Learning by Doing: A Quick Look at a Few TrueCoders ProjectsJuly 27th, 2022

TrueCoders teaches you to code through example and action: we explain how something works and why it’s important, and then you apply those lessons by creating projects.

Projects are a prominent feature in our courses, so let’s look at just a few projects you’ll tackle along your TrueCoders journey.

Taco Time

Everybody loves tacos. That’s why one of your projects will track them down.

You’ll use C# (a popular coding language) and .NET (a developer platform for building applications) to read data from a CSV (comma-separated values file) – then, you’ll utilize test-driven development with XUnit to make sure your application functions.

WHEW what a mouthful – but in short, you’ll create an app to find and reference Taco Bell locations, similar to Google Maps. And don’t worry, you’ll learn how to do all this before you start doing it.

This project will teach you to:

• Read and write data to and from file systems on your PC
• Calculate distance using latitude and longitude – vital for geolocation software
• Utilize test-driven development, an essential skill for any software developer

Kanye’s a Robot

Another project will have you call two APIs (application programming interfaces) to simulate a back-and-forth conversation. Applications use APIs to transfer data over a network – think of it as a conversation between computers.

How will you apply this to your project? By simulating a conversation between Kanye West and Ron Swanson using data from two REST (representational state transfer) APIs – obviously. You will utilize RestSharp or System.Net.Http libraries to call these APIs.

This project will teach you to:

• Retrieve data from an application online through a REST API
• Use in-demand libraries like RestSharp and System.Net.Http
• Use Postman/Postwoman, tools for calling and testing APIs

Best Code at Best Buy

One of the more advanced projects simulates a web-based inventory management system for a theoretical Best Buy – housing information such as products, sales records, and employees.

This project involves both front-end and back-end coding. The front-end code will consist of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. C# acts as the back-end framework, keeping everything functioning. (check out our blog on front-end and back-end for more info on those terms)

With this project, you will hone your ASP.Net MVC skills, one of the industry's top 5 web frameworks. You will also implement CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) functionality into your software so users can manipulate the database through the web. Once the inventory system is done, you’ll upload and host your applications on the cloud using Azure.

And yes, we know that CRUD is the best acronym in existence.

This project will teach you to:

• Work with ASP.net, one of the most common web frameworks
• Create fast, interactive user interfaces for the web
• Learn and implement dependency injection with Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection
• Host applications on the cloud with Azure

Making Knowledge Matter

These are just a few projects you’ll complete in your TrueCoders course. There will be plenty more to do.

So why do we focus so much on making projects compared to lectures and tests? Because building projects puts you a step ahead of everyone else when you walk into that first interview.

When companies ask if you know how to code x, y, and z, you’ll be able to do one better. You can tell them you have coded x, y, and z – and you can prove it with all those completed TrueCoders projects.

The coding world runs on doing, not showing. A degree won’t mean anything to a software company if you can’t apply that knowledge. TrueCoders helps you do just that.