Nathan Affleck
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Screenshot of the MongoDB API data structure for a user's garden, including plant entries and its related properties.
The user garden data structure which supports journal entries, water tracking and a custom nickname per plant.
Screenshot of the MongoDB API data structure for a plant, featuring extra information about the plant such as scientific name and watering frequency.
The plant data structure populated through sourcing and transforming data from an external API.
Screenshot of the MongoDB collections structure, featuring: plants, gardens and users.
The MongoDB collections structure for the applications needs.

Buddy App API

Bootcamp Project
Dec 2024

Skills used

  • Javascript
  • Data Seeding
  • Express.js
  • MVC
  • MongoDB
  • RESTful APIs
  • Jest

Summary

For the backend section of the project, I was involved in implementing the Express.js routes to interact with our database, creating tests for our services and controllers, and implementing error handling. This project was completed over a short 7-day period of sprints, with trying new technologies as a requirement.

What Went Well

  • Designed and executed the data model from the planning stage into code, assisting in seeding the database.

  • Assisted successfully the data transformation from an external API to populate our applications database.

  • Implemented additional features for plant journaling and adding plants from our ‘Bud Database’ into the user’s garden.

  • Contributed to the Jest test suite to ensure our outputs from our services were consistent and usable for the frontend.

What I Learned

  • Taking the noSQL/non-relational approach to databasing with MongoDB, and some of the benefits and limitations of using this approach.

  • Solving data design problems and mapping these to visualise relationships that support functionality.

What I’d Improve

  • Delve deeper into database design for handling user authorization and authentication.

  • Implement functionality only when required, avoiding speculative development, and synchronising feature implementation with frontend requirements.

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