Exam Portfolio
Welcome to my exam portfolio for eru, a backend API developed during the third semester backend course.
This portfolio documents how the project evolved from an early idea into a deployed Java backend with authentication, content management, user interactions, AI-based elaboration, testing, and deployment.
The purpose of this document is not to present a perfect linear success story. Instead, it is meant to show how the system gradually grew as new technologies were introduced week by week, how architectural decisions were made, and how my understanding of backend development developed over time.
eru is a backend for a learning-focused content platform built around short educational posts such as facts, theories, and quotes. The goal of the project was to explore how a scrolling-style application could be used for something more meaningful than passive entertainment.
Chapter Overview#
01
The Beginning
From the first project idea and early scope decisions to the initial domain sketch.
02
Laying the Foundation
Setting up Hibernate, persistence, DAOs, and the first concrete building blocks of the backend.
03
Relationship Challenges
Figuring out how the entities should relate and modelling interactions in a way that made domain sense.
04
Implementing OpenAI's API
Integrating AI elaboration through OpenAI and designing the request flow around it.
05
eru = REST API
Building the HTTP layer, DTO boundaries, route structure, and a cleaner application setup.
06
REST and Test
Testing the API from the outside with integration tests, JWT checks, and Rest Assured assertions.
07
Security
JWT, authorization, authenticated-user context, and integrating security cleanly into the architecture.
08
Deployment & The Beginning of the End
The full CI/CD pipeline, live deployment, and the DNS, HTTPS, database, and secret-handling issues that had to be solved along the way.