[The build is currently not yet functional, but is nearing completion].
For this project I wanted to build a frontend single page application using React that consumes JSON responses from the Paleobiology Database API and presents a number of information points about any genus or species searched by the user. Full documentation for the API can be found here and you can find out more about the database itself here.
A number of excellent tools and applications which visualise the database's records for educational/exploratory purposes already exist, so I primarily wanted to pursue this project for a number of other reasons:
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To gain practice using React for frontend development.
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To become more comfortable handling API requests and asynchronous operations.
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As an expression of a long-standing passion for palaeontology and the natural world.
As a User
So that I may feed my curiosity for palaeontological knowledge
I wish to be able to search for genera and species and get a response
[status: complete]
As a User
So that I may be engaged
I wish to be provided with a thumbnail of the genus or species of interest
[status: complete]
As a User
So that I may be well informed
I wish to be provided with facts on taxonomy, time range, diet, reproduction
and locomotion amongst other aspects
[status: complete]
As a User
So that I may be provided with a dynamic and elegant experience
I wish to be provided with the ability to alternate between different pages of
information distinguished by theme
[status: complete]
In the project directory, you can run the following:
yarn start || npm start
This can be used to run a session of the app at http://localhost:3000 for play-testing.
yarn test||npm test
This will launch the command line test runner which ships with React.