E5 Reflecting on Assignment 2
04 May 2021Provide a brief introduction to the assignment along with a link to this page for further details
For Assignment 2, we were tasked to add more features to our existing store website from Assignment 1. To be more specific, we needed to make the website more personalized to the user and ensure that the pages greets them, only a registered users may make purchases, and the invoice needs to personally thank each user. In order to do the aforementioned tasks, we needed to code a fully functioning login page and registration page. More information regarding the assignment can be found here.
What did you learn from this assignment?
I learned a lot of new code from completing this assignment. For instance, I learned how to code a server that would provide full functionality to my website. In the server, I had to code posts to be able to correctly process logins and registrations. I also learned how to code and utilize a user data .json file to make sure that new users who register will be saved into the data base and they can use that same registration information to login in the future. Another important code that I learned was the res/req coding that would validate data. For example, when a login or registration does not work for any reason, the res.send code would bring the user to a new window and display what the problem was.
Did you work with a partner? Assign an estimated percentage on the amount each team member contributed to the assignment (including yourself).
I did not work with a partner. I contributed 100% of the submitted assignment.
How did you get help when you needed it? What did you need help with?
When I needed help, I did not ask anyone. I am the suffer in silence type which is really bad but I was behind on the assignment (COVID shot made me unwell lol) and did not want to bother people. I ended up relying on looking up solutions to assist me with what I struggled with. I needed help the most with validating the registration via the server and ensuring that the user would receive an error if they did not meet the requirements of the registration fields. Besides that, I was able to figure things out easily.
How was developing this assignment different than assignment #1?
Developing this assignment differed from Assignment 1 because of the complexity of the functions required. In Assignment 1, we were allowed to just copy the coding for the server. For this assignment, we needed to do various codes in the server to make sure our websites were working correctly (posts, req, res) and that users would have no problem going through the different functions of the website. We also had to make the website more personalized which means that we needed to add code that would display custom messages for each user.
Estimate the % of time you spent (a) thinking about how to do something, (b) writing code (but do not include testing, (c) testing and debugging
I probably spent about 25% thinking about what I had to do, 60% writing code, and 15% testing and debugging. Due to the fact that I was behind on the assignment, I just threw myself in there and hoped for the best. I did not really spend much time thinking critically about what I had to do, I just wrote code and hoped for the best. Since I was late, I didn’t really spend time testing it out either. Once I had it working, I just uploaded and didn’t look back. Only now, a week later, that I’m going back to properly debug and test.
Describe what worked well with this project? What did not work well?
What worked well
- The design of the website was neat and organized
- Functionality of my website (navigating through each tab of the navbar, links to other pages) had no issues
- Login page worked properly and only allowed existing users to log in
What did not work well
- The registration validation was done on the HTML form itself rather than the server
- I failed to ask for help which caused numerous bumps along the road
- There are still some areas of my website that does not work (personalized messages) that I still have yet to fix
- Lack of planning and time management on my end (even when I knew I was getting my vaccine that same week) which resulted in a late submission
If you could go back in time and do things differently, what would you do differently?
If I could go back in time, I would plan ahead what I need to do and make ample to complete the assignment. Rather than just cramming everything in 3 days, I would plan to work on different things and spreadout the work. Managing my time and planning out the work would also allow me to see where I need help or where I have errors in my code early so I can get help from my peers or the TAs/Professor Port. My poor planning resulted in both a time crunch and being stuck without any help. Double homicide.
Source: https://media.tenor.com/images/642c71bf3f28b79363bd35adfa992fa4/tenor.gif