Sure, here is a revision note for full-stack development, covering key concepts and
technologies.
Full-Stack Development Revision Notes
Full-stack development involves working on both the front-end (client-side) and back-end
(server-side) of a web application. A full-stack developer needs to have a good understanding of
various technologies and concepts to build and maintain an entire application.
I. Front-End Development (Client-Side)
The front-end is what users interact with directly in their browser.
1. Core Technologies: * HTML (HyperText Markup Language): * Structure of web pages. *
Elements, attributes, semantic HTML5 tags (e.g., <header>, <nav>, <article>, <section>,
<footer>). * Form elements and input types. * CSS (Cascading Style Sheets): * Styling and
layout of web pages. * Selectors (element, class, ID, attribute, pseudo-classes). * Box Model
(content, padding, border, margin). * Flexbox for one-dimensional layouts. * CSS Grid for
two-dimensional layouts. * Responsive Design (media queries, viewport, fluid images). * CSS
preprocessors (Sass/Less - variables, nesting, mixins). * JavaScript (JS): * Client-side scripting
language for interactivity. * Fundamentals: Variables (var, let, const), data types, operators,
control flow (if/else, switch), loops (for, while). * DOM Manipulation: Selecting elements,
changing content, styles, attributes, event handling (click, submit, keyup). * Asynchronous
JavaScript: Callbacks, Promises (then, catch, finally), async/await. * ES6+ Features: Arrow
functions, template literals, destructuring, spread/rest operators, modules (import/export),
classes.
2. Front-End Frameworks/Libraries: * React.js: * Component-based architecture. * JSX
syntax. * State and Props. * Lifecycle methods (Class Components) / Hooks (Functional
Components - useState, useEffect, useContext, useReducer, useRef). * Virtual DOM,
reconciliation. * Context API, Redux (for state management in large apps). * React Router for
navigation. * Angular: * Opinionated framework with a strong structure. * TypeScript-based. *
Components, Modules, Services. * Data Binding (one-way, two-way). * Dependency Injection. *
Routing. * RxJS for reactive programming. * Vue.js: * Progressive framework, easier to learn for
beginners. * Components, Props, Data, Methods, Computed Properties, Watchers. * Vue CLI,
Vue Router, Vuex (for state management). * Directives (v-model, v-if, v-for, v-on, v-bind).
3. Build Tools & Package Managers: * npm/Yarn: Package managers for installing and
managing dependencies. * Webpack/Vite: Module bundlers for packaging front-end assets (JS,
CSS, images). * Babel: JavaScript compiler for transpiling modern JS to older versions for
browser compatibility.
II. Back-End Development (Server-Side)
The back-end handles data storage, server logic, and API communication.
1. Programming Languages & Runtimes: * Node.js (JavaScript Runtime): * Allows
JavaScript to run on the server. * Asynchronous, event-driven architecture. * NPM for package
management. * Python: * Popular for web development (Django, Flask), data science, machine
learning. * Readable syntax. * PHP: * Traditional choice for web development (Laravel,
Symfony). * Widely used for CMS like WordPress. * Ruby: * Ruby on Rails framework. *
Convention over configuration. * Java: * Spring Boot framework. * Enterprise-level applications.
2. Back-End Frameworks (Examples): * Express.js (for Node.js): * Minimalist, flexible web
application framework. * Middleware, routing, request/response handling. * RESTful API
development. * Django (for Python): * "Batteries-included" framework. * ORM, admin panel,
templating engine, security features. * Flask (for Python): * Micro-framework, more flexible
than Django. * Suitable for smaller applications or APIs. * Laravel (for PHP): * Elegant syntax,
powerful features. * ORM (Eloquent), routing, queues, authentication. * Ruby on Rails (for
Ruby): * Convention over configuration. * Active Record (ORM), MVC pattern.
3. Databases: * Relational Databases (SQL): * Concepts: Tables, rows, columns,
primary/foreign keys, relationships (one-to-one, one-to-many, many-to-many). * Languages:
SQL (SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE, JOINs). * Examples: * PostgreSQL: Robust,
open-source, feature-rich. * MySQL: Popular, widely used. * SQLite: File-based, good for small
projects/development. * NoSQL Databases: * Concepts: Flexible schema, horizontally
scalable. * Types: * Document-based: MongoDB (BSON documents, flexible schema). *
Key-Value: Redis (in-memory data structure store, caching, session management). *
Column-Family: Cassandra. * Graph: Neo4j. * When to use: Large unstructured data, high
scalability requirements.
4. APIs (Application Programming Interfaces): * RESTful APIs: * Architectural style for
designing networked applications. * HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) mapped to
CRUD operations. * Stateless communication. * JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or XML for
data exchange. * GraphQL: * Query language for APIs. * Allows clients to request exactly the
data they need, no more, no less. * Single endpoint.
III. Development Practices & Tools
1. Version Control: * Git: Distributed version control system. * GitHub/GitLab/Bitbucket:
Platforms for hosting Git repositories. * Commands: git init, git add, git commit, git status, git
log, git push, git pull, git clone, git branch, git checkout, git merge, git rebase. * Branching
strategies (e.g., Git Flow, GitHub Flow).
2. Deployment: * Hosting Providers: * Cloud Platforms: AWS (EC2, S3, RDS, Lambda),
Google Cloud Platform (Compute Engine, App Engine, Cloud SQL), Microsoft Azure. * PaaS
(Platform as a Service): Heroku, Vercel (for front-end), Netlify (for front-end). * VPS (Virtual
Private Server): DigitalOcean, Linode. * Concepts: * CI/CD (Continuous
Integration/Continuous Deployment): Automating the build, test, and deployment process. *
Docker: Containerization for consistent environments across development and production. *
Server Management: SSH, Nginx/Apache (web servers).
3. Authentication & Authorization: * Authentication: Verifying user identity (e.g.,
username/password, OAuth, JWT). * Authorization: Determining what an authenticated user is
allowed to do. * Methods: Session-based, Token-based (JWT), OAuth 2.0. * Security Best
Practices: Hashing passwords, input validation, protecting against XSS/CSRF.
4. Testing: * Unit Testing: Testing individual components/functions in isolation (Jest, Mocha,
React Testing Library). * Integration Testing: Testing how different parts of the application work
together. * End-to-End (E2E) Testing: Simulating user interactions across the entire application
(Cypress, Playwright, Selenium).
IV. Key Concepts & Principles
● MVC (Model-View-Controller) / MVT (Model-View-Template): Architectural patterns for
structuring applications.
● DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself): Avoid redundant code.
● SOLID Principles: (Single Responsibility, Open/Closed, Liskov Substitution, Interface
Segregation, Dependency Inversion) - object-oriented design principles.
● Performance Optimization:
○ Front-end: Code splitting, lazy loading, image optimization, caching.
○ Back-end: Database indexing, query optimization, caching (Redis, Memcached),
load balancing.
● Security: OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities, secure coding practices.
● Debugging: Using browser developer tools, server-side logs.
This revision note covers the breadth of full-stack development. Remember to delve deeper into
the specific technologies and frameworks relevant to your learning path and projects. Good luck
with your revisions!
