Web development is the umbrella term for conceptualizing, creating,deploying and operating web applications andapplication programming interfacesfor the Web.
Why is web development important?
The Web has grown a mindboggling amount in the number of sites, users andimplementation capabilities since thefirst website went livein 1989. Web development is the conceptthat encompasses all the activities involved with websites and webapplications.
How does Python fit into web development?
Python can be used to build server-side web applications. While aweb framework is not required to build web apps,it's rare that developers would not use existing open source libraries tospeed up their progress in getting their application working.
Python is not used in a web browser. The language executed in browserssuch as Chrome, Firefox and Internet Explorer isJavaScript. Projects such as pyjscan compile from Python to JavaScript. However, most Python developerswrite their web applications using a combination of Python and JavaScript.Python is executed on the server side while JavaScript is downloaded tothe client and run by the web browser.
Web development resources
To become an experienced web developer you need to know the foundationprinciples that the web is built with, such as HTTP requests and responses,client (typically web browsers) and server (web serverssuch as Nginx and Apachearchitectures, HTML,CSS and JavaScript, amongmany other topics. The following resources provide a range of perspectivesand when combined together should get you oriented in the web developmentworld.
How the Internet worksis a must-read to get a quick overview of all the pieces that go intoa network connection from one machine to another. The example explains howan email is sent and the story is just as useful for learning about otherconnections such as downloading a webpage.
If you want to be a web developer it's important to know the foundationaltools used to build websites and web applications. It is also important tounderstand that the core concepts such asHTTP, URLs and HTML were all thereat the beginning and then were expanded with new specifications over time.This article on theHistory of the Websuccinctly explains the origins of the web starting from Tim Berners-Lee'sorigin vision and release at CERN.
Web Architecture 101is a great high-level overview of the technologies that run the modernweb, such as DNS, load balancers, web application servers (for Pythonthat equates to WSGI servers),data bases, task queues,caching and several other critical concepts.
What happens when? is anincredibly detailed answer to the questions "What happens when youtype google.com into your browser's address box and press enter?" thatseems straightforward on the surface until you really dig in.
How browsers workprovides an overview with solid detail on how browsers take the HTML,CSS, JavaScript, images and other files as input and render webpages asoutput. It is well worth your time to know this stuff as a web developer.
The history of the URLexplains how the growth of ARPANET to hundreds of nodes eventually led tothe creation of the URL. This is a great read that provides historicalcontext for why things are the way they are with the web.
The Browser Hacker's Guide to Instantly Loading Everythingis a spectacular technical talk given by Addy Osmani at JSConf EU 2017that has great bits of developer knowledge for both beginner andexperienced web developers alike.
Build a web application from scratchand its follow on posts forrequest handlingmiddleware exploresthe fundamentals of web development. Learning these foundational conceptsis critical for a web developer even though you should still plan to use anestablished web framework such asDjango or Flask to build real-worldapplications. Theopen source codefor these posts is available on GitHub.
While not Python-specific, Mozilla put together aLearning the Web tutorialfor beginners and intermediate web users who want to build websites.It's worth a look for general web development learning.
Web development involves HTTP communication between the server, hostinga website or web application, and the client, a web browser. Knowinghow web browsers works is important as a developer, so take a look atthis article onwhat's in a web browser.
Ping at the speed of lightdives into the computer networking weeds with how fast packets travel throughthe internet plumbing. The author created aPython script that scrapes network speedsfrom disparate locations to see what the network speed is in fiber opticcables as a percentage of the speed of light.
The critical path: optimizing load times with the Chrome DevToolsprovides a well-written explanation about using Chrome's developerfeatures to improve the performance of your websites and web applications.
Three takeaways for web developers after two weeks of painfully slow Internetis a must-read for every web developer. Not everyone has fast Internetservice, whether because they are in a remote part of the world or they'rejust in a subway tunnel. Optimizing sites so they work in those situationsis important for keeping your users happy.
The History of the URL: Path, Fragment, Query, and Authgives a comprenhensive historical perspective on the fundamentalway to link to resources on the web. This post should be required readingfor web developers.
Quantum Up Close: What is a browser engine?explains how a browser takes inHTML,JavaScript,CSS,images and anyother data and files to produce a webpage as output.
How to understand performance testsis an important topic because many websites are slow and bloated.Learning about improving the performance of your site is one ofthe best ways to become a better web developer. Another great article onwebsite performance isThe average web page is 3MB. How much should we care?.The visuals alone tell a compelling story about how large webpagesizes have grown in recent years.
