Build Out YAML File(s) for Resources

[BethanyG]

This is also a sub-task of #4 - and is still in the proof of concept/WIP phase. In lieu (or parallel to) of putting all the info into a DB, we need some way to organize all the /resources and other /slash command data for the bot messages. Current strategy we're blocking out is a YAML file with subject/link/string fields for various topics and resources. We know this won't solve all cases...and we may need several files, or a different strategy. But for now, we also would like to build out a file and see it in use.

[BethanyG]

Attached is a snippet of our "test" or "mocked up" file. More fields could be added - this was just for POC (PLEASE NOTE: the BEG/INT/ADV are only there for TESTING!! This is mocked up data)

resources:
  -name: "JSBeg1"
   sidebar-color: "#FFE633"
   level: "Beginner"
   language: "JavaScript"
   language-icon: ":heart: :javascript:"
   language-desc: "BEG Here\'s some resources to help you learn about the language!"
   video-link: "BEG :cinema:  <https://watchandcode.com/|Watch and Code>"
   video-desc: "BEG Place to _watch_ coding & _practice_ coding."
   tutorial-link: "BEG :books:  <https://laracasts.com/series/es6-cliffsnotes|Laracasts ES2015 Crash Course>"
   tutorial-desc: "BEG _This is the tutorial description._"
   book-link: "BEG :books:  <https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS|You Don\'t Know JS>"
   book-desc:  "BEG _This is the book description._"
   class-link: "BEG :male-teacher::skin-tone-5:   <https://javascript30.com/|Wes Bos JavaScript30>"
   class-desc: "BEG _This is the class description._"
   help_link:  "BEG :star: `If you get stuck` ---> :white_check_mark: out the <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/|Mozilla Developer Network> (Free).  _JavaScript developers of all levels swear by it._"
   more-questions: "BEG If you have any further :question: ---> you can always ask in <https://codebuddies.slack.com/archives/C04CA2079|#javascript>.  :slightly_smiling_face:"
   maintainer:  "BEG _This is the *@maintainer* for this JavaScript resource. Bother them with feedback._"
  -name: "JSInter1"
   sidebar-color: "#B2FF33"
   level: "Intermediate"
   language: "JavaScript"
   language-icon: ":heart: :javascript:"
   language-desc: "INT Here\'s some resources to help you learn about the language!"
   video-link: "INT :cinema:  <https://watchandcode.com/|Watch and Code>"
   video-desc: "INT Place to _watch_ coding & _practice_ coding."
   tutorial-link: "INT :books:  <https://laracasts.com/series/es6-cliffsnotes|Laracasts ES2015 Crash Course>"
   tutorial-desc: "INT _This is the tutorial description._"
   book-link: "INT :books:  <https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS|You Don\'t Know JS>"
   book-desc:  "INT _This is the book description._"
   class-link: "INT :male-teacher::skin-tone-5:   <https://javascript30.com/|Wes Bos JavaScript30>"
   class-desc: "INT _This is the class description._"
   help_link:  "INT :star: `If you get stuck` ---> :white_check_mark: out the <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/|Mozilla Developer Network> (Free).  _JavaScript developers of all levels swear by it._"
   more-questions: "INT If you have any further :question: ---> you can always ask in <https://codebuddies.slack.com/archives/C04CA2079|#javascript>.  :slightly_smiling_face:"
   maintainer:  "INT _This is the *@maintainer* for this JavaScript resource. Bother them with feedback._"
  -name: "JSAdv1"
   sidebar-color: "#4CFF33"
   level: "Advanced"
   language: "JavaScript"
   language-icon: :heart: :javascript:"
   language-desc: "ADV Here\'s some resources to help you learn about the language!"
   video-link: "ADV :cinema:  <https://watchandcode.com/|Watch and Code>"
   video-desc: "ADV Place to _watch_ coding & _practice_ coding."
   tutorial-link: "ADV :books:  <https://laracasts.com/series/es6-cliffsnotes|Laracasts ES2015 Crash Course>"
   tutorial-desc: "ADV _This is the tutorial description._"
   book-link: "ADV :books:  <https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS|You Don\'t Know JS>"
   book-desc:  "ADV _This is the book description._"
   class-link: "ADV :male-teacher::skin-tone-5:   <https://javascript30.com/|Wes Bos JavaScript30>"
   class-desc: "ADV _This is the class description._"
   help_link:  "ADV :star: `If you get stuck` ---> :white_check_mark: out the <https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/|Mozilla Developer Network> (Free).  _JavaScript developers of all levels swear by it._"
