This Website

Description

This site used to be powered by the Python web framework Django, now I use Flask. I'm deploying the code with fancy, "serverless" technology by Google called App Engine.

The transition from Django to Flask was an enlightening process.

Technologies

• Django -> Flask
  • Python Web Frameworks
• Python
• HTML5
• CSS3
  • Bootstrap
• JS
• Google App Engine
• Circle CI
• git
• Disqus
  • Comment threads for blog posts

Details

The endeavor to create my own website started right after college. However, I wasn't very knowledgeable about web programming. I never had any college courses covering web development, though I did take a networking class covering the internet layers at some point. Anyway, point is, I wanted to expand my knowledge, venture into the unknown, and seek out new life and new civilizations¹.

I ended up taking an introductory course on web development on Coursera and decided to build my website up from scratch using a Python-based web framework (cuz I was diggin' Python at the time... and still am, to be honest). I had previously hacked together a website using ASP.NET MVC 5, though it wasn't the prettiest thing.

I decided to start from scratch for this new site and apply what I learned in my Coursera course (and a few other books I had read about design and usability).

Years later, I learned of Flask and it grew on me. I transitioned my Django site into Flask, rewriting large portions of it.

This site is a labor of love for me, I expect to continue to work on different aspects of it going forward.

¹ This is a nerdy Star Trek reference. Just wanted to clarify for the uninitiated

Accomplishments

• If you're seeing this, at least the site is live... and hopefully functions well and doesn't look terrible
• Blog posts released on a regular basis using this site
  • Mostly programming related
• Took initiative to use my free time to further develop my programming skills
• Applied knowledge to create a fully-functional website