Web Application Framework: The Need, Types, Functions, Benefits

Web application frameworks are popularly known as server-side frameworks and are easier to code, maintain and extremely helpful in scaling web applications. They come along with tools and libraries to simplify web development tasks. They make it easy to route URLs to appropriate handlers, make the application front end interact with the backend databases, support sessions and user authentication, format output (e.g. HTML, XML, JSON) and improve application security against web attacks.

See also:

• Golang Web Framework
• Python Web Frameworks
• PHP Frameworks

Introduction to Web Application Frameworks

Web application frameworks came into being to reduce the need to hand-code and improve the overall performance of the apps, as these simplify the development process. They support multiple databases, provide static and dynamic templates, and manage system users, assists administrators to assign roles, add/modify/delete users, map URL’s, are quick to code, are less prone to errors, easily gels up with the code, and also fulfils the need to converge multiple frameworks. We have web frameworks to

What Is The Need to Have a Web Application Framework?

You need a framework if:

• To create and execute web applications
• They include web services, web resources and web API’s that assist in web application development
• They don’t need you to code on your own and look for probable bugs and errors
• If your application is primarily based on CRUD operations
• If you need to separate UI and the business logic but are short on time
• If you wish to have user authentication, sessions in your app
• If you wish to create a CMS in a very short time and you know which framework to use

When You Don’t Need A Web Application Framework?

Frameworks do not resolve every problem with web apps. You do not need a framework if:

• If you need a URL system
• If you just need a part of the system like an ORM
• If you are on a stringent timeline and also need to learn the framework from scratch

How Is CMS Different From A Web Application Framework?

We need tools, libraries, and frameworks to create a web app. With a CMS we do not need to have any prior coding experience. Another way around, we need to know how to make correct use of a framework to create a custom web app.

What Are The Various Types Of Web Application Frameworks?

It becomes evident with the advancement in the web-standards that the web app frameworks ensure smarter communication between the user and the web application. They can react to the user input thus making the app more responsive, easily navigable on any device.

Web Frameworks can be classified as:

(1) Client-Side – work at Frontend

(2) Server-Side – work at Backend

What are the functions of web frameworks?

Server Side Web App Frameworks: These take care of the backend business logic. To work on the server side and set up app logic on the server (backend). These are constructed in a way to enable creating simple pages, forms and landings of different kinds. These are capable of handling HTTP requests, managing databases, mapping URL’s, improving security, simplifying the development process by forming the output data. Examples of server-side frameworks include:

• C# -> (.Net)
• Java -> (Spring, JSF, Struts)
• PHP -> (Laravel, CodeIgniter, Symfony and many more)
• Python -> (Django, Flask, Bottle)
• Ruby -> (Ruby on Rails, Sinatra, Cuba)
• Javascript -> (AngularJS, Express.JS, Sails.js, Koa.JS, Socket.io, Meteor.JS, MEAN.io, Nest.JS, Keystone.JS, Loopback.io, Feathers.JS, Hapi.JS, Strapi.io, Adonis.JS, Restify.JS, ItemsAPI,  Kraken,  Express.JS, Sails.js, Koa.JS, Mojolicious (PERL), Laravel (PHP), Deno (JavaScript) etc.

Client-Side Web App Frameworks: These do not take care of the business logic but work upfront inside the browser. So new interfaces can be implemented. To work on the client-side (front-end) and manage the user interface of the application. Client-Side Frameworks allow creating many animated features with the help of single-page applications. Every client-side framework varies in functionality and use, and most of them use JavaScript as their programming language. Examples of Client-Side Frameworks include: Angular JS, Ember JS, and React JS etc.

Few specific and most used server-side frameworks and full-stack frameworks (comprising both server and client-side frameworks) include:

(Please Note: This list is not comprehensive)

What Are The Advantages of Web App Frameworks?

Web Frameworks provide tools and libraries to simplify common problems that developers face during web development operations.

• Help work directly with HTTP requests and responses

Web Frameworks help in simplifying the development by generating server-side code to work with requests and responses. Therefore, interacting with higher-level code becomes easier than with lower-level networking primitives.

• Help route requests to the appropriate handler

Web Frameworks are easily able to handle different resources provided by different sites that are accessible through distinct URL’s. Web Frameworks map URL patterns to specific handler functions. This method eases the website maintenance as the URL used to deliver the code can be changed without the need to change the underlying code. Each framework handles the mapping in their way.

• Web Frameworks help in accessing data in request easily

Data can be encoded in an HTTP request in various ways. The data required in URL parameters or URL structure can be encoded in an HTTP get request. HTTP post request can update the resource on the server and include “Post data” within the body of the request. These may often include the session information or user in a client-side cookie. Web Frameworks provide just the right amount of information and help to streamline this information.

