This week we learned about Node.js, which is a JavaScript runtime environment. We also delved into the world of npm or the Node Package Manager, which hosts the largest public registry of packages in the world. Initializing a Node project and installing a Node package from the command line is super simple:

npm init
npm i <package-name> --save

The first line initiates an interactive Node package set-up process. This creates a file called package.json, which houses information about your newly created Node package, including:

• name: Name of package
• version: Version of package
• description: Describes your package
• homepage: URL to project homepage
• bugs: URL to project’s issue tracker (If using GitHub, this will be your /issues path)
• license: ISC by default
• author: Name of developer
• main: Primary entry point to the program
• directories: A way of specifying the structure of the package
• repository: URL for the package’s repo (detected automatically if it is on GitHub)
• scripts: Dictionary containing script commands run at various times
• dependencies: Names and versions of packages that your package depends upon

The second line installs one or more packages in the node_modules path and updates the dependencies field in package.json.

One of the packages we worked with was Express.js. Express is a Node.js web framework that exposes a variety of middleware functions that allows a developer to parse incoming HTTP request bodies that contain JSON payloads.

To create an Express application, you first have to import the Express module and then create an instance of an Express application:

var express = require('express'); // import Express module
var app = express(); // Initialize Express app

This week’s assignment was interesting because we basically had to refactor our basic HTML/CSS assignment from week 1 to use more advanced concepts using JavaScript on the Node.js runtime with Express and the faker package.

It became clear how much easier it would be to maintain a larger scale web project using JavaScript partials–instead of editing source code in multiple files, all you have to do is edit the associated partial!

While my submission for this week’s website assignment might not look much different from week 1’s, it is implemented using more sophisticated technology that enables it to be much more highly scalable.

This week we learned about how to display data from an existing Web API using AJAX, based on user’s input.

I created a website that used NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) API based on a valid date provided by the user. The date is validated against the earliest date in APOD and today’s date. If the user supplies an invalid date, a dynamic warning alert comes up with the valid date range. If a valid date is entered, a success alert pops up confirming the date being fetched.

Week 2 added in jQuery and Javascript. We also used imported CSS rules and Javascript functions from Bootstrap 3. I was able to make a simple game using these skills in a fairly short amount of time.

You can view it on Heroku.

I really want to spend some more time with the Bootstrap documentation and take a peak at the newer Bootstrap 4.

I actually wanted to take advantage of the 4-day weekend to either get ahead in this class or to really brush up on machine learning for a job interview I have coming up in a week, but I wound up getting sick. I took that as a sign to slow down and take it easy. Luckily enough, before I got too sick, I was able to enjoy the San Diego Zoo and Balboa Park.

We have begun our course in Internet Programming. This week was a nice refresher in basic HTML and CSS. However, I did delve into some of the newer tags in HTML5 and CSS3 rules/properties that I had not dealt with before.

I am enjoying the format of this class. It seems pretty consistent–readings/videos, followed by a step-by-step lab with an extension activity, and then a final homework assignment in which we apply everything we’ve learned to something individually unique.

This week’s assignment had a stipulation–it had to be an informative website about something within the realm of computer science. As someone who has studied computational linguistics, I naturally went for Natural Language Processing.

You can view my website on Heroku!

In other news, I spent time over the weekend at Qualcomm’s Thinkabit Lab–part of Qualcomm’s philanthropy sector that brings STEM education to schools. I got to pilot some of their new curriculum that they will be bringing to high schoolers later this year.