CodeClan Week 8

It’s week eight and we have finally reached the point of data persistence with JavaScript. This is in the form of MongoDB, an open source system designed to store huge amounts of data. Unlike PostgreSQL, MongoDB is a non-relational database. Its equivalent of PostgreSQL tables are referred to as ‘collections’, while the equivalent of columns are ‘documents’. The difference is more than just semantic. In PostgreSQL the data in each column of a table is of the same sort and each row has the same number of columns. A non-relational database by contrast can have different categories in each document, more like a physical folder full of documents than a conventional table. This makes it more flexible, and thus more suitable for certain types of data storage.

The start of the week saw us learn the ropes with MongoDB, using JavaScript to query the database and extract data. On Wednesday we put this new knowledge to work building a simple bucket list app, a straight forward but satisfying task. Thursday saw our introduction to git merge, the command which allows multiple users to work on the same repository simultaneously. At the end of the day we were given our groups and briefs for the JavaScript projects. This would be our task for the next week. My group elected to combine two of the briefs we were given, aiming to build a flash card revision app. In principle it should be a visually pleasing site, capable of pulling data from multiple API’s to create the cards. Work is progressing well, with my team on track to finish an mvp (minimum viable project) by Tuesday evening. Presentations are on the Thursday, and there are a number of additional features I would like to include. We move through projects so quickly that I find I can seldom implement all the features I would like to see. Hopefully I’ll be able to get a few more in this week.