Russell's Learning Journal

  5 most important things that I learned in the course 1. Coding REST backend APIs - this is important because many if not all software applications use APIs to access data using CRUD. 2. Coding React frontend - React is something that I was introduced to in the course and found interesting.  One main thing I liked about the React library is the ability to embed HTML into the JavaScript code.  For me, this helps with organization. 3. Selenium - I found this type of testing to be very beneficial.  It automated tests that were done repetitively during the course for each assignment iteration. 4. Git - Git is an extremely useful tool.  It allowed our team to make multiple branches to test out ideas or methods without having to change or alter our finished code. 5. SRS - Creating a software requirement specification document for the application we built throughout the course provided experience not only in defining specifications but also in following the requiremen...

 The Agile and Plan and Document (Waterfall) processes are very different.  In the Agile process, iterations or sprints are used to complete smaller tasks rapidly whereas the Waterfall process follows a predetermined timeline for deliveries.  The Waterfall process is usually used for very large projects and takes much longer due to each delivery being reliant on the previous one.  Also Waterfall process uses a large chunk of time to rigorously plan everything at the beginning of the process whereas Agile allows for changes throughout the process because of the smaller deliveries each sprint.  This allows for quick and simple testing of each delivery versus the Waterfall process that usually begins to test near the end of the final deliveries because again each delivery relies on resources from the previous.

 This week's topic was service oriented architecture and message queues.  As an assignment, we used Rabbitmq to manage sending message queues from the registrar service and the grade book service.  The purpose of this was to test if each service was reciprocating what the other service was doing.  This is important because, for example, if there was a new enrollment in the registrar services then that new enrollment needs to show up in the grade book service.  If the grade book service did not receive a message from the registrar service when the new enrollment took place, that indicates an issue or bug is affecting the communication between both services.

 This week we worked on a System Requirements Specification (SRS) document.  The purpose of this document is to explain the requirements of a project.  These requirements are documented fully and revied by the shareholders of the project.  It is the base of the project that explains the requirements, design, tests, and implementation.  The SRS contains high levels of detail as it is the "guide" how the project will be completed.