Taming the Tech Stack for Web App development

The First Week - Setting the Stage:

Our journey begins with a team of enthusiastic full stack developers ready to dive into the world of web development. Their first challenge? Familiarizing themselves with the MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) stack. While some were familiar with these technologies individually, putting them all together into a fully functional app was a new adventure. 🚀

Jump into our Demo 📹:

What's better than reading about our progress? Watching it in action! Check out this video where our developer team demonstrates the demo app they built during the first week.

Learning the Tech Stack:

Our developers dove into the world of web development, exploring MongoDB, Express for creating APIs, and React for the frontend. This combination presented a unique learning curve.

They faced a choice between REST APIs and Firebase.

• REST APIs act like a menu in a restaurant, listing available options. You have to place an order at the restaurant. REST APIs define how you interact with a web service, including endpoints and supported data formats. Developers opt for REST APIs when they need customized interactions with other web services.

• On the other hand, Firebase is like an all-inclusive restaurant, offering a wide range of services, including a database, storage, authentication, and hosting. It's a quick and easy way to build and deploy applications. Firebase suits scenarios with dynamic data changes and a need for real-time UI updates, but it tightly couples the architecture.

In our case, we prioritize scalability and flexibility, so we chose REST APIs for our web app.

The Debugging Odyssey:

Every journey has its bumps in the road, and ours was no exception. The tutorial our developers initially relied on was a year old, and MongoDB had undergone significant updates. To make matters more challenging, a deprecated Node.js module was causing unexpected issues. The solution? Good old-fashioned debugging, line by line. It was here that they learned that its best to opt for latest up-to-date tutorials due to ever-evolving tech landscape.

A Wealth of New Knowledge:

With challenges come opportunities for growth. Our devs expanded their skill set, exploring the intricacies of MongoDB, mastering Express for creating APIs, and unraveling the mysteries of Redux for handling API calls in React. Tools like Postman for API testing and the Thunderclient extension for VSCode became their trusted companions. 🛠️

Resources and Advice:

Finding the right tutorial was no walk in the park, but they stumbled upon gems like The Net Ninja's tutorial series and Dave Gray's in-depth guides. Advice from our interns for aspiring developers? Dive in headfirst. Start coding alongside tutorials, and gradually build your understanding. It's a journey of learning by doing.

The Road Ahead:

The first week was just the beginning. The next couple of weeks promise to be more challenging as we dive into designing the architecture for an end-to-end outcome. Integrating AI logic and algorithms with our app is the next thrilling step. Storing weightages in MongoDB and working with Excel formulae will be part of the journey.

So, buckle up and join us on this exciting ride as we bring to life an AI-powered Study Planner that promises to transform the study routines of HSC students in Mumbai.

Stay tuned for weekly updates, insights, and a behind-the-scenes look at how we turn this vision into reality. 🎉

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