Software Project

I figured that I would start a blog about my software development project that I am doing in coordination with another classmate. I have to say that I was very excited about this because up until now, aside from a few projects of my own (small to say the least), I have never been involved in really working with someone to create something from idea to release. The finished product will not be complete by the time it is due but we will continue after classes end to complete it. We are using the agile development process for the project which is nice because we don’t necessarily have to have the whole project complete all at once, but instead base it upon what is important based upon the client’s need and timeframe.

On to the project. We are creating a web application called Web Hall Pass which is based on a program a teacher at Leicester high school developed in Visual basic, but wanted it redone in a different language so it could be used on a server. What the program does is allow students to check out to the bathroom, principal, gym, nurse, etc. and generate a hall pass either by printing it or the student can take a picture with their phone via the program which is running on a computer in the classroom. This is good in that the student can get up and check out when he/she needs to go somewhere without interrupting the teacher mid class.

After discussion we chose a PHP web framework called Laravel that uses the Model View Controller (MVC) architectural pattern. There are some challenges because neither of us have ever used this before so a lot of reading and doing tutorials was a necessity. Once we got the basics down, working with the framework didn’t seem as intimidating. The great thing about Laravel is the ease of creating tables, and html pages(blades) and how seamless the integration is between the framework and the database. You run commands using PHP artisan to create models, controllers, migrations and too much to discuss here. That being said we have barely scratched the surface of what is capable. The nice thing about it is that it takes away the daunting tasks that you face in just using PHP alone. Validation, security, authorization and more is already taken into account with Laravel, where as in PHP you have to write all of that.

The main thing I think that I see with web frameworks is that they allow you to go from idea to release faster than ever, and as we all know time is of the essence.