• Abstract and simplify database access

Web Frameworks provide a data layer to help websites in abstracting the data read, write, query, and delete operations. Such an abstraction layer is referred to as an Object-Relational Mapper (ORM). This serves in two ways – to replace the underlying database without changing the code and basic validation of data which helps check the correct sequencing of data.

• Rendering data

Web Frameworks come along with templating systems which allow specifying the structure of an output document, making use of placeholders for data that are added when a page is generated and restored. Web Framework templates provide a mechanism to generate other document formats from stored data including JSON and HTML.

How to Select a Web App Framework?

Almost every higher-level programming language contains frameworks to ease off the web development process. Selecting an appropriate web development framework depends upon:

• The Ease and Eagerness to Learn – This includes the familiarity with the underlying programming language, the consistency of its API, the size, and activity of its community, the quality of its documentation.

• The Productivity – A framework helps in coding quickly and its ability to create new features depends upon the documentation, community, and programming experience etc. that it brings along with.

• To Solve A Particular Problem – Certain frameworks evolved to solve particular problems like creating blog websites, digital newspapers, and other sites that involve publishing things.

• Opinionated vs. Un-opinionated – Some frameworks are the best fit for a specific problem. Such frameworks are more productive when we try solving a common problem. But they tend to be less flexible in case a different problem is to be solved.

• Lightweight vs. Fully Featured – Frameworks do come with tools and libraries to address every problem. Lightweight frameworks expect web developers to choose solutions to problems from separate libraries. Other frameworks that include everything are often easier to get started with as they come loaded with required tools, libraries, are well integrated and well documented. Smaller frameworks with fewer features can run in constrained environments.

• Development Practice – It is important to understand if a framework encourages good development practices. If a framework encourages MVC architecture to separate code/business logic – from view/UI, then this results in a more maintainable code. This also impacts how easy it is to test and re-use code.

• Performance – Small to medium-sized websites can be created with frameworks with slow runtimes, running on moderate hardware. And alternatively, the choice to look into the cost, maintenance of a framework, the size, speed of framework need a negotiation at the time of development.

• Support To Cache – The web frameworks must be able to handle the increased traffic on the website. It becomes important to return a cached response, faster without calculation. Web Frameworks come with different levels of support to define what content can be cached.

• Web Security – Web Frameworks should be capable of handling web attacks. Other factors like licensing, active development should also be considered. E.g. Django filters all user input from HTML so that the users are not able to enter and run any JavaScript.

• Scalability – As your web app or website reaches the limits of vertical scaling, you need to scale it horizontally or geographically. This can be made possible by using an appropriate web framework.

How Do Web Application Frameworks Work?

As soon as we type a URL in a web browser and press the ‘Enter’ key, the Server and Browser connect via TCP and HTTPS, we need to follow these seven steps (browser to server to browser requests)

1. Every webpage is transmitted to the client browser as HTML
2. The domain name server (DNS) matches the URL with the IP address
3. Client browser sends the HTTP request to the server
4. Servers send the HTTP response back to the client
5. The client browser renders the response in form of HTML
6. The client browser sends the request for additional objects embedded in HTML in form of images/text/CSS/JavaScript or all of the above
7. As the webpage loads, the client browser sends asynchronous requests as required.

Conclusive: Getting Through the Prevalent Frameworks

Developers must consider certain specific criteria before selecting web app development frameworks: (1) A framework that does not make use of stringent naming conventions helps in avoiding run-time errors. (2) Backend frameworks should have libraries to assist developers in doing repetitive tasks and are helpful in code reuse. (3) They must be robust enough to track bugs, apply patches and notify users. A dynamic framework is more secure and is less prone to hackers. (4) It must come with good documentation. (5) It must be checked whether the application can be hosted on a dedicated or shared server.

Considering all the advantages that web development frameworks bring to web development like Security, URL Mapping, Ease of Creating an Extension and Availability, Bug Fixes/ Updates, large Community, vast documentation, scalability, unit testing support, includes JS Library, DB Abstraction and ORM, core library (AJAX, Authentication, Authorization, Caching, Data Sanitization, Data Validation, Templating, URL mapping or rewriting), swift learning curve, ease of installation, hosting requirements, software pattern, license and save Cost-Time-Effort, Have large community support and documentation, we still cannot ignore the fact that web frameworks are not be all end all when it comes to web development. They speed up the development process, simplify coding, and help create highly responsive and engaging web applications.

Do let us know in case of questions or if you have nice things to say or criticisms; connect with us for the best web application development!