eli5 What is the difference between “Front End” developers and “Back End” developers?
In: Technology
A “Front End” developer typically deals with the user interface for an application. The UI is how the end user, or customer, interacts with the application. I.e. what you see on the screen and can click on or type in.
A “Back End” developer handles how the data is managed, saved, etc..
As an example:
On a messaging forum, a user clicks on a thread, types a response and clicks the Send button.
How the list of threads are displayed, the text box the user is typing in, and the button they clicked are all examples of something a front end developer could be responsible for.
Once the Send button is clicked, that data needs to be sent to the server, saved in some format, then served back to other users when they access the same thread.
This logic, which users don’t directly interact with, would be handled by a back end developer.
Often times, there can be another distinction between back end development and database administration, which just means that one person or team handles how and where all the data is stored once it’s sent back by the “Back End” developer.
If someone is fluent and capable in all these areas, they are often referred to as “Full Stack” developers, meaning they can work on any technology layer which makes up an application
Edit: tl;dr
Front end = the numbers on a clock
Back end = the gears that make the hands move
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