Decision log

January 14th, 2020

December 19th, 2019

Use JSON web tokens instead of sessions

December 9th, 2019

Choose Django + Postgres over Go, Node, and Serverless (!)

We selected Django with the Django REST Framework because it:

• provides a common framework for building REST services
• provides an opportunity for those learning Python to contribute
• allows those experienced with Django to build on skills they already have
• provides OpenAPI schema/documentation of the services
• exposing CodeBuddies as REST endpoints encourages decoupling from a single UI
• while other technology choices may offer better performance in certain situations, we haven't identified any CB functionality requiring performance optimization

We considered but ruled out the following:

• Go - low interest among the CB community to learn it
• Java - low interest among the CB community
• Node - some interest, but not enough people familiar with it
• GraphQL - additional complexity that doesn't solve an identified problem in the CB codebase. Can be added later if required. Isn't performant with Django right now, though.
• Serverless and GraphQL (using Netlify and AWS Lambda) -- newer/untested technology, fewer Stackoverflow references, depending on Netlify may be expensive if traffic grows

(h/t to @BillGlover for writing most of the bullet points above)