Introduction
- Learning Web Development
- Learning React
- Prerequisites
- How This Book Is Organized
- How to Use This Book
- For the More Curious
- Challenges
Learning Web Development
Front-end development requires a shift in perspective if you have never built anything for the browser. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you get started.
The browser is the ubiquitous platform.
Perhaps you have done native development for iOS or Android; written server-side code in Go, Ruby, or PHP; or built desktop applications for macOS or Windows. Development of those kinds targets platforms that might have large reaches but are not universal.
As a front-end developer, you will write code that targets the browser – the only platform available on nearly every mobile phone, tablet, and personal computer in the world.
Front-end development requires visual and programmatic thinking.
At one end of the spectrum is the look and feel of a web page: rounded corners, shadows, colors, fonts, whitespace, and so on. At the other end of the spectrum is the logic that governs the intricate behaviors of that web page: swapping images in an interactive photo gallery, adding items to a cart, validating data entered into a form, and so on. You will need to gain proficiency in several core technologies and understand how they work together to build great web applications.
Web technologies are open.
No single company controls the standards for web browsers. This means that front-end developers do not get a yearly SDK release that contains all the changes they will need to deal with for the next 12 months.
Native platforms are a frozen pond on which you can comfortably skate. The web is a river; it curves, moves quickly, and is rocky in some places – and that is part of its appeal. The web is the most rapidly evolving platform available. Adapting to change is a way of life for a front-end developer.