Subask, where developers get question based code snippets. 🤓
Why did I create SubAsk? 🤔
Being an Avid Learner is an essential skill for every software developer. Every year new things come up.
Sometime, I would like to get simple code snippets based on my question. That’s why i started creating SubAsk. A platform where you can ask tag based questions, and get your answers only in Github Gists form.
Github Gists are hidden treasure for any software developer. I have found so many useFul functions that i use now on Github Gists.
Problem with github gists is that they are not mapped to “question statement”. Most of the time people are searching for questions like “how to write a observable value in javascript?” and the github gists would not appear on google search.
That’s when I finalised my Problem Statement
Problem Statement: Map github gists ( code snippets) to “question statements”. User will ask questions and answers can only be given using their Public Github Gists.
SubAsk was actually a failed slack app. You may like to see this Product Demo. That’s when i bought the domain name.
SubAsk - Details 🧵
Subask is a webapp build on Nextjs, deployed on linode using node server. Subask uses Postgres as SQL database running on linode database cluster.
Prisma ORM was used for rapid data modeling and faster prototyping. Although i have found it difficult to implement full text search with prisma, I would like to create a rank based index. I MIGHT HAVE TO WRITE SOME SQL AFTERALL ;)
Ask a Question with a Tag….
Answer with Github Gist
Features ✨
- Anyone any ask a question, with a tag ( that’s why the same Subask).
- Login to ask a new Question
- Any one can answer a question as long as the gist is public.
- Tag Based Query
Tech Stack 💻 : -
- NextJS :- React and Express based web framework
- Postgres Database.
- Linode for cloud service
- Prisma ORM
- Stitches JS :- really really really like the api. Much recommended.
- Radix UI : headless used it for the dialog component.
If you need a guide to deploy your Next JS project on Linode, I wrote in Detail how you can do that : click here to learn more
Bugs List 🐞 :
- Refresh token bug
- Validation Bugs
- The Tag section gets a loader on selection not a desired UI
Upcoming Features
- Full text search (🔴 Priority)
- Pagination (🔴 Priority)
- Better Responsive Design
- Improved UI/UX flow
- Email Notifications
Conclusion -
Overall, I think subask in a good MVP. It implements a lot of features, like authentication, connect with github gists, rest-apis, CRUD operations. I would like to continue to work on subask for the upcoming features mentioned above. I have never worked on a rank based Query with postgres, I think that will be fun. Email Notification System is simple can be done in two to three days. I would like to get some help with the design and User flow. Also need to improve and update a lot of bugs 🙂.