your job as a professional is to make sure sites are fully responsive and compatible across browsers, operating systems and devices.
 Branch out; If you’re not satisfied with your job as a frontend web developer working in the senior role, branching out into other fields such as full stack development, User Experience design or digital marketing could be an option.
Frontend developers will always be in demand. As long as you know the way the web works and how the users want it to work, you could be a great fit, nailing a stable and a high paying job.