How Much HTML, CSS, & JavaScript Is Enough In 2023 | Setting Realistic Expectations

Summary

The video script emphasizes the foundational skills required for full stack development, suggesting a structured learning path. It highlights the importance of understanding JavaScript basics, HTML and CSS fundamentals, and the asynchronous nature of JavaScript. The script also underscores the value of learning how to connect a front-end to a backend server and the role of frameworks like React in simplifying DOM manipulation. The speaker advocates for a deep understanding of the underlying technologies before leveraging advanced tools and frameworks.

Takeaways

• 📚 Start with understanding the fundamentals of JavaScript, as it is the scripting language for full stack development.
• 🔍 Spend the first week learning JavaScript basics, including syntax, loops, conditionals, and other essential programming concepts.
• 💻 Follow up with coding exercises and problems to solidify your understanding of JavaScript and get comfortable with its syntax.
• 🌐 Learn the basics of HTML and CSS, focusing on simple tags, structure, and styling without diving too deep into complexity.
• 🎮 Create a simple game using HTML canvas and JavaScript to understand how the two interact and add interactivity to your web projects.
• 🔄 Grasp the asynchronous nature of JavaScript, including promises, async/await, and the single-threaded nature of JS execution.
• 🔗 Understand how to connect your front-end application to a backend server using fetch API and the fundamentals of HTTP requests.
• 🔄 Learn DOM manipulation to comprehend how dynamic websites were built before the advent of modern frameworks like React.
• 🛠 After mastering the basics, move on to frameworks like React and Vue.js, knowing that they simplify the process of writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
• 🔑 Recognize that modern frameworks abstract the underlying simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, but understanding these basics is crucial for effective full stack development.

Q & A

What is the recommended starting point for someone beginning full stack development?

The starting point should be learning JavaScript as a scripting language, focusing on basic syntax, loops, conditionals, and other foundational concepts.

Why is understanding the basics of HTML and CSS important before diving into frameworks like React or Django?

Understanding the basics of HTML and CSS is crucial because it provides the foundational knowledge of how web content and styling work, which is essential even when using high-level abstractions in modern frameworks.

What are some common pitfalls that beginners face when transitioning from learning React to working with backend servers?

Beginners often struggle with understanding query parameters and the underlying mechanisms of backend servers, which can be mitigated by first gaining a solid grasp of JavaScript fundamentals and the basics of server communication.

How can one practice JavaScript basics after learning the syntax?

Practice can be achieved by solving algorithmic problems, doing coding exercises, and working on small projects like creating a basic game using canvas and JavaScript event handling.

What is the role of asynchronous JavaScript in full stack development?

Asynchronous JavaScript is key to handling tasks that may take a long time, such as server requests, without blocking the main thread. It is important for understanding how to manage non-blocking operations and working with APIs effectively.

What should a full stack developer know about HTML before moving on to frameworks like React or Vue?

A full stack developer should know basic HTML tags, such as those for text formatting, links, images, and forms. Understanding how to structure content is more important than delving into complex table structures or other less frequently used elements.

How does learning the fundamentals of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS prepare a developer for using modern frameworks?

Learning the fundamentals allows developers to understand what's happening under the hood when using frameworks. It provides a strong base to grasp how frameworks simplify and abstract complex processes, making it easier to leverage these tools effectively.

What is the significance of DOM manipulation in the context of full stack development?

DOM manipulation is how dynamic web pages were created before the advent of frameworks like React. Understanding how to manipulate the DOM provides insight into how modern frameworks streamline and simplify this process.

How does the knowledge of basic web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript benefit a developer using modern tools?

Having a solid understanding of these basic technologies enables developers to comprehend the underlying processes that modern tools abstract, making it easier to troubleshoot issues, optimize performance, and create more effective web applications.

What is the recommended approach to learning the asynchronous nature of JavaScript?

The recommended approach is to spend a few hours understanding concepts like promises, async functions, the single-threaded nature of JavaScript, and how the JS engine operates in both browser and Node.js environments.

Why is it important for full stack developers to understand how to communicate with backend APIs?

Understanding API communication is vital as it allows developers to send and receive data from backend servers, which is essential for creating interactive and dynamic web applications that can update and display content based on user interactions and data retrieval.

