The front end developer has realized that a new era of development is well formed and quickly coming. With the introduction of technologies such as WebGL and Canvas, even graphics rendering became feasible using JavaScript. But, this didn’t change anything on the server side; the server programs were still running on JVMs/Rubys/Pythons.
Fast forward to today: The scenario is dramatically changing. JavaScript has just sneaked its way into the servers. Now, it is no longer required that a web application needs to have a back end programming language such as Java/C++. Everything can be done using just JavaScript.
Thanks to node.js which made it possible to run the JavaScript server side. Using MongoDB, one can replace the need to have SQL code and now store JSON documents using JavaScript MongoDB connectors. The JavaScript template libraries such as {{Mustache}}/Underscore almost removed the need to have server side templates (JSPs). On the client side, JavaScript MVC frameworks such as Backbone.JS enable us to write maintainable code. And, there’s always the plain old JavaScript waiting for us to write some form validation script, and the never end JQuery plugins that extend our functionality with ease. With that, now it is possible to do the heavy lifting just by using JavaScript.
The front end JavaScript programmers no longer need to focus on just the front end. They can use their skill set to develop the web application end-to-end. This rise of the front end developers poses a threat to the survival of the back end developer. If you are one, do you already realize this threat? What’s your game plan to stay fit to survive this challenge?