Patryk Polanski programming portfolio

The challenge

For my final year project at university, I decided to pursue a project idea that would be heavily focused on data analysis and user generated data. The reason for this was to allow me to practice JavaScript and dive deeper into data structures concepts. I settled on creating a web app for web traders to analyse trading performance, which worked by entering each trade information and seeing the results in various data visualisations. The web app also consisted of other features, such as a trading journal and a number of helpful calculators/tools. As this was an individual project, I was in charge of all stages of the project, from research and designs to final implementation and user testing.

The initial phase revolved around carrying out an extensive research, both in terms of the potential app aesthetics as well as the technological side, i.e. the most suitable tech stack for the application. The research stage also involved around exploring the target audience, establishing user flows and mapping out the timeline for the project. Branding, sketches, wireframes and high fidelity designs were the following tasks that went through a few iterations as the project progressed. Having had little prior experience with so much data flowing within a codebase, creating a robust data structure for all the data proved to be a tough task. I needed to find a suitable solution to storing all the information that would be easy to query or loop over.

Programming the idea was significantly the most time consuming and difficult operation. To help me organise the project and streamline some aspects, I’ve decided to use numerous tools, including Parcel and Babel for optimisation and compilation, sass for superior styling and D3 for data visualisations. As a starting point, I styled and made the application responsive. Then, I implemented basic functionality such as switching between the pages and logging in. Adding all the charts and graphs using 3D.js was quite complex and fiddly at times, but eventually I managed to replicate my designs. Up to this point the app was working with static data, which now required a layer of logic to connect user input with visualisations. All the JavasScript was organised using the MVC (Model View Controller) pattern. During the remaining few weeks, I focused on user testing, writing the tedious and lengthy dissertation, as well as ironing an abundance of bugs that kept popping out, especially for data computation. Unfortunately I was unable to add a database due to running out of time as the project had to be handed in a working state on time.