skatelog

Author: cberes

Makefile

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+all: build
+
+build:
+	npx @11ty/eleventy
+
+dev:
+	npx @11ty/eleventy --serve
+
+init:
+	npm install
+

articles/skatelog-python/index.html

@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+---
+tags:
+- articles
+- python
+- skateboarding
+- software
+title: "Skatelog: a Python project"
+date: 2026-06-15
+---
+<p>
+  For the past few weeks I worked on a new project with the goal of learning Python:
+  <a href="https://github.com/cberes/skatelog">Skatelog</a>.
+</p>
+<p>
+  Skatelog is the software equivalent of my
+  <a href="/articles/skateboard-journal/">skateboard journal</a>.
+  I can add my sessions with details like location, shoes I wore, board I skated, and obstacles I skated.
+  I can list past sessions and generate some basic analytics including
+  how I skate each obstacle and how much I use my gear.
+  I can import the spreadsheets I've been using as a journal
+  and export back to a spreadsheet.
+</p>
+<figure>
+  <img src="skatelog_cli.png" alt="Skatelog CLI for listing sessions and showing a single session" />
+  <figcaption>Skatelog CLI for listing sessions and showing a single session</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p>
+  Skatelog includes:
+</p>
+<ol>
+  <li>CLI using <a href="https://typer.tiangolo.com/">Typer</a> and
+    <a href="https://rich.readthedocs.io/en/latest/">Rich</a>
+  </li>
+  <li>API with <a href="https://fastapi.tiangolo.com/">FastAPI</a></li>
+  <li>HTML dashboard with FastAPI, <a href="https://htmx.org/">htmx</a>,
+    and <a href="https://matplotlib.org/">charts made by matplotlib</a>
+  <li><a href="https://sqlite.org/">SQLite</a> database to store sessions</li>
+</ol>
+
+<h3>Motivation</h3>
+<p>
+  My goal with this project was to learn Python.
+  I used Python professionally around 2014.
+  However, that was back in the early-ish days of Python 3.
+  The project used <a href="https://www.tornadoweb.org/">Tornado</a>, and that's all I remember.
+</p>
+<p>
+  When I started my re-learning-Python journey, I read some Python guides.
+  But working on an actual project is more engaging.
+  And this project was something I could see myself actually <em>using</em>.
+</p>
+<figure>
+  <img src="skatelog_api.png" alt="Skatelog API docs" />
+  <figcaption>Skatelog API docs</figcaption>
+</figure>
+
+<h3>Implementation</h3>
+<p>
+  After working on <a href="https://skateindex.com">Skate Index</a>,
+  I wanted to go back to programming everything by hand.
+  Unless it's code I really don't want to write, I'd rather write it by hand.
+  (Maybe there's a minimum code coverage threshold that for unknown reasons includes unit tests only.)
+  Especially if it's something I'm trying to learn.
+  Not only am I more likely to remember what I write, but I think the code turns out better.
+  And bugs are easier to solve.
+</p>
+<p>Furthermore, I <em>really</em> wrote everything by hand considering I used <a href="https://neovim.io/">Neovim</a>
+  as my editor with a relatively small configuration.
+  Neovim and <a href="https://github.com/tmux/tmux/wiki">tmux</a>
+  are 2 projects I've been interested in lately.
+  I've also been using <a href="https://github.com/JetBrains/ideavim">ideavim</a>
+  for Intellij, but not with Skatelog.
+  I used to think I was incapable of using vim, but I stuck with it, and now it feels much more natural.
+</p>
+<figure>
+  <img src="skatelog_dash1.png" alt="Skatelog dashboard (board usage)" />
+  <figcaption>Skatelog dashboard (board usage)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p>
+  With Skatelog, I started with the CLI.
+  I was pretty impressed with rich.
+  The app was very simple, but the output looked very nice.
+  Once I could store all the data I needed, I moved onto some analytics.
+  I like to see how many times I've used each board or worn each pair of shoes.
+</p>
+<p>
+  When that was done, I added trick parsing.
+  I have a notes field where I usually enter tricks I learned,
+  but I also enter anything of interest or why I took the day off.
+  This is probably the weakest part of the app, but I got to work with regexes a lot.
+  Next was the api. I used FastAPI.
+  Since the CLI was already done, the API was quick.
+  Finally there was the dashboard.
+  I wanted the dashboard to be right, because I figured it's the interface I'm most likely to use.
+</p>
+<figure>
+  <img src="skatelog_dash2.png" alt="Skatelog dashboard (adding a session)" />
+  <figcaption>Skatelog dashboard (adding a session)</figcaption>
+</figure>
+<p>
+  I wrote tests as I went along.
+  I added a Github workflow with linting, formatting checks, and test reports.
+  I used modern features and tools, including type hints and <a href="https://docs.astral.sh/uv/">uv</a>.
+  In these ways I treated it like a professional project.
+</p>
+<p>
+  However, it <em>is</em> a personal project, so I took some liberties.
+  The CLI and dashboard are mostly untested.
+  While Rich looks nice, I thought it might complicate testing.
+  And I'm not very familiar with front-end testing.
+  As I said, it was a <em>personal project</em> so I wanted to keep things <em>fun</em>.
+  I didn't want this project to become a chore.
+</p>
+
+<h3>Conclusion</h3>
+<p>
+  I feel much more comfortable with Python after working on Skatelog.
+  I may even use Skatelog on a daily basis to replace one of my skateboard spreadsheets.
+  So, I believe it was a success.
+</p>
+<p>
+  Compared to Skate Index, in which I used generative AI almost exclusively,
+  I enjoyed writing Skatelog by hand. I feel like I <em>bought</em> Skate Index,
+  whereas I feel like I <em>made</em> Skatelog.
+</p>

articles/skatelog-python/skatelog_api.png

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ export default [
   'eleventy',
   'javascript',
   'perl',
+  'python',
   'skateboarding',
   'software',
 ];