I recently wrapped up the 2017 version of my annual Year End Review. With 8,000 lines of code, 7,000 words, and 50+ hand written components, it’s a very large side project which I re-invent each year. It has always been a challenge in design, creativity and articulation. This year, in line with my goal of becoming a JavaScript developer, I decided to put a much heavier emphasis on the technical challenge than I have previously.

As I embark on learning React.js I quickly discovered my normal FTP workflow would not cut it. After some exploration I learned how to host on Amazon’s AWS S3. New accounts get 1 year of S3 for free, along with other free AWS goodies . And beyond the 1st year S3 is very reasonably priced.

Using Google Sheets as a JSON endpoint

Spreadsheets are a great way to capture complex information without having to spin up a database or build an application to manage things. As a result, they often become stores of valuable business information, and on occasion you want to get that information out of the spreadsheet and into a more formal application. Thankfully for users of Google Sheets, there is an easy way to accomplish that.

This flashcard quiz is the result of a personal challenge to build a Javascript tool that I could use in my own life. It’s the most complex code I’ve written to date and building it allowed me to experience the process of growing something from a skeleton into something (relatively) complex. It involved many imperfect choices, but it was great because it pushed the limits of what I can do.