Outlines

00:00

🚀 Fundamentals of Full Stack Development

This paragraph discusses the foundational knowledge required for full stack development. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the basics before diving into frameworks like React and Django. The speaker shares their experience teaching a course where some students struggled with fundamental concepts despite knowing React. The video aims to outline the basic roadmap for beginners, suggesting a focus on JavaScript fundamentals, HTML and CSS basics, and the understanding of how these technologies interact. It also highlights the significance of grasping the asynchronous nature of JavaScript and the basics of DOM manipulation before moving on to more advanced topics.

05:02

🎮 Creating Interactive Projects and Understanding Asynchronous JavaScript

The second paragraph continues the discussion on the learning path for full stack development. It suggests creating a simple interactive game as a project to solidify understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The paragraph then delves into the asynchronous nature of JavaScript, explaining the need to comprehend promises, async.js, and the single-threaded nature of JS. It also covers the importance of understanding how websites communicate with backend servers using APIs, including the use of fetch API, HTTP requests, status codes, headers, and cookies. The speaker encourages learners to grasp these concepts before moving on to frameworks like React, emphasizing that understanding the underlying processes will make using frameworks more effective.

Keywords

💡Full Stack Development

Full Stack Development refers to the ability to develop both the front-end (user interface) and back-end (server and database) of web applications. In the context of the video, it emphasizes the importance of understanding the fundamentals of web technologies before diving into frameworks like React and Django, which simplify the process.

💡React

React is a popular JavaScript library for building user interfaces, particularly for single-page applications. It allows developers to create reusable UI components and is known for its efficient rendering of changes. The video mentions that some learners struggle with backend concepts despite knowing React, highlighting the need for a deeper understanding of the underlying technologies.

💡JavaScript

JavaScript is a scripting language used primarily for enhancing web pages by making them interactive. It is the core language for full stack development and is essential for understanding the fundamentals of web technologies. The video emphasizes starting with JavaScript to grasp the basic syntax and concepts needed for further learning.

💡HTML

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications. It provides the structure and content of the page. The video suggests learning basic HTML tags to understand the underlying structure of web pages, which is crucial before using frameworks like React.

💡CSS

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation of a document written in HTML. It is used to control the layout, colors, and fonts of web pages. The video mentions learning basic CSS to understand how to style HTML elements, but not to an advanced level since modern front-end frameworks like Element CSS or Material UI abstract much of the styling process.

💡Frameworks

In web development, frameworks are pre-built structures that provide a foundation and set of tools to make the development process more efficient. They often include libraries for handling common tasks, which can simplify and speed up the development of web applications. The video discusses frameworks like React and Django, which make full stack development more accessible by handling complex tasks.

💡Asynchronous JavaScript

Asynchronous JavaScript refers to the ability of JavaScript to handle non-blocking operations, allowing multiple tasks to run concurrently without waiting for one another to complete. This is crucial for tasks like network requests, which would otherwise block the execution of the script and freeze the user interface. The video emphasizes understanding the asynchronous nature of JavaScript as a key concept before connecting the front-end to a backend server.

💡DOM Manipulation

DOM (Document Object Model) manipulation is the process of changing the structure or content of a web page dynamically using JavaScript. Before the advent of frameworks like React, developers manually manipulated the DOM to update the user interface based on data from the server. The video suggests understanding DOM manipulation as it provides insight into how modern frameworks like React simplify the process.

💡HTTP Requests

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) requests are messages sent by a client to a server, typically a web browser to a web server, to request information such as web pages, images, or data. Understanding how to make HTTP requests is essential for full stack development because it enables communication between the front-end and back-end of web applications. The video discusses the need to understand the basics of HTTP requests, including status codes, headers, and cookies.

💡Front-end and Back-end

The front-end refers to the user interface and user experience (UI/UX) of a website, while the back-end encompasses the server, database, and application logic. The video emphasizes the importance of understanding both aspects of web development, starting with the basics of front-end technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, and then learning how to connect these to back-end servers for a complete full stack development skill set.

💡Fundamentals

In the context of the video, fundamentals refer to the basic principles and concepts that form the foundation of full stack web development. These include understanding the core languages (HTML, CSS, JavaScript), the asynchronous nature of JavaScript, and the process of DOM manipulation. The video stresses the importance of mastering these fundamentals before moving on to more advanced topics or frameworks.

Highlights

Understanding the basics of full stack development is crucial before diving into frameworks like React or Django.

