For a web programmer to be the best, he needs to understand a few things better than others. It is easy to understand that in order to stand first in the class; you need to do better than other students in the class. No matter what profession you are associated with, you need to be a good listener. When you are programming web applications, you need to be an even better listener because in many aspects your job will be harder than other professions. When we talk about best practices, it is not in a particular direction but it is an umbrella term covering a lot of aspects related to a profession.
Here are a few things that you must be careful about when programming web applications or any other desktop softwares:
• Always be a good communicator and whatever you do communicate it with others. There are collaborative servers and platforms especially created for the purpose of conveying messages across the board. The programmers need to work side by side with the testers and for things to go smoothly, communication is the key.
• A good web programmer must be a good listener and only starting working on a project when everything has been understood properly. When a customer wants you to create an application or work on a project, he doesn’t want you to show how vast your knowledge is in the profession; he wants to get satisfaction from the final product that you will create for him.
• A programmer must learn as many languages as his brain can absorb. The more languages you learn the more chances you have to stay in the job for as long as you want. The world of internet is ever-changing and even the most useful tricks and techniques of today could become obsolete and outdated tomorrow. Several languages that were being used by web programmers a few years ago have relegated with time. You must make sure that the one you know doesn’t become outdated within your career.
• To cover both sides of the world, programmers should learn both, the front-end and backend programming. The front end means to program the front end of the web applications i.e. the end that users work on. When you are on a website and placing your requests, they are being taken to the server through the programming done by a front-end programmer. Once the requests have reached the server, the backend works start where the backend programmer has been working.
• Always stick to the basics of programming – whatever small instructions you have read while starting with your career as a web programmer, you must remember them. It is because these small things are easier to forget and when you forget them while programming web services and applications, you will see them as repetitive errors. These repetitive errors are the most frustrating and irritating ones when programming applications and softwares.
There is a lot that needs to be understood for programmers when it comes into the technical point of view. However, technical practices are best understood when you are working with a professional. Mentioning the technical aspects here might not help you much because theory is often hard to implement when you are doing something practically and when you do something practically, that’s when you understand it the best.
However, here are a few things that you might want to keep in mind when creating web based programs: minimizing the HTTP requests, adding cache control headers, using the content delivery network, using the right software for taking care of your images, not confusing CSS and HTML etc. There are many other instructions that could be found on the internet for web applications programming. Finally, when you are programming an application for tens of browsers, make sure to use the conditional comments during your programming. With these simple tips, you could become a professional programmer in no time.