DEV Community

I need a tips for a large project.

Carlos Sá on September 17, 2018

Hi, I'm Carlos and I work as a freelance web developer and I've made a few small projects (mostly one-pagers) that have no back-office nor authenti...

Read full post

tux0r • Sep 17 '18

I would like to challenge myself to do and time is not the issue on the project, my client already has a thing going so he isn't very preoccupied of deadlines.

Have you tried writing it in C?

Carlos Sá • Sep 17 '18

Now that just WOW'ed me, I don't really like C that much but thanks for the link, I'll throw that at my C-lover friend for some giggles.

That quote was me trying to dismiss some "wordpress" type of platforms that come with their own CMS, I clearly underestimated the internet's "element of surprise" :)

tux0r • Sep 17 '18

How much convenience do you want to have? It's hard to make suggestions without knowing the available frame.

Carlos Sá • Sep 17 '18

Well for what I read from the Firebase post it looks like the type of convenience I want but I don't know enough of it to make an educated choice.
I guess if you could share what you do when asked to do big projects from scratch it would help.

tux0r • Sep 17 '18 • Edited

For really big projects (medium-sized for teams, but I tend to write everything myself) I prefer to not use C either. For web-based stuff, I mostly use Python (for a prototype) and Lisp (for the release version) because Lisp's extensibility and syntax help me save some time. When working for other people, time is money ... :)

For Python prototypes, I usually use the built-in sqlite3 bindings and the Flask micro framework.
For the final Lisp version, I make full usage of what Racket gives me. I am gradually moving away from Common Lisp - Racket has "batteries included" for web development which is awesome.

I wouldn't use React because I really don't like it, but that is a pure matter of taste.

Carlos Sá • Sep 17 '18

Well I'm not familiar with either, I've done a Hello World in Python and that's about it.

I do like React but it's, as you say, a matter of taste.
I'll be sure to add both your sugestions to the "To Learn" queue, if you say they save time then it's worth the time to learn about them.

I feel more confortable going with React on this project because I'm more familiar and agile with Javascript.

Thanks for sharing! For learning purposes what would you consider to be good introduction guides to Lisp / Racket and can you provide links?

tux0r • Sep 17 '18 • Edited

For learning purposes what would you consider to be good introduction guides to Lisp / Racket and can you provide links?

Common Lisp: The book "Land of Lisp" and the venerable Practical Common Lisp.
Racket: The "Getting Started" guide from the website is really good. (There's also "Realm of Racket", another book.)

Both are different Lisps, but you might like both... :-) (seriously, start with Racket.)

rhymes • Sep 17 '18

Hi Carlos!

Have you considered using Firebase? Can it fit your scope?

You can use it for authentication, storage and other stuff.

This way you can delegate the user authentication to it and focus on the business logic of your app.

I can't swear by this but it seems like a thorough tutorial on how to build authentication with React: robinwieruch.de/complete-firebase-...

Carlos Sá • Sep 17 '18

Hi rhymes!

Thanks for the answer, I've heard of it but wasn't aware of the entire product offer.

This seems like a very good solution to pretty much everything I asked. I'm going to make a couple of "test" projects with it to get to know how it works.

Also grateful for the link you provided, looks like a good starting point.