Complete guide to web development with Java

Web Development is one of the most sought-after, and highly-paid jobs of the 21st Century. Java is a great language for learning web development. Java developers may earn anywhere between 2 lakhs per annum to about 70 lakhs per annum across the globe. It is easy to learn, compared to most of the other languages, with a comparatively mild learning curve, and is highly secure.

Introduction

Web development refers to the process of building, developing, and maintaining a website primarily through programming. It can range from creating an elementary static web page, with simple plain text to building and maintaining highly complex and sophisticated websites and web applications.

Java is a high-level programming language designed by James Gosling and released by Sun Microsystems in the year 1995. To date, there have been 19 versions of Java already rolled out, and Java 20 is officially scheduled to release on March 2023. It is one of the most famous programming languages, principally due to its ease of use, supportive community, and high output.

Web Development with Java

Java programming language is widely used in the field of Web development. It has been used in thousands of Web applications and major websites, including LinkedIn, Amazon, eBay, and Microsoft. Additionally, Java is the primary programming language used to create apps in the majority of India’s product-based businesses.

Now, let’s explore the proper pathway to learn Web development from scratch using Java.

Frontend Web Development Using Java

Starting with the basics, one must begin by learning HTML (HyperText Markup Language) and CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). HTML is pretty easy to learn and takes up very little time and effort. There are many HTML courses available for free on the internet such as the Learn HTML and CSS course on Codedamn.

However, on the other hand, CSS might be time-consuming as it depends upon the creativity of an individual to explore it, and hence it is recommended to get a reasonably good hand at CSS and proceed further, learning more about CSS along the way.

The next step is to learn JavaScript. After gaining a reasonably good knowledge of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, one should preferably learn a few frameworks like ReactJs, Angular, VueJs, etc.

Moreover, it is important to note that companies often prefer candidates who know the use of already mentioned frameworks. This is primarily because learning a framework gives good leverage to one’s front-end development journey. On top of that, it prevents the requirement of boilerplate codes, which means that it does not require the same code to be repeated in multiple places. Furthermore, it is additionally important to consider that learning multiple frameworks should not lead to a lack of knowledge in the primary programming language. It is because there are always a few features different in various frameworks or libraries. However, minor complexities like these majorly depend upon the task at hand and can be easily handled in that particular situation.

It is also cardinal to figure out an Integrated Development Environment or IDE to code the websites. The most famous and widely used IDE for this purpose across the globe is the Visual Studio Code, commonly abbreviated as VSCode.

Backend Web Development with Java

To begin with back-end development, one must first master Core Java and Java functional programming. Some core concepts under Core Java which should be particularly stressed include Object Oriented Programming or OOP Concepts, String Handling, Generics, Java Database Connectivity or JDBC, File IO, and Java 8 features.

Along with learning the language, the developer must have a good idea of Data Structures and Algorithms. It sets a good base and improves the efficiency of the developer. Someone having a good skillset in Data Structures and Algorithms can efficiently approach the problems and tasks at hand compared to someone who does not have a good understanding of DSA. This is because DSA inherently improves the problem-solving skills of a web developer as it helps the person to understand the problem and go deep into solving it. Some of the key concepts of DSA include Array, Stack, Binary Search, Interpolation, Binary Tree, Heap, Graphs, Linked List, Queue, etc.

One should also compulsorily acquire proficiency in the Java Enterprise Edition or JavaEE that involves JPA, Rest, JSON API, etc. This helps to specify specific sets of services like concurrency, database access, transaction management, security, etc. These are the absolute fundamentals required before progressing ahead.

Alongside these, it is necessary to learn the Spring framework because of its widespread use, and reputation in the industry due to a large number of features it brings to the table. One can also study through other frameworks such as the Eclipse Jersey framework for building Restful Webservices.

Additionally, we can also learn some other frameworks like Spring security. JPA Implementation, which helps a developer to define the specifications and persistence of objects in a Java application/Hibernate ORM (Object Relational Mapping), is another essential aspect that must be learned together with microservices through Spring Boot and Spring Cloud.

Databases

Further, it is also necessary for a Java developer to have good knowledge of a few databases. They may be Relational Databases like PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle, etc., NoSQL Databases like MongoDB and Elasticsearch, or Cloud Databases like CosmosDB and DynamoDB.

Other tools

Apart from the knowledge of databases, one must also know the use of a few salient tools such as Git, Docker, Jenkins, Apache Maven, IntelliJ Idea, Netbeans, Eclipse, Jira, AWS, etc. Some other Utility Libraries for Java Development include Guava, Apache Commons, Jackson JSON, Gson, etc. Besides these, it is also recommended to learn the JUnit framework or Mockito for Java testing. Acquiring knowledge about common design patterns like Gang Of Four or GOF and tools such as Swing and Java FX is also preferable for the development of Dekstop Applications.

Conclusion

In the present day and age, with the availability of almost every Computer Science resource available online, it becomes irrefutable to have the basic information about the resources which will help a learner in their journey and aid them towards the path of success. Similarly, to become a Web developer using Java, the learner must have proper guidance regarding the topic, the required skillset, and helpful subject-related resources. It will minimize the time which would otherwise have been misspent by exploring numerous available resources. One must keep learning additional resources as and when manageable and look out for every opportunity that comes across to succeed as a Java Web Developer.