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Victor Dircio
Victor Dircio

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New Learning Journal

App Dev

  • System software manages physical hardware on computer and runs on top aka operating system
  • Utility software like system clock, file manager, clipboard are tools provided by the operating system to software developers who then build
  • Application software is software that people use directly
  • App - application software
  • Learning how to build cloud-based software - SaaS
  • URL - Uniform Resource Locator

Elevator Speech

  • Part 1 - Who you are: Hey. My name is Victor and I am a recent graduate from the University of Illinois with a major in mathematics and a minor in computer science, and I am seeking a position where I can utilize my analytical and development skills.
  • Part 2 - Highlight reel: Most recently I strengthened these skills when I was an IT Specialist at the Bureau of Land Management where I enhanced file organization and retrieval by developing their hub website, maintaining an attractive user interface, and facilitating the transition from local to cloud storage. Also, I have experience in software engineering, including virtual reality, mobile app and web development.
  • Part 3 - Your company’s projects resonate with my interests and skills. I’m eager to bring my strong analytical abilities and enthusiasm for tech to your team. This apprenticeship is an opportunity for me to grow and develop in a dynamic environment. My hands-on experience with complex projects, combined with my ability to quickly adapt and learn new technologies, makes me a strong fit for this role. I’m excited to learn more about how I can support your organization and further my career in tech.

HTTP Requests

  • Actions that require more information from another computer (server) are called requests
  • HTTP requests are plain text files like the following below 
GET /wiki/Chicago HTTP/1.1
Host: en.wikipedia.org
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  • where the first line is a request line with the first word being a verb **(get - retrieve, post - send, patch - update, delete, etc.) that indicates what the client wants to do. The remainder of the first line is the **resource path with the HTTP version
  • We have key value pairs starting on the second line called headers. The Host header is necessary and it describes the address of the server we’re sending the request to.

DNS

  • The Domain Name System facilities the transfer of requests and responses, and a response can look as follows 
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
more code here
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where the version comes first followed by the status code followed by a reason phrase

  • on the second line we have headers. The content-type header lets the client know what type of information was returned followed by the information retrieved.

Making requests online

  • URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) can be seperated into scheme, host (main part of URL), and path (everything after main section)
  • Schemes include everything before "://" and "http" might not be secure as information is passed in plain text which can be easily accessible. https has a security factor allowing for encryption and decryption between client and server only.

APIs

  • Application Programming Interfaces
  • Programs that allow softwares communicate with each other

Query String

  • Query strings are found at the end of URLs starting with a "?" and contain pairs of key-values that are seperated by "&" and "="

Posting Requests 

POST /2010-04-01/Accounts/MY_TWILIO_ID_GOES_HERE/Messages HTTP/1.1
Host: api.twilio.com
Authorization: Basic MY_ENCODED_TWILIO_ID_AND_API_KEY_GOES_HERE
Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded

From=+13126636198&To=+19876543210&Body=A+message+from+Ruby!
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  • Post requests requires additional headers (Authorization and Content-type)
  • The Request body has pairs of key-values that post website is expecting

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