5 advanced coding projects to expose you to complex concepts

Summary

The video script discusses the most effective way to learn new technical skills through hands-on projects. It emphasizes that while tutorials and documentation can provide foundational knowledge, it is through actual project implementation that one truly internalizes and masters new skills. The speaker shares five advanced project ideas suitable for experienced coders looking to expand their expertise. These include an image manipulation project involving flood fill algorithms, a Docker project to containerize a full-stack application, building an OAuth authorization server with specific focus on PKCE and OIDC compliance, implementing a Sudoku solver with potential concurrency for efficiency, and finally, a data engineering project that involves creating an ETL pipeline to extract, transform, and visualize Twitter data. The projects are designed to challenge and enhance the viewer's understanding of complex topics beyond basic coding skills.

Takeaways

• 📈 **Project-Based Learning**: The best way to learn a new technical skill is by doing a project, which allows you to internalize new skills through practical application.
• 🎨 **Image Manipulation**: For advanced learners, a project could involve image manipulation, such as creating a program to perform a flood fill on an image, replacing the most prevalent color with another.
• 🐳 **Docker and Containerization**: Building a full-stack web application using Docker can expose you to complex topics in containerization and deployment strategies.
• 🔐 **OAuth and Security**: Constructing an authorization server using OAuth, including implementing the Pixie (PKCE) authorization flow and ensuring OIDC compliance, is a complex project that dives into security protocols.
• 🧩 **Sudoku Solver**: Implementing a Sudoku solver can challenge your algorithmic skills and involve solving for multiple solutions or detecting unsolvable boards.
• 🌐 **Data Engineering with APIs**: Creating a pipeline to extract, transform, and load data from an API, like Twitter, and then visualizing it, is a project that covers a range of data engineering skills.
• 📚 **Documentation and Research**: For advanced topics, it's important to read the relevant documentation and research the technologies involved before starting a project.
• 🛠️ **Algorithmic Complexity**: When undertaking projects, pay attention to the algorithmic complexity to ensure efficient solutions.
• 📁 **File Manipulation**: Understanding how to manipulate files, such as working with JPEG images, is a key aspect of certain projects.
• 🤓 **Concurrency**: Enhancing projects with concurrency can improve performance, such as processing multiple images or handling various Twitter feeds simultaneously.
• 📈 **Bonus Challenges**: Pushing projects further by adding bonus challenges, like implementing JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for user authentication, can deepen your understanding of complex topics.

Q & A

What is the best way to learn a new technical skill according to the speaker?

The best way to learn a new technical skill, as per the speaker, is by doing a project. This involves building something with the new technology to internalize the skills being learned.

What is the first project idea mentioned in the script for learning advanced topics?

The first project idea is to create a program that performs image manipulation, specifically a flood fill. This involves selecting one color in an image and replacing it with a different color throughout the image.

What is the significance of using an algorithm with low algorithmic complexity in the image manipulation project?

Using an algorithm with low algorithmic complexity is important because it helps to perform the image manipulation task more effectively and efficiently, especially when dealing with large images or a batch of images.

Which image format is suggested to start with for the image manipulation project?

The speaker suggests starting with the JPEG image format for the image manipulation project.

What is the second project idea presented in the script?

The second project idea is about Docker and involves spinning up the entire stack of an application, specifically a web application, which includes a database, cache layer, web server, back-end API, and a JavaScript front end, all deployed together using Docker.

Why is Docker considered a complex and beneficial project to learn?

Docker is considered a complex and beneficial project because it is widely used across engineering teams, and learning about containerization and deployment can provide valuable insights into modern application development and deployment practices.

What is the third project idea that the speaker suggests for advanced learners?

The third project idea is to build an OAuth authorization server that adheres to the OAuth specification, specifically implementing various flows and learning about Pixie (Proof Key for Code Exchange) and OIDC (OpenID Connect) compliance.

What is the importance of implementing JWT in the OAuth 2.0 project?

JWT (JSON Web Tokens) is important in the OAuth 2.0 project because it is used to securely transmit information between parties as part of an authorization process. It allows for the passing of user information back to the final application in a secure manner.

What is the fourth project idea mentioned in the script?

The fourth project idea is to implement a Sudoku solver, which is a program that can fill out and solve a 9x9 Sudoku grid given a partially completed puzzle.

What are some additional considerations for the Sudoku solver project?

Additional considerations for the Sudoku solver project include using concurrency to solve the puzzle faster, detecting multiple solutions, and determining if there is no valid solution for a given Sudoku board.

What is the fifth and final project idea presented in the video script?

The fifth project idea is to pull data from the internet, specifically tweets from Twitter, and orchestrate this process as an Airflow task. This involves using the Twitter API, scheduling the data pull, and performing an extract, transform, load (ETL) pipeline to clean and visualize the data.

Why is Apache Airflow mentioned in the context of the fifth project idea?

Apache Airflow is mentioned because it is a platform used to programmatically author, schedule, and monitor workflows. It is suitable for the fifth project idea as it allows for the orchestration and scheduling of tasks related to pulling and processing tweets from Twitter.