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Technical Requirements

Andy Lo edited this page May 4, 2018 · 4 revisions

Technical Skills

While the following list is not meant to be prescriptive or comprehensive, it is helpful to have developers who understand or have some experience with the following technologies:

  • HTML
  • Sass/SCSS
  • Autoprefixer
  • Jekyll
  • JavaScript
  • JavaScript MVC framework architecture
  • JavaScript build technologies:
    • npm scripts
    • webpack
  • Node.js
  • Express framework
  • Relational data models and relational database design
  • PostgreSQL
  • PL/pgSQL
  • Using ORM (Object-relational mapping) libraries
  • AWS (Amazon Web Services) administration
  • Linux server administration
  • Ansible
  • Jenkins

Software Requirements

Development on both the SDG National Reporting Initiative website and API requires the following to be available in your development environment:

  • Ruby (using a version manager such as RVM is highly recommended when installing Ruby): Required for Jekyll.
  • Bundler: Manages Ruby dependencies.
  • Node.js: The API is implemented using technologies written for Node.js.
  • npm (should be included in your Node.js installation): Manages Node.js dependencies and supports application build scripting.
  • Yarn (optional): A more performant replacement for npm.

You will also require a PostgreSQL database (version 9.6 or greater) to be available. This may be hosted locally on your development machine, but should be hosted from a service provider such as Heroku or AWS if you are deploying the site onto the web.

Since the API is integrated with Forest, it is recommended that you have a Forest account.

AWS (Amazon Web Services) Dependencies

Although the project currently makes use of AWS for much of its production infrastructure, the services that the application truly relies upon are:

  • Amazon S3: Provides asset and configuration storage.
  • Amazon SES: Provides e-mail functionality to forward processed form data.
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