Jaedye Development pt. 2

Development is going…okay I guess.

For me, it’s nothing too new. I specced out the API on Apiary here, and started development on the web backend. It’s a shame, really, since I’m mostly using the tools that I’m already familiar with (Node, Express, Sequelize, Postgres) and it’s a very run-of-the-mill system. Perhaps the most complex thing is in the gamification analytics (calculating leaderboard position, et cetera) but even that shouldn’t take long.

What is interesting (and I regret not being a part of that now) is the other three’s efforts in learning Android development. It seems interesting and will probably be pretty useful in the future to know at least one mobile development platform.

One interesting coincidence is that the Android UI builder is done in an XML format, which is pretty similar to the JavaFX framework that we’re using for CS2103. That similar MVC framework meant that I could pick up a lot of the android dev conventions relatively quickly even if I’m not doing anything myself beyond reviewing UI. Not having an android phone is a huge PITA, though, since it means I have to test in the emulator. So it’s probably a good thing that I’m not doing android dev.

One thing that is mildly annoying, though, is Bjorn’s attitude towards our project. After the first and second meeting, it seems that he has already written off our project (perhaps due to its limited time and scope) to be merely an experiment of sorts, to see if the idea is feasible and can be marketed. I mean, there’s nothing against that, and we are doing an external project for him. Derek, Chi Thanh, and Van seem content to let him make the design decisions, but I just feel uncomfortable not being “in charge” of my project, so to speak. I mean, I wasn’t “in charge” of our project for CVWO either, but at least there it felt like we were making design decisions and deciding the course of the project. Here, it just seems that we’re code monkeys hired to build the Android half of a product. Bleh.