Briefly describe your system (e.g. A store selling Pokemon game cards)
I developed an e-commerce website which sells various bags. The three categories of products are Light Totes, Heavy Totes, and Backpacks. Each product page maintains 6 individual items for sale. There is a shopping cart feature, and the site enforces users to login and/or create an account in order to purchase.
Any notable shortcomings, bugs, problems, or additional features not implemented?
Unfortunately, I was unable to implement the ‘email receipt to customer’ requirement for the site. I dedicated an ample amount of time to attempting to do so, however in the end, I was ultimately unsuccessful. This experience, though, has taught me very much. Now, I know 101 ways not to do so!
Describe what you are most proud of about your system:
I am most proud of the use of sessions throughout my site. Learning to use this feature was very difficult, and I feel proud that I was successful in the end. I utilized express sessions to maintain user and product data, and carry them throughout various processes.
Describe what you are least happy with your system:
I am least happy with my shortcoming in the email portion. I know that if I had just a bit more time, I would definitely be able to complete it.
How was developing this assignment different than assignment #2?
This assignment required me to do significantly outside research to complete. I had no exposure to sessions and cookies prior, however, I feel more comfortable in implementing them after completing this piece.
When you ran into a problem, what did you do to address it?
I engaged in outside research and utilized a vast variety of online resources, including websites, videos, and provided code examples.
Describe what worked well in doing this assignment?
To be very transparent, only my CSS worked well. I struggled to implement nearly every other aspect of the site.
Describe what did not work well in doing this assignment?
I had a very hard time navigating the use of sessions in my website. I was very unfamiliar with the syntax relating to it, so it required extensive outside research to learn.
What did you learn from doing this assignment?
I learned…how little I actually know. JavaScript, especially utilized in server-side processing, is very very complex. I definitely have a long way to go, however, I look forward to the journey.
If you could go back in time and do things differently, what would you change?
If I could change one course of action, I would start researching sessions and cookies sooner so that I could have dedicated less time to learning how to write and use them.
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 spent approximately 20% of my time planning, 30% of my time coding, and 50% of my time testing and debugging.