Full Stack Development with MEAN

Architecture:

I combined Express HTML and JavaScript for frontend work and built a Single-Page Application (SPA) using Angular. Express HTML and JavaScript helped me create dynamic web pages and handle basic interactions, while the SPA approach made the user experience smoother and more responsive. To manage the backend, I used a NoSQL MongoDB database because it's flexible and can scale easily. MongoDB's schema-less nature is perfect for accommodating future growth without extensive changes.

Functionality:

I leveraged Express HTML and JavaScript for frontend tasks and employed Angular to create a Single-Page Application (SPA) for a smoother user experience. This combination allowed me to develop dynamic web pages and responsive interactions. On the backend, I used a NoSQL MongoDB database due to its scalability and flexibility. A change that I made versus the given codebase was to use the Angular module HttpClient instead of HTTP. After a lengthy amount of reading online, I discovered that this change could help support JSON serialization/deserialization, typed responses, interceptors for request/response handling, and better error handling.

Testing:

The project's testing phase involved rigorous API testing to ensure proper functionality. This meant examining how different HTTP methods (like GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) interacted with various endpoints. Most of this was done using Postman, but I also was able to see the data returned in the terminal inside VS Code while running and testing the application. The introduction of security features, particularly JWT authentication, added complexity to the testing process.

Reflection:

This project was an opportunity to apply my prior certification in full-stack development to another practical scenario. It allowed me to work with diverse technologies, create a seamless frontend interface, and establish a secure backend system. I am happy that I got to spend this time working on this course material because the only way to retain these concepts is to continue practicing over and over. Also, this was my first time working with Angular, and I found it to be intuitive and very different from my experience using React in the past.