It's important to grasp the fundamentals of JavaScript, HTML, and CSS before moving onto frameworks.

Learning JavaScript's basic syntax, loops, and conditionals is the first step in becoming a full stack developer.

After JavaScript, HTML and CSS should be learned, but not to an extensive degree, as modern frameworks abstract much of this.

Frameworks like Element CSS and MUI simplify front-end development, but understanding underlying HTML is necessary.

Creating a simple game with canvas and JavaScript helps solidify understanding of HTML and JavaScript interaction.

Basic styling in CSS is essential to understand how to apply styles to HTML elements.

Understanding the asynchronous nature of JavaScript is key to advanced web development.

Learning how to connect a front-end to a backend server using JavaScript is a critical skill for full stack developers.

DOM manipulation is a fundamental concept that explains how dynamic websites were built before frameworks like React.

React simplifies the process of DOM manipulation, making developer's lives easier.

Frameworks like React and Vue.js are built on top of simple HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Understanding the underlying technologies allows developers to use frameworks effectively and know what's happening under the hood.

Before using frameworks, developers should be able to write code in plain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Learning the basics and then applying them through frameworks is a recommended approach to full stack development.

Frameworks like React did not replace jobs but instead created more specialized roles in web development.

React is both a library and a framework that simplifies the process of writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

Understanding the transformation from simple code to framework code is valuable for full stack developers.

