chitter

Sign up to start peeping on chitter, a Twitter clone built using Sinatra, Datamapper and PostgreSQL, and tested with RSpec and Capybara.

Screenshots

User stories

As a user
So that I can let people know what I am doing  
I want to post a message (peep) to chitter

As a user
So that I can see what others are saying  
I want to see all peeps in reverse chronological order

As a user
So that I can better appreciate the context of a peep
I want to see the time at which it was made

As a user
So that I can post messages on chitter as me
I want to sign up for chitter

As a user
So that only I can post messages on chitter as me
I want to log in to chitter

As a user
So that I can avoid others posting messages on chitter as me
I want to log out of chitter

Getting started

Download or clone the repository to your local machine. Change into the chitter directory and run bundle install to make sure you have all the necessary dependencies installed.

Then type the following commands into the terminal to create a database and run a local server:

$ createdb chitter
$ rackup

You should then be able to access chitter on http://localhost:9292

Testing

The application has been tested using RSpec and Capybara and has 100% coverage.

To run the tests locally:

cd chitter
bundle install
rspec

My approach

I decided to use Datamapper ORM for this project, both so that I could understand how an ORM design pattern works in practice and so that the code required to interact with database could be kept to a minimum.

Some of the challenges I encountered:

It was difficult to get all of the dependencies working together. The default json gem (2.1) was conflicting with DataMapper 1.2. In the end I had to use json 1.8.6.
Initially I wasn't using a test database and instead used Database Cleaner to ensure any test data was removed after each test. I've now implemented the use of a test database along with Database Cleaner.
I didn't use unit tests for the User and Peep classes during the development of the application as I wasn't sure how to test DataMapper. I've since used some specific RSpec matchers for DataMapper.
I found it challenging to get the authentication system working with an encrypted password without any clear guidance on how to implement this using DataMapper. I did find a solution in the end and the system now works consistently.

tomasdoh / chitter