For the last two weeks, our cohort has been learning about Sinatra and embedded Ruby (erb). Although, sometimes I feel like a lot of information is going in one ear and out the other, I can definitely see my progress at this point. The MVC (Model View Controller) framework has really started to become solidified as well as it’s interaction with the database. If we didn’t set up the right relationship with our database to begin with, everything would really be fked. Everything is pretty well falling into place, and that feels good.
Something I originally really struggled with, was making my routes way too static. By that, I mean they couldn’t really collect, delete, or update any data in my database. The routes themselves just displayed information that was unchanging and pretty uninteresting, if we’re being honest. Often times just a line of text. As I kept working on the project, I realized that much of that was because I was having a hard time visualizing the organization of the app and the way that everything worked together. Fast forward two weeks and we have a mostly working #popscope (pop-up telescope) volunteers platform where public astronomy volunteers can go to sign up, edit their contact information, or see who else is volunteering.
While there isn’t a high demand for this neiche of a project, I can now gather, update, edit, and delete information as needed and understand the routing process much more effectively. Within Sinatra, you quickly realize that it was never meant to be the end all be all. With Sinatra coming in at a fraction of the code lines as Ruby on Rails, I think it makes me appreciate the library of information I am about to learn about and how easy it will make things to come. This project has taught me to stick with something even if it doesn’t fully make sense at the beginning.