   more-questions: "ADV If you have any further :question: ---> you can always ask in <https://codebuddies.slack.com/archives/C04CA2079|#javascript>.  :slightly_smiling_face:"
   maintainer:  "ADV _This is the *@maintainer* for this JavaScript resource. Bother them with feedback._"
  -name: "PyBeg1"
   sidebar-color: "#335EFF"
   level: "Beginner"
   language: "Python"
   language-icon: ":heart: :python:"
   language-desc: "BEG Here\'s some resources to help you learn about the language!"
   video-link: "BEG :cinema:  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyDLAutA88s|David Beazley: Built In Superheros>"
   video-desc: "BEG Beazley\'s simply the BEST."
   tutorial-link: "BEG :books:  <https://developers.google.com/edu/python/|Googles Python Course>"
   tutorial-desc: "BEG _This is the tutorial description._"
   book-link: "BEG :books:  <https://automatetheboringstuff.com/|Automate the Boring Stuff with Python>"
   book-desc:  "BEG _This is the book description._"
   class-link: "BEG :male-teacher::skin-tone-5:   <https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-11|MIT Intro to CS Using Python>"
   class-desc: "BEG _This is the class description._"
   help_link:  "BEG :star: `If you get stuck` ---> :white_check_mark: out the <https://docs.python.org/3/|Python3 Documentation> (Free).  _Developers of all levels swear by them._"
   more-questions: "BEG If you have any further :question: ---> you can always ask in <https://codebuddies.slack.com/archives/C04CA208R|#python>.  :slightly_smiling_face:"
   maintainer:  "BEG _This is the *@maintainer* for this Python resource. Bother them with feedback._"
  -name: "PyInter1"
   sidebar-color: "#6E33FF"
   level: "Intermediate"
   language: "Python"
   language-icon: ":heart: :python:"
   language-desc: "INT Here\'s some resources to help you learn about the language!"
   video-link: "INT :cinema:  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyDLAutA88s|David Beazley: Built In Superheros>"
   video-desc: "INT Beazley\'s simply the BEST."
   tutorial-link: "INT :books:  <https://developers.google.com/edu/python/|Googles Python Course>"
   tutorial-desc: "INT _This is the tutorial description._"
   book-link: "INT :books:  <https://automatetheboringstuff.com/|Automate the Boring Stuff with Python>"
   book-desc:  "INT _This is the book description._"
   class-link: "INT :male-teacher::skin-tone-5:   <https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-11|MIT Intro to CS Using Python>"
   class-desc: "INT _This is the class description._"
   help_link:  "INT :star: `If you get stuck` ---> :white_check_mark: out the <https://docs.python.org/3/|Python3 Documentation> (Free).  _Developers of all levels swear by them._"
   more-questions: "INT If you have any further :question: ---> you can always ask in <https://codebuddies.slack.com/archives/C04CA208R|#python>.  :slightly_smiling_face:"
   maintainer:  "INT _This is the *@maintainer* for this Python resource. Bother them with feedback._"
  -name: "PyAdv1"
   sidebar-color: "#D433FF"
   level: "Advanced"
   language: "Python"
   language-icon: ":heart: :python:"
   language-desc: "ADV Here\'s some resources to help you learn about the language!"
   video-link: "ADV :cinema:  <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyDLAutA88s|David Beazley: Built In Superheros>"
   video-desc: "ADV Beazley\'s simply the BEST."
   tutorial-link: "ADV :books:  <https://developers.google.com/edu/python/|Googles Python Course>"
   tutorial-desc: "ADV _This is the tutorial description._"
   book-link: "ADV :books:  <https://automatetheboringstuff.com/|Automate the Boring Stuff with Python>"
   book-desc:  "ADV _This is the book description._"
   class-link: "ADV :male-teacher::skin-tone-5:   <https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-mitx-6-00-1x-11|MIT Intro to CS Using Python>"
   class-desc: "ADV _This is the class description._"
   help_link:  "ADV :star: `If you get stuck` ---> :white_check_mark: out the <https://docs.python.org/3/|Python3 Documentation> (Free).  _Developers of all levels swear by them._"
   more-questions: "ADV If you have any further :question: ---> you can always ask in <https://codebuddies.slack.com/archives/C04CA208R|#python>.  :slightly_smiling_face:"
   maintainer:  "ADV _This is the *@maintainer* for this Python resource. Bother them with feedback._"

