We are in the last quarter of 2017 and now is the perfect time to learn about some useful web development frameworks for the approaching year and make it more productive. Web development frameworks or server-side frameworks form a major part of development process, for one has to select the best framework while coding for a web application.
The purpose of web application frameworks is to reduce the development time of applications that are intended for websites. Today a website should have more than a good online presence. As the internet matures; people look forward to involving new technologies, while hoping to have refined experiences.
Whether you are a seasoned web developer or an amateur, you should gracefully adopt new technologies irrespective of the time-frame involved, because people move with the technology, and expect any website they prefer to look into should do be doing the same.
Web Frameworks: An Over-View
Web application framework is a collection of libraries that offers flexible means of developing a website application.
(Libraries allow reuse of code).
With web frameworks, developers are able to skip the basic overhead hard-coding tasks and easily access a database, manage sessions and cookies, and create templates to display the HTML on browsers.
As web frameworks are featured with API, models and other elements, it’s easier for developers to create rich, dynamic web applications.
Are still unsure about the concept?
Ok, let me take a simple example.
If you are preparing a burger, having prebaked bun will speed up the process rather than preparing one from scratch. In this case, a web framework is a bun, and it will help developers speed up the web development process.
What Web Frameworks actually do?
It is common for web developers to face issues that are repetitive. As said before, with web frameworks web developers don’t have to re-invite a wheel, as in, create a website from scratch or do overhead tasks.
Now let’s see what exactly can be done through web frameworks,
- URL Mapping/URL Simplification :
- Web frameworks simplify URLs/make them legible, so both users and search engines find it easier to understand.
- E.g.
- www.xyz.com/index.asp?id=13.
- www.xyz.com/home? (URL simplified)
- Web Templates :
- With web templates, developers can actually witness a reduction in the number of hard-code web pages, which improves the performance of web applications.
- Database :
- MySQL, Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, are some of the major databases that are supported under every framework. Through API, it is easier for developers to fetch data, and add or delete records.
- User Management :
- This feature in a framework involves support for user logins and other access-related processes. The feature is powered by the framework’s API.
Hoping you understood something about frameworks, let’s proceed and see what web frameworks that our developers should use for the upcoming year.
- Laravel
- A free, open-source PHP web framework, Laravel is based on (MVC) model-view-controller architectural pattern.
- MVC software architectural design supports faster development process (simultaneous development), as it allows dividing an application into three interconnected parts namely, the model, the view, and the controller.
- Also, compared to PHP, developers need not spend hours writing code, because the purpose of Laravel is to reduce the development time as well the initial cost involved.
- With some powerful features, Laravel has become the most popular and useful framework of all time. The list of features includes database access, routing, command line tool, view template engine, authentication and socialite and much more. Each of these features makes it easier for developers to work on a website irrespective of its magnitude.
- Django
- Written in python, Django is a free and open-source web framework.
- The advanced features allow developers to code for applications without having to do things from scratch.
- With Django developers can easily work on complex data-driven websites at a rapid speed without having to violate the DRY principle. The configuration systems allow developers to plugin third-party code and enhance the functional features of the framework.
- Also, the data conversion between two incompatible type systems will be easy as Django comes with an (Object Relational Mapper) ORM tool. ORM is also referred as O/R mapping tool or O/RM, and the conversion is performed through object-oriented programming languages.
- (RoR) Ruby on Rails or Rails
- Airbnb, Shopify, Basecamp, actually there are much more. These applications were built on ruby on rails.
- Written in Ruby language, Ruby on Rails is a server-side web application framework. Based on MVC architecture, the framework is powerful, open-source, and is highly compatible with all major PaaS platforms.
- The best part about using RoR is developers need to lose their focus on developing APIs because this web application framework handles restful APIs very gracefully.
- Since the framework is object-oriented, developers will find it very easy to learn and it will not be much time before they start building powerful web applications.
- Yii
- One more to the growling list, Yii is another open-source, object-oriented, and component-based MVC PHP web application framework.
- In Chinese, the term ‘Yii’ denotes ‘simple and evolutionary’ or ‘yes it is’.
- This framework is considered the best choice for developing web 2.0 applications.
- Web 2.0 applications refer to those websites, which allow users to collaborate and share content online. Web 2.0 applications support real-time discussions and help in creating dynamic learning communities.
- The framework is built around MVC pattern and provides solid caching support. Also, building database-powered web applications is easier with features such as Database Access Objects (DAO), Active Record, and programmatic Database migrations.
- Yii, being an open-source framework has an excellent community support. And irrespective of the open-source nature, the input validation, Cross-site scripting prevention, and SQL injection feature keeps the website safe from hackers.
