We’ve just finished the most satisfying week of the course so far IMHO.
It has been a week long sprint to build an API for a Postgres database from scratch using test driven development (TDD).
There were a few new topics introduced, such as:
- Intro to async-await
- Advanced error handling
- Hosting with Heroku
- CI/CD (continuous integration/continuous deployment)
- Using GitHub actions to create a pipeline
The main focus of the week was to build the API using full TDD and implementing the M & C of the MVC programming paradigm.
The week started slowly. It was a case of remembering our learning from the previous two weeks, consulting notes, Googling, asking tutors and fellow students to try and put a structure in place and start creating endpoints. Once the first one was done, tested and working, things speeded up a bit as I got in the swing.
Once again the value of TDD was at the fore - guiding my development progress, step-by-step. 🟥 Red 🟩 Green 🔁 Refactor is carved into my soul!
Come Friday afternoon I had reached the specified 🛑 stop point and I submitted my repo for code review by the tutors. It came back quickly and the first comment was
Really nice work!
I was over the moon with those three words and also the 5 pages of feedback that followed. I could use this to further develop my API to make it something to be proud of and "portfolio ready". Time to relax (for a little while!), that will be a job for the Christmas break over mulled wine and mince pies 😜.
The repo is on GitHub and includes instructions on how to find details of the endpoints and install it yourself.
So the next 3 weeks are dedicated to front end. We will be building a front end for our API. I cannot wait to bring it all together in a full-stack web app. This will set us up perfectly for the final project phase.
There is a long way to go but the end is in sight!