UCOSP Week 7 Updates

This week

This week my pull request for the logic refactor of recording api was finally accepted after a number of code review changes.

Most of my work this week involved researching what I should do next, and how to implement it. I began doing some research on authentication schemes, and have a clear vision for how authentication should be carried out between client and server. After some conversations with Michael Tom-Wing, he noted that it would be better to think about how the server could be broadcasted onto a network and then worry about an authentication scheme later, which will probably rely on shared keys instead of a user/password model. I began looking into what would be the best library for broadcasting,  and I'm still researching. The library that seems the most promising thus far is python-zerconf, which is compatible with both avahi and bonjour, so it should be usable by Windows and OSX as well. I was looking at pybonjour, which is also cross-platform, but does not have support for python 3.

I also thought about a more consistent way to throw and present errors in the REST framework. My plan is to have a table of generic messages associated with each http error in the http error class (400, 404, ... etc.). When an endpoint wants to throw an http error, it then supplies any endpoint specific message it wants to send to the constructor.

I was also sick with the flu Saturday night into Sunday, so I was unable to attend the meeting.

Next week and beyond

I have a clear direction for the last few weeks working on getting our Freeseer REST server to broadcast on a network, so that will be my main focus, as well as small changes to the way errors are thrown by the REST server. As well, I plan on writing a small document about what a developer will need to take note of when developing new endpoints. If I run out of things to do, I always need to expand test coverage. I've modified my proposal to take notes of these changes.

Until next time,
Brenden Doyle