The near future…

“Sure, that'll be a piece of cake.” – You.

Example

Implementing User Authentication

What's the big deal? It's everywhere. There's a ka-jillion libraries. You just need to create a login form, right?

Wrong-o.

Why it's a big deal

Let's see.

• Security: User authentication involves sensitive data, which means you need to ensure secure storage, secure transmission, secure this, that, and everything. This usually involves hashing and salting passwords, implementing two-factor authentication, DevOps, Uzi's, etc…

• User Experience: Edge cases. What happens if a user forgets their password? How about if they enter their email incorrectly? The “I am human” thing.

• Integration: Maybe your app needs to communicate with other software or APIs, you’