This is a Ruby project from Jumpstart Labs. I wanted to try building something to work on what I have learned: dynamic classes, IO, parsing data. The MicroBlogger tutorial seemed like it was right up my alley and was going to do something interesting and useful, too. Plus it gave me a chance to work with gems, something I've only ever done with RSpec before.
It turned out to be a ton of fun. Using the jumpstart_auth gem felt like magic: I could
ask it for things like a friend's last tweet and it would deliver it!
I think my focus for this project, as much as it has been in the past, is the fluid flow between user interface and program. It is important to me that I build things that make sense under the hood in a way that keeps user needs at a forefront. In this case it meant thinking of basic design and additional features as modules that fit together but were also distinct from each other.
I think the two most important things I've gotten to know better because of this project
is the experience of using a gem and checking out its features, and the use and value of
Ruby's respond_to? and send methods. Those were really useful in making the user interface
code short and very easy to add more commands for the user and more modular-designed services
in the program. Here's the user interface: