This is a guide to what you should be doing for homework each week. Please reach out to your CFs if you are unsure of what to prioritise between sessions.
Complete LinkedIn profile
Complete the Express and Dev Tooling workshops
Week of September 16th
Learn how to manage asynchronous tasks and send HTTP requests using JavaScript.
Workshops
To be completed on Monday
. Repo name: Work08_Node_YourName
. Repo name: Work09_NodeAndExpress_YourName
To be completed on Friday
. Repo name: Work10_IntroTesting_YourName
. Repo name: Work11_TestLibrary_YourName
. Repo name: Work12_UnitTesting_YourName
Execute Program
Topics
Introduction to commonJS modules
Introduction to testing
Introduction to Express
Intro to testing, Build a testing library, Unit testing, Integration testing and TDD workshops
Project Setup with Libraries: As a back-end developer, I want to set up a new Node.js project in VS Code with the discord.js and openai libraries using require('discord.js') and require('openai') after installing them with npm, so I can start building my bot with all necessary functionalities.
Secure Configuration
Stretch user stories:
Messaging Users Directly:
Hint: Utilise the user.send() method in Discord.js to send direct messages to users. Retrieve the user object through events or commands that the bot receives.
Dialogue Boxes and Interactive Responses:
Hint: Implement Discord's message components like buttons and select menus using
2. You are going to integrate testing into your Discord chatBot project.
The following user stories are designed to guide you as you integrate testing into your Discord chatBot project. If there are some which are not appropriate to your project, you do not have to integrate these. You can create your own tests that are relevant to your project.
Possible user stories:
As a back-end developer, I want to...
verify Discord.js integration by creating a test function that creates a new Discord client
ensure that the OpenAI library is correctly integrated by creating a test function that attempts to use the OpenAI API to create a simple chat completion or query
test that my bot securely loads API keys from the .env file, confirming that no sensitive information is hard-coded
Repository naming convention
Please name your repo following this template: PRO02_Name1_Name2_Name3_Name4
employability
Building an online presence
Introduce the importance of building an online presence and ‘learning in public’
learning-outcomes
JavaScript
: As a back-end developer, I want to configure my bot securely by using
require('dotenv/config')
to load my API keys from a
.env
file, ensuring they are not hard-coded into my project, using a
.gitignore
file.
Bot Initialisation: As a back-end developer, I want to initialise my Discord bot and log in to Discord using the new Discord.Client() constructor and client.login method with my Discord token, to start listening for messages.
Message Handling: As a back-end developer, I want to handle incoming messages by setting up a message event listener using client.on('messageCreate', callback) to process messages received in Discord and respond to them with a “hello” message.
Optimisation: As a developer, I want the bot to optimise its performance by efficiently handling events, so that it does not consume excessive resources. This may involve writing efficient callback functions for client.on and client.once, ensuring they execute tasks quickly and without unnecessary resource consumption.
OpenAI Chat Integration and Response Generation: As a back-end developer, I want to integrate OpenAI into my bot and send chat prompts to the API to generate responses. This would involve using the openai.chat.completions.create() method with my OpenAI API key. I aim to pass conversation history and other necessary parameters to this method to receive context-aware chat completions. This will enable the bot to generate dynamic, intelligent responses based on ongoing conversations, enhancing user interaction and experience.
Response Management: As a back-end developer, I want to manage the OpenAI response returned by openai.chat.completions.create() using either fetch or async/await and sending the response back to the Discord channel.
Command Processing: As a back-end developer, I want to process commands directed at my bot by using string matching or a command prefix to distinguish between general messages and commands meant for the bot.
Error Handling: As a back-end developer, I want to implement error handling in my bot interactions using either .catch or try...catch within my fetch or **** async functions to manage exceptions and provide error messages if something goes wrong.
MessageActionRow
and
MessageButton
or
MessageSelectMenu
classes from Discord.js. Handle interactions with
client.on(Events.InteractionCreate, callback)
.
Creating Private Chats (Channels):
Hint: Use guild.channels.create() to create new private channels and manage access using permission overwrites in Discord.js.
Automated Moderation Features:
Hint: Monitor messages for specific keywords or patterns using client.on(Events.MessageCreate, callback). Implement moderation actions like message.delete() for removing inappropriate content and guildMember.timeout() for muting users.
Multimedia Responses (Images, GIFs, Audio Clips):
Hint: Send multimedia content using message.channel.send() with the files option. For audio, explore Discord.js voice modules for handling voice channels and streaming.
ensure that my bot initialises and logs into Discord successfully
simulate receiving a message and verify that my bot responds with a "hello" message, testing the message event listener's functionality
simulate commands directed at my bot to check if it accurately processes these commands from general messages
introduce faults or exceptions in bot interactions to verify that my bot's error handling mechanisms effectively manage and log errors
mock the process of sending responses back to the Discord channel, verifying that my bot formats and dispatches messages correctly
ensure my bot can send direct messages to users, testing the user.send() method's functionality
test my bot's ability to send multimedia responses under specified conditions, ensuring it can handle images, GIFs, and audio clips effectively
Discuss the benefits of maintaining an up-to-date LinkedIn profile
Introduction to CVs and the Elevator pitch
Understand the importance of building and maintaining an up-to-date CV
Understand the the concept of an ‘elevator pitch’
Learn best practices when pitching yourself
Node.js
APIs
Testing
schedule
spikes
Asynchronous JavaScript
How does JS handle asynchronous code?
Questions to consider
What's the difference between "synchronous" and "asynchronous" code? Why might synchronous code be called "blocking"?
What are the event loop and the call stack?
How do callbacks and promises help us?
Testing methodologies
How do different testing methodologies try to improve the way we write tests?
Questions to consider
What is Test-Driven Development (TDD)? Can it help us write better code?
What is Behavior-Driven Development (BDD)? How do we translate user requirements into automated tests?
What is test coverage? Can this tell us about the quality of our tests?
A comic explaining what happens when you type a URL into your browser.
Describes the HTTP protocol in a lot more detail. May be useful if you like learning exactly how stuff works under-the-hood, but may also be overwhelming.
How functions and callbacks work in JavaScript. Based on a workshop from this week's curriculum.
Good testing practices so you can be confident your tests are working.
A comparison of creating DOM elements manually versus using the <template> element. Useful technique if you're dynamically rendering lots of stuff with JS.