learn-co-students / ruby-certificate-cli-data-gem-assessment-ruby-cert-000

Build a CLI RubyGem with External Data

Overview

In this lesson you're going to build a RubyGem that provides a command line interface to an external data source. Your code will be packaged as a RubyGem and install a CLI for the user. The CLI will be composed of an Object Oriented Ruby application.

Requirements

1. Package as a gem.
2. Provide a CLI on gem installation.
3. CLI must provide data from an external source, whether scraped or via a public API.
4. Data provided must go at least a level deep, generally by showing the user a list of available data and then being able to drill into a specific item.

Example Domains

• Movies Opening Soon - Enter your zip code and receive a list of movies and their details.
• Libraries Near You - Enter your zip code and receive a list of libraries and their details.
• Programming meetups near you, list details.
• News Reader - List articles, read article.

Now-playing is an example of a gem that would meet these requirements. Worlds best restaurants was built by a student and meets these requirements and is well coded.

Take the time to clone, run and look through the code for both of these in detail - it'll really help.

There is also a video walkthrough of building a CLI Gem called Daily Deal if you're having a hard time getting started.

Instructions

1. Create a new repository on GitHub for your gem, ie: name-cli-gem.

2. When you create the CLI app for your assessment, add the spec.md file from this repo to the root directory of the project, commit it to Git and push it up to GitHub.

3. Build your gem. Make sure to commit early and commit often. Commit messages should be meaningful (clearly describe what you're doing in the commit) and accurate (there should be nothing in the commit that doesn't match the description in the commit message). Good rule of thumb is to commit every 3-7 mins of actual coding time. Most of your commits should have under 15 lines of code and a 2 line commit is perfectly acceptable.

4. Make sure to create a good README.md with a short description, install instructions, a contributors guide and a link to the license for your code.

5. While you're working on it, record a 30 min coding session with your favorite screen capture tool. During the session, either think out loud or not. It's up to you. You don't need to submit the video, but we may ask for it at a later time.

6. Make sure to check each box in your spec.md (replace the space between the square braces with an x) and explain next to each one how you've met the requirement before you submit your project.

7. Prepare a video demo (narration helps!) describing how a user would interact with your working gem.

8. On Learn, submit links to the GitHub repository for your gem, your video demo, and your blog post each to the corresponding textbox in the right rail, and hit "I'm done" to wrap it up.

During Your Assessment, Be Prepared to:

1. Explain your code from execution point to exit point. We're making sure you wrote it and understand how it works, nothing else. 10-20 minutes

2. Refactor code. 10-20 minutes

What to expect from the assessment

• Use the best vocabulary you can. Technical terms allow for you to be more precise which makes conversations about code much easier.
• If you make a mistake, correct yourself! We all make mistakes, I promise.
• Trust yourself.
• Trust us.
• Think on your feet. Feel free to look things up while you're pairing with us. You'll be asked to expand on concepts you implemented and you will be pushed to the edge of your knowledge.
• Explain the details. We're curious!
• You're going to learn a ton. We will give pointers and show you ways to improve your code. This isn't telling you that your code is wrong, it's simply us teaching. Whatever you don't quite understand will be explained.

What won't happen:

• You won't be told you're ever wrong.
• You won't be yelled at, belittled, or scolded.
• You won't be put on the spot without support.
• There's nothing you can do to instantly fail or blow it.

Resources

• How to build a ruby gem
• How to publish your gem