[angelocordon]

Was pretty far away from the /resources convo, so apologies if this has already been discussed!

• I think we picked YAML because it's a bit easier to read than JSON, correct?
• Wondering if this is possible with YAML, but can we separate each resource as an individual file and concat them together as a collection? I know we can most likely do this with JSON + JS, but here's what I'm thinking:

// resources/python/advanced_resources/david_beazley_built_in_super_heroes.json
{
  name: "David Bezley - Built In Super Heroes",
  link: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyDLAutA88s",
  type: "video",
  description: "Beazley's simply the BEST."
}

// resources/python/advanced_resources/automate_the_boring_stuff_with_python.json
{
  name: "Automate The Boring Stuff With Python",
  link: "https://automatetheboringstuff.com/",
  type: "book",
  description: "Book description for the Python book"
}

Lastly, we can use a build system (I think Webpack has a plugin for this) that concats all of these JSON files together into a single JSON file (so should output something like resources/python/advanced_resources.json) then that can be referenced accordingly.

Goals there are to be able to add singular resource easily in an organized manner; following a simple template - just need name, link, type and description.

If we look at this from a DB perspective, this also simplifies the table column tremendously as book, video, class, tutorial can be simplified down to type and can also open us up for other kinds of resource types down the line (articles, for example).

Thoughts??

cc: @stain88 (IIRC, I think the YAML was your suggestion, so would love your perspective here as well)

[stain88]

Easier to read is a personal choice, but I think yes. I think the main reason though is yml is easier to dump into a DB than json, but I may be wrong there too. Concatenation would be possible, in much the same way as building up a json object, so I don't think there's any issue there. The multiple files then just comes back to Big File Tree, until the DB is set up.

Bear in mind this was just example data - there's still a lot that can be done with this, but depends if we want to release before the DB, or not. It could come down to high workload in this setup, but a simple WHERE call to the DB. Currently, the /resources filter only works by language or level, but the idea under projects would be to also offer free|paid, book|video|class etc filters, so the attachment template would probably be smaller - name, description, link could be enough.

[BethanyG]

I am going to go ahead and fill out the single YAML file with the information we have. But I am edging closer to a DB for all of this.

[stain88]

The more I think about this, the more I'm leaning towards the one-file-per-resource idea (again, until the DB gets put in place). Globbing them all would be trivial, and it'll be easier to add other resources in.

[BethanyG]

Agreed. Per our run-through and our discussion. Going to close this issue, and open a new one around implementing the discussed tree structure, and porting our two examples to it, so that the templates and filters can be changed accordingly. I think we're quickly headed in the direction of a DB however. Wrangling all the files (good naming and organization non-withstanding) is quickly becoming a large job in of itself, and it would be lovely to have more hands on it. I think a DB with a simple set of entry fields as an interface is (further down the road) the way to accomplish that.

[BethanyG]

Linking #53, #54, #55, and #56 to this issue to reflect our change in organization/strategy.