Hello again!
Welcome to the official start of Fall in Southern California! We’ve finally made it past the scorching hot days and transitioned to some temperate weather that doesn’t make you wish you lived anywhere else. As temperatures outside have cooled off, the workflow for my senior capstone project has heated up and we’re moving closer everyday to jumping into full out product development.
Last we left off on the topic, I was just starting out on my senior capstone project working with the National Forest Service developing an application to track equipment deployments in response to wildfires. I’ve now been working on this project for a few months and it’s been a learning experience!
Starting off, we jumped right in and got started with familiarizing ourselves with Git for version control, GitHub for our shared code repository, and GitHub Issues for project tasking and tracking. This was my first time using Git and GitHub in a group project setting, so there was definitely a learning curve! Slowly, through trial and error I’ve gotten more comfortable using the project tracking tools and developing a good project workflow that can benefit me as we start moving into the meat of the development cycle.
Another thing I’ve been focusing on during this project is learning a new programming language! Since this capstone project is a legacy project, much of the basic code base has been developed using the Dart and Flutter languages. Dart/Flutter together offers some pretty incredible features to developers, so lets jump in and discuss this tech a bit!
What is Dart/Flutter and what makes the combination of these two technologies special? Dart is the programming language developed by Google to build applications that can be utilized cross-platform, meaning there is only a single code base for app development, regardless of whether or not that app is being developed for iOS, Android, Web, or PC. Flutter is the open-sourced UI SDK that is powered by Dart, and the combination of these two technologies is what makes the app development process substantially easier and cheaper for developers.
I have to admit, I was a bit nervous when I started this project about learning a new programming language, but after working with it a bit and seeing that capabilities I’m really excited about what I can do with it, during this project and beyond!
As we roll through the peak fire season here in California, I’m reminded everyday why projects such as this one are so important. This year, Yosemite National Park and Sequoia National Park saw an unprecedented amount of wildfire burn, damaging many of the 3,000 year old giant sequoia groves and causing permanent changes to the landscape and wildlife in the areas. Being able to work on a project that could improve wildland firefighter response and help minimize the destruction of wildfires is very humbling, and I’m looking forward to what the next stages of the project entail!
