My React Project Experience
In this last phase, I found myself a bit behind in my courses which led to a bit of a feeling of being lost at first with what was going on. I struggled a bit more with time management than I did on the first phase because React was not fully clicking with me yet. Towards the end of the phase I spent a lot of time watching videos, reading, and pushing through the curriculum that was provided. I started to gain an understanding of how React truly functioned and was able to see how React worked and how even though I was originally overwhelmed by all the different components and such, I realized that it actually led to much more organized code that was easier to follow through and tackle one piece at a time.
When starting this project, the first thing I began to struggle with was creating an idea for an app that would include multiple routes within the application. I spent the first portion going back and forth looking for different inspirations from multiple different API’s. After some searching I came across an API that would generate random dog pictures. This led to me having the idea to make a dating app for dogs, however, random pictures would not be enough data for me to use in the application. I then decided to create my own data in a db.json file that would allow for me to generate the data needed to make the application.
After landing on an idea and creating the necessary data, I began to create the basic structure for the application. As I progressed through the application and began creating more and more components, I began to struggle at first with keeping track of all of my imports and exports within the code. After multiple times spent a little bit lost in code, I began to gain a better understanding of where things needed to be placed within my code and started to find myself more able to visualize the overall project in a more clear manner.
After building out a good portion of the application and integrating material UI I began to see the overall vision I had coming to life. This led to me getting a little overzealous in wanting to integrate many different components and functionality to the application. In the end I was unfortunately not able to complete every portion of the application that I had initially intended to complete, therefor the final page I was hoping to include for a messaging form when pressing the like button on a dog did not end up getting finished.
Overall React, while challenging, was exciting as I started to gain more knowledge on its functionality. Google was a very useful tool for me when I was working on this project and even though this phase has ended, I intend on continuing to go back and work more to gain a better knowledge and more confidence in writing in React.
