codehath/chitter-challenge

Chitter: A Twitter Clone

Chitter is a portfolio project developed in Week 4 of the Makers Academy software engineering course. It showcases the skills and knowledge acquired by building a full-stack web application that mimics the basic functionality of Twitter. The project demonstrates the ability to plan, design, and implement a functional web application from scratch using Python, Flask, and Peewee ORM for database management.

Features

• User Registration: Users can create an account by providing their name, username, email, and password.
• User Login: Registered users can log in using their username and password.
• Authentication: Passwords are securely hashed using bcrypt before storing them in the database.
• Security: User sessions are managed using Flask's session functionality.
• Peep Creation: Only authenticated users can access the home page to post peeps.
• Peep Viewing: All peeps are displayed in reverse chronological order on the home page and the user's home page.
• User Logout: Logged-in users can log out of the application.
• Responsiveness: The application is built with a responsive layout that adapts to different screen sizes.
• Redirect: Unauthenticated users are redirected to the login page.

Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Backend
Frontend
Testing
Tools

Technical Approach and Skills Demonstrated

The Chitter Challenge project was developed using a full-stack approach, utilizing Python and the Flask framework for the backend and HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for the frontend. The project showcases the following technical skills and development processes:

• User Authentication and Authorization: Implemented user registration, authentication, and authorization mechanisms to ensure secure access to the application. Passwords are securely hashed using bcrypt for added security.
• Schema Design: Designed and structured a relational database schema using PostgreSQL, ensuring efficient data storage and retrieval.
• Database Management: Utilized the Peewee ORM for database management and querying, effectively interacting with the PostgreSQL database to store and retrieve user data and peeps.
• Responsive Web Design: Designed and developed responsive web pages using HTML Jinja templates, Bootstrap and CSS ensuring a seamless user experience across different devices and screen sizes.
• Testing and Quality Assurance: Implemented unit tests using the Pytest testing framework and Playwright to ensure the correctness and functionality of the application's codebase.
• Dependency Management: Managed project dependencies effectively using Pipenv, ensuring a consistent and isolated development environment.
• Version Control and Collaboration: Utilized Git for version control and hosted the codebase on GitHub, enabling collaborative development and version tracking.

Through the development of this project, I have demonstrated proficiency in these technical skills and a systematic approach to software development, including design, implementation, testing, and deployment.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x
• Pipenv

Installation

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/your-username/chitter-challenge.git
   

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd chitter-challenge
   

3. Install the project dependencies using Pipenv:

   pipenv install
   

4. Set up the environment variables:

   • Rename the sample.env file to .env

     DB_NAME=your_database_name
     DB_USER=your_database_username
     DB_PASSWORD=your_database_password
     DB_HOST=your_database_host
     SECRET_KEY=your_secret_key
     

     Replace your_database_name, your_database_username, your_database_password, your_database_host, and your_secret_key with your actual database and secret key values.

5. Activate the virtual environment:

   pipenv shell
   

6. Run the database migrations:

   python seed_dev_database.py
   

7. Start the application:

   python app.py
   

8. Access the application in your web browser at http://localhost:5001.

Testing

To run the unit tests for the Chitter Challenge application, use the following command:

pytest

Future Developement

Some additional features I may implement for Chitter:

• Implementing user profiles with profile pictures and bio information.
• Adding the ability to follow other users and view their peeps.
• Introducing features like liking and commenting on peeps.
• Implementing real-time updates using WebSocket technology.
• Enhancing the user interface with more advanced styling and animations.