Hey developers! 👋
This is my first post on DEV, and I wanted to start by sharing something I've been working on recently.
I'm a Computer Science student learning web development by building projects, making mistakes, debugging, and trying to understand how things work under the hood.
Recently, I completed my RoboFriends project using React and Redux, and it taught me more than I expected.
🚀 Check out my live demo: https://horlah-dev.github.io/robofriends/
What is RoboFriends?
RoboFriends is a React application that displays robot cards and allows users to search through them. Building it gave me an opportunity to practise working with components, managing state, and fetching data from an API.
The technologies I worked with included:
- React
- JavaScript
- Redux Toolkit
- React-Redux
- API integration
- Redux middleware
What I learned
One of my biggest learning experiences was working with Redux.
At first, understanding how application state flows through Redux was confusing. I had to understand how actions, reducers, the store, and React components work together.
As I continued building, I explored modern Redux patterns using useSelector and useDispatch. This helped me connect my React components to the Redux store more clearly.
I also worked on API fetching and explored Redux middleware, including Redux Logger and thunk-related functionality.
The deployment plot twist 😂
Funny enough, I had to debug my project when I was about to deploy RoboFriends!
I honestly thought deploying it would be just like deploying my usual HTML, CSS, and JavaScript projects. I didn't expect to run into deployment issues that required more debugging.
That experience reminded me that building an application doesn't end when it works on my local machine. I also need to understand how to build, configure, and deploy it properly.
And yes, more debugging! 😂
Debugging was part of the journey
Not everything worked on the first attempt.
I encountered errors, had to investigate why certain things weren't working, and made changes before getting the application to behave as expected.
One thing this project reminded me of is that building software isn't just about writing code that works. It's also about understanding why something breaks and learning how to fix it.
I didn't understand everything immediately, but working through the problems helped me become more comfortable with the tools I was using.
I'm enjoying the process ❤️
Despite the challenges, I'm genuinely happy working with React.
I enjoy building things, facing problems, and figuring out how to solve them. I know there are still many things I need to learn, but I'm ready for the journey.
My goal is to become a Full-Stack | AI & LLM Engineer, so I'm continuing to strengthen my frontend skills while learning Node.js, Express, and PostgreSQL.
I want to understand how everything connects, from building user interfaces to creating APIs, working with databases, and deploying complete applications.
What's next? 🚀
RoboFriends is done, but the journey continues!
My next project is coming up soon, and I'm looking forward to applying what I've learned while challenging myself with something new.
I'll keep sharing my progress, the problems I encounter, and the lessons I learn along the way.
If you're also learning to code, I'd love to hear about your journey.
What's one challenge you faced while building your first serious project, and how did you solve it?
Thanks for reading my first DEV post!
Let's keep building, debugging, and learning. 💻🔥
— Horlah
Top comments (0)