My First JavaScript Front-End

I've just completed my module 4 project at the Flatiron School, which includes a JavaScript front-end. This was a truly humbling experience. I found JavaScript to be intimidating at first, transitioning from Ruby. But quickly grew to see it as an incredibly detailed language, and fun to write. I look forward to learning more about it and trying some new things out on future projects.  

I also created a Ruby on Rails RESTful API. It was simple, just a few models and actions hooked up to a PostgreSQL database. I made a discussion forum app about video games, as I am currently going down an e-sports rabbit hole. It was also my first time working with PostgreSQL and it works pretty much the same as SQLite, however SQLite is not deployable. So, the experience is great because I will be able to deploy future projects. I also had a chance to learn to use a serializer. One of my favorite things to do is adjust its attributes to see how it would affect the JSON output.  

It was so interesting to understand how information was going back and forth between my front end and API. Until now I had only understood this concept in theory, and this was a chance to create the flow of information. It was very exciting, including the fact that Rails is relatively opinionated as a back-end framework. I did not have to plan extensively to create my API, a few commands in my terminal and I was up and running. It’s exciting to think some back-ends are actually written in JavaScript. 

I cannot wait to begin my next and final module where I’ll be learning the popular library: React. From a cursory search online, it seems React provides a versatile way to write apps using JavaScript. A more functional way to write code as opposed to Angular which is more object oriented. Six more weeks to bring my coding skills up to date, looking forward to it!