Transcripts

how much HTML CSS JavaScript is enough

for you to start full stack development

I am now teaching a course and I've seen

this very closely I've seen folks who

knew react but struggled in the first

few weeks I knew folks who did not know

anything but did fairly well in the

first few weeks because they followed

the structure that was needed and I

think were the fundamentals before you

dive into full Stacks so in this video

Let's understand the basic roadmap of

what is step one before you dive into

full stack what are the things that you

should spend just three to four days on

clear some fundamentals and then move to

any framework that you want let's get

right into the video so today full stack

development is very well abstracted you

have Frameworks like Django that take

away the complexity of writing backend

servers you have Frameworks like react

that were built to make your life as a

full stack developer easier but how were

websites written before these were

introduced is something that you need to

know before you start why well in the

course I am teaching I saw someone who

said he knew react but struggled with a

very basic thing which I like

query parameters in backend servers and

basically told me that this looks

something to react with sort of boggled

my mind I did not understand the

statement and that made me realize today

it's very easy to ask chargity to to

write a simple react application for you

it's hard for you to know what it's

doing under the hood and that is what

you should spend just the first one week

doing before you dive into react what

are these things let's talk about them

very concretely the first thing you

should start with is a scripting

language which in case a full stack is

Javascript

I have linked a prerequisite video that

was the prerequisite to my course it's a

very nice one one and a half hour video

that has more than 10 million views

which means a lot of people were able to

understand it very well so I think you

should as well if you want to get under

this path and you've decided I want to

do full stack first one week in fact

first day try to go through that video

it's a very nice JavaScript explainer

slash warming up video it teaches you

the basic syntax of JavaScript for Loops

if else foreign things that you need to

know when you're writing code eventually

if you don't know this it will be very

hard for you to directly dive into react

or even write basic applications after

you've spent maybe a few hours doing

that maybe a full day do a bunch of lead

code problems do a bunch of assignments

where you solve a lot of problems

algorithmic problems and you get

comfortable with the for Loops while

Loops you know the syntax of JavaScript

variable Step 2 is learning HTML CSS

little bit not too much why not too much

because in the real world when you're

writing applications in reactor view

you're not using HTML at all you're

using a little bit of CSS but it's very

well abstracted in Frameworks like

element CSS or mui which are the popular

Frameworks to write a front-end

applications but you need to know how

things are happening under the hood so

step one learn basic tags in HTML you

don't have to get into complicated

things like eddr tables things like that

no one uses them you have very nice

components to reuse in reactor view but

you need to know HTML you need to be

able to understand what a device what a

span is bold tag maybe typography H1 H2

things like these and maybe input boxes

buttons that's where you can cut a line

then connect the JavaScript you have

learned and the HTML that you've written

add some functionality to clicking on a

button doesn't need to be very

complicated react code have functions in

there just understand how you can import

JavaScript files using the script tag

how you can define a function in the

Javascript file and how you can call it

one click click on a button this is a

nice checkpoint you know HTML using

which you can now create ugly websites

because you haven't yet introduced CSS

and you can add functionality to your

website you can actually do something

when a button is clicked when a key is

pressed things like these maybe at this

point try to create a game using canvas

so have your key presses so capture your

key presses using JavaScript and based

on what key is pressed maybe move a

rectangle to the right or the left this

is a very basic game in which you're

able to move let's say in a box inside a

canvas or on the HTML Dom itself using

your arrow keys fairly good point for

you to know HTML and JavaScript you

understand these two things you know how

they work very well with each other now

understand very basic styling in CSS

background color font color things like

these you just need to know that HTML

tags can be styled how are they styled

using CSS there is inline CSS and then

you can move it to a different file but

you can very structurally Define your

CSS at this point you know HTML CSS

JavaScript and how they work with each

other the only thing that's left to

learn now is how your application can

connect to a backend server before you

do that you might need to understand

JavaScript a little bit more and dive

into the asynchronous nature of

JavaScript so what have we done up until

this point we started with HTML we

connected HTML and JavaScript and then

we did some CSS at this point you have

enough knowledge to create a simple game

in which you press a key a person moves

to the left you pass a key person moves

to the right maybe he's on a canvas

that's red in color and the person is

yellow in color straightforward create

this project

after you have done this and you

understand this project end to end is

when you should understand two things

one the asynchronous nature of

JavaScript two how you can use

JavaScript to talk to backend apis now

what is the asynchronous nature of

JavaScript this is three to four hours

of video where you understand uh

promises async.js single threaded nature

of JS what is the JS engine and how it

runs on your browser and in a backend

node.js application the second part

connecting it to the backend is

understanding that websites are not just

simple front ends they need to talk to

backend servers for example needs to

talk to a very complicated model how do

you send this request I mean the answer

is a simple fetch API that the browser

provides you or node.js does but you

need to understand how that's happening

like what is the request how is it going

on what is coming back what are status

codes what are headers what are cookies

what are things that you send what are

things that you receive and how you send

an HTTP request now you know how to

create a basic website in HTML CSS

JavaScript maybe even a game and it can

talk to a backend server this is the

point where you need to do one more

thing for me and then you're good to go

learn react learn jungle do whatever you

want after this one last thing you need

to do is understand Dom manipulation

which is how full stack applications

were built before react came into the

picture view JS came into the picture

before these Frameworks were introduced

how would Dynamic websites be created

how would you based on the data that you

get from your backend server manipulate

the Dom so that different things appear

okay if you don't understand this my

second part of the full Stacks is covers

exactly this we cover this in detail

where we show how Dom manipulation

happens and how react makes things much

easier for you if you've done that Dom

manipulation once and how react made

your life much easier as a developer you

don't have to do Dom manipulation by

hand once you have Frameworks like

reactor view but what is Dom you need to

learn and how you do manipulation is

another thing you need to learn you have

a very nice video that explains it end

to end cool after this point do whatever

you want

go to any framework ask rgbt to create

websites but you know how things are

happening under the hood even if you're

using react if you're using Tailwind or

if you're using axios or some external

library to send HTTP requests what's

happening in the end inside your browser

is simple HTML that you've learned

simple JavaScript simple Dom

manipulation and simple fetch requests

you don't see it when you use these

Frameworks but then eventually compiled

down to HTML CSS and JavaScript similar

to what you've written in these in this

one week so learn how to write this HTML

CSS in JavaScript then use whatever

framework basically write the same logic

using complicated Frameworks that make

your life easier you can compare this to

chat CPT pre-react days this was how

websites were written which was really

hard react came and made lives of

developers much easier to take away jobs

no I created more jobs now react

developer is a thing in itself so don't

worry about charity either effectively

it is a parser that gives you some code

and react is also a parser that gives

you some HTML CSS and JavaScript code

this is true react is not a framework in

itself and it is a framework it is not a

language in itself that your browser

understands your browser only

understands HTML CSS and JavaScript

react is an easy

to write HTML CSS and JavaScript similar

to how chat gbd is an easy way to react

the right react code today so understand

this transformation chat GPT is an easy

way to write react code react is an easy

way to write simple HTML CSS in

JavaScript learn this first then learn

this then go to charge gbt and ask it to

write your code with that let's in the

video I'll see the next one bye react is

an easy way to write HTML CSS in

JavaScript sorry chat gbt is an easy way

to write HTML

get let's write into the video get video

in the let's write