Stellar Exercise

What is this?

It's yet another interview coding challenge solution that I coded up in a jiffy in off hours. Below are the requirements given and there was no communicaton channel offered to ask any questions about them. Yes the challenge was timed with a very short deadline. A $100 Amazon gift card was offered. I have no idea what the grading criteria was as there was no discussion offered for review. It's certainly not my best Golang code under the circumstances but I think it pretty much achieved "minimum viable product" for the requirements given and as quickly as possible. I don't think it's too bad myself. Perhaps the organization got a somewhat "free" solution out of it? Actually they did make good on the gift card so credit where credit is due for them for that. It's here for anyone else who thinks they might make some use of it.

This was the requirement given:

Stellar Coding Challenge

Summary

Write an API web server that accepts a snippet of text and makes that snippet available at a URL. Each snippet should be available as text at a URL until it expires. A snippet's expiry should be extended by 30 seconds each time it is accessed.

The request to store the snippet should accept this information:

Name	Description
name	Name of the snippet
expires_in	Seconds from now until the snippet should expire
snippet	Contents of the snippet

The request to store the snippet should be replied to with a response that includes the URL where the snippet can be read.

Snippets can be stored in memory, and do not need to be editable after storing. The solution needs only to be an API, not a graphical or website user interface.

Snippets should be retrievable by name.

What we're looking for

An actual HTTP web server that runs and can be accessed through a URL
A clean, minimalistic implementation. Focus on the core functionality, and pay extra attention to API the service should serve
Appropriate use of web frameworks and open-source libraries as necessary. Think of this as building an MVP
Too little time? Your prioritization skills are also being evaluated
Readable and clear code, so that everyone and anyone can understand it

What we're not looking for

Don't write your own HTTP implementation. You won't get extra points for it, and this will probably take time that could be spent elsewhere
This is a simple problem. If your solution is complex, take a step back
Do not reinvent the wheel. Make use of all the tools you know and like, as well as the knowledge you've built throughout your career

Test Cases

We expect you to implement this API exactly. Please ensure your solution handles these test cases correctly.

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"recipe", "expires_in": 30, "snippet":"1 apple"}' https://example.com/snippets
# response 201 Created
{
  "url": "https://example.com/snippets/recipe",
  "name": "recipe",
  "expires_at": "2020-02-22T20:02:02Z",
  "snippet": "1 apple"
}

curl https://example.com/snippets/recipe
# response 200 OK
{
  "url": "https://example.com/snippets/recipe",
  "name": "recipe",
  "expires_at": "2020-02-22T20:02:32Z",
  "snippet": "1 apple"
}

# wait 60 seconds

curl https://example.com/snippets/recipe
# response 404 Not Found

Instructions I provided for the evaluator of this solution:

1. Install gorilla mux package

go get -u github.com/gorilla/mux

3. Build the project

go build

3. Run the web server passing flags for cert and key files (you will need your own cert and key files in your own environment)

[sudo] ./stellar_exercise -cert=<path to cert file> -key=<path to key file>

4. Run test cases with curl

Create snippet

curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" -d '{"name":"recipe", "expires_in": 30, "snippet":"1 apple"}' https://example.com/snippets
# response 201 Created
{
  "url": "https://example.com/snippets/recipe",
  "name": "recipe",
  "expires_at": "2020-12-13T20:02:02Z",
  "snippet": "1 apple"
}

Fetch snippet

curl https://example.com/snippets/recipe
# response 200 OK
{
  "url": "https://example.com/snippets/recipe",
  "name": "recipe",
  "expires_at": "2020-12-13T20:02:32Z",
  "snippet": "1 apple"
}

Wait 60 seconds and try to fetch again

curl https://example.com/snippets/recipe
# response 404 Not Found

joelmcdaniel / stellar_exercise