Scrimba Documentation

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the foundational language of the web used to describe the content of a page, such as headings, paragraphs, images, links, and buttons. It provides the structure that browsers read to render a webpage.

Key terms:

• Browser: The program (e.g., Chrome, Safari) that reads HTML and draws the page.
• Element: A single labeled piece of a page, such as a heading or a paragraph.

Front-end frameworks run in the browser and manage the user interface. Most modern front-end frameworks have converged on the concept of components: small, reusable pieces of interface that manage their own look and behavior.

Common front-end options include:

• React: The most widely used UI library with a massive ecosystem.
• Vue: Known for a gentle learning curve and high-quality documentation.
• Angular: A comprehensive, opinionated framework from Google, often used in large organizations.
• Svelte: Shifts work to a build-time step to ship less code to the browser.

JavaScript is the programming language that runs directly in every web browser. While HTML defines the structure of a page and CSS defines its appearance, JavaScript enables interactivity, such as responding to user clicks, updating page content without a reload, validating forms, and fetching data from a server.

Key foundational concepts include:

• Value: A single piece of data (e.g., the number 42 or the text "hello").
• Variable: A name assigned to a value so it can be referenced and reused later.

Back-end frameworks run on a server and manage data, accounts, and server-side logic. They typically provide routing (mapping URLs to code), an ORM (Object-Relational Mapping to treat database rows as objects), and a structure for business logic.

Common back-end frameworks (categorized by language):

• Django (Python): A "batteries-included" framework with built-in admin interfaces.
• Rails (Ruby): Popularized "convention over configuration."
• Laravel (PHP): The modern standard for PHP development.
• Express (JavaScript): A minimal toolkit rather than a full-featured framework.
• Spring (Java): A robust, enterprise-grade framework used extensively in large companies.

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is the language used to describe the visual presentation of a web page, including colors, fonts, spacing, and the arrangement of elements on the screen. While HTML provides the structure (what is on the page), CSS determines how that structure appears. Key terminology includes:

• Property: A specific style attribute that can be modified, such as color or font-size.
• Selector: The mechanism used to target specific HTML elements for styling.

Game engines are high-control frameworks that manage the core execution loop (typically 60 frames per second), physics, and rendering. Developers write scripts that the engine calls during this loop to define object behavior.

Common game engines:

• Unity (C#): Standard for indie, mid-sized, and mobile games.
• Unreal (C++): Used for high visual fidelity, AAA games, and film production.
• Godot: A free, open-source alternative with a growing community.