Inspiration
I am the secretary of a youth-run community service club in my town and I have recently proposed a composting program for members to run. When I learned about this hackathon and how its theme was about helping the environment, I decided to create an application about composting as that was what I was most passionate about in terms of helping the environment.
What it does
It sends periodic updates throughout a four-month period (how long composting usually is) through email notifications. It gives the user instructions on how they should maintain the compost bin on that day. Currently in the code, I made it so that it sends a few emails through a few minutes for judges to see how it works. The homepage also shows a chart for the total amount of food waste recycled every month throughout 2022 by our users. Currently, the chart shows fake data but once our application becomes bigger, we could change it so that it shows real data.
How we built it
The language that I used for this application is Python. I built the application using Streamlit and the email notifications use Sendgrid and Twiliio. I used rq-scheduler and Redis in order to send them periodically. The database for the chart in the homepage was made using SQLite and Pandas.
Challenges we ran into
We ran into multiple challenges throughout the entire development phase. In the first few days, we ran into multiple problems with downloading many of the libraries and applications necessary for the code and had to rush the code until the deadline of the hackathon. My main computer also broke down in the middle, forcing me to move to a different computer and slowing the process even further.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I view the fact that I was able to create the application through all of the challenges that I faced as an accomplishment. However, I am also proud to have completed my first-ever hackathon and to have developed an application for the first time.
What we learned
I learned many things through this hackathon. In the past, I only knew how to create algorithms and solve coding questions from places like Hackerrank or Leetcode but did not know how to use them in the real world. However, I now know how to create applications as well as send emails automatically. I also now have basic information on how to analyze data that the users input and how I could use that for my application. Finally, I first-hand experienced the software development process and learned how a developer works, although my experience was much more basic. In the future, I would like to become a developer and this hackathon let me have a basic understanding of what I would have to do.
What's next for Compost Scheduler App
I have many things that I have planned for the Compost Scheduler App. First, I would like to update the email system so that it sends an update to check the compost bin every two days and to turn the compost every week. Second, I would like to implement a system that catches errors because currently, I do not have that implemented and any invalid input would lead to an error being shown on the webpage. Third, I would like to implement a system where the user would input data about their compost bin throughout the entire composting process so that the computer would know what is going on with the user's compost bin. Currently, the computer has no way of knowing what is happening in the user's compost bin so if there is ever a delay or problem with the compost bin, the update emails may not correlate with the actual state of the compost bin. I would like to develop this compost scheduler app further so that I can use it for the community compost program that I proposed.
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