Foreword

About myself

• I have a BSc. in Computer Science from UT-CN,
• Currently studying for a MSc. in Software Engineering at UBB,
• Working as a Lead developer and solution architect,
• Teaching a Software Design laboratory at UT-CN,
• Trying to be active in open source and on Stack Overflow.

• UT-CN: Technical University of Cluj-Napoca. Website: https://www.utcluj.ro/
• UBB: Babeș-Bolyai University. Website: https://www.ubbcluj.ro/
• My portfolio: https://serban-petrescu.github.io/

AUdience

• Mainly intended for students searching for guidance in building software projects.
• May be useful for other entry-level developers.
• Prerequisites:
  • Some programming knowledge (e.g. Java),
  • Basic database design concepts.

Purpose

• Provide guidance for building modern web apps,
• Explain the most important concepts encountered,
• Explore and apply best-practices,
• Learn to leverage commonly-used tools. 

Technologies

• Frontend:
  • React
  • Ant Design
• Backend: 
  • Spring (Boot, Data, Security)
  • Hibernate, Flyway
• Database: H2
• Message Queue: RabbitMQ
• Tools:
  • IntelliJ IDEA,
  • Postman,
  • VSCode

Our practice app

Overview

• Throughout this series, we'll build a small school app.
• This app is used by teachers to:
  • Import and maintain student data,
  • Record attendance,
  • Add grades,
  • Generate a final report.
• It is also used by students to:
  • View their own grades and attendance,
  • Download a report card.

Student data

• At the beginning of the academic year, teachers receive spreadsheets with student data. For each student, the teachers get:
  • Student identifier,
  • Group number,
  • First and last name,
  • Email address.
• Each teacher imports this data and may later update it (in case something is inaccurate or outdated).

AttendAnce

• A teacher may teach several different topics, each topic requiring a series of lectures.
• During a lecture, the teacher records the attendance (the students which are present).
• The teacher may alter the attendance list - only during the day of the lecture - by:
  • Removing a person (e.g. when kicking out someone),
  • Adding a person (e.g. for appending late comers). 

Grades

• For each topic, each student may receive a list of "tagged" grades (consisting of a name and a score). For example:

• The teacher adds grades for his students and may later edit these grades (but not remove).

Final Report

• At the end of the semester, teachers submit a final report.
• This report contains the list of students with:
  • A final score.
  • An indicator with the status (passed / failed).
• In order to pass, students must obtain a minimum final score and must have a minimum number of attendances.
• Both these minimums and the formula for computing the final score from the grades are defined by the teacher.

Student view

• Students are notified via email when a teacher gives them a new grade.
• Additionally, students may view their own grades and attendance, grouped by topic.
• They may download this information as a report card.

Working mode

GitHub

• I'll use GitHub to share all the code.
• Each step will be a separate commit. You can checkout any specific commit in the history and try it out separately. 

• GitHub Repository: https://github.com/serban-petrescu/practical-dev-guide
• GitHub Help: https://help.github.com/en/github/creating-cloning-and-archiving-repositories 

Layered Architecture

• The application coding will be split into layers.
• Each layer will handle a single responsibility. 
• With this architecture, it is easy to transition or include other styles / patterns (e.g. MVC).

VErtical vs Horizontal Slicing

• I'll develop the app using vertical slicing: one feature at a time.
• Horizontal slicing might be easier to follow in some cases, but it promotes a style of development that I don't recommend.

• More info on slicing https://beardedeagle.com/horizontal-slice-versus-vertical-slice/