In 2020 what I managed to do:
- Learned D3 through two applications: building a binary tree and a most commonly paired ingredients graphic.
- Finally gained a toehold in understanding Javascript frontend technologies React and Vue through building a few different services: a bus arrival page, a page that ranks my tea preferences based on weighted factors, and a display page for my home automation network.
- Built a Bus Arrival App that serves as a testbed for learning new technologies.
- Finally started to understand how backend services work by building a NodeJS app to handle data for the Bus Arrival App.
- Implemented my first serverless function for the Bus Arrival App because I didn’t need a whole VM just to run a script.
- Built an understanding of how Bluetooth Low Energy works by building a wireless soil sensor and integrated it with a NodeJS backend that collects the information with a Python script and posts it to InfluxDB which then displays it on a Vue app.
- Tore apart a few things to find out how they worked: A table lamp, a wireless switch from IKEA, another wireless control from IKEA.
- Investigated low power and energy harvesting options for devices that have to live without grid power for a long time.
- Built a soil sensing circuit to monitor the health of several plots wirelessly
- Designed a pretty Chicago ‘L’ PCB that reflects when the trains move in and out of the station.
This year has been heavily focused on software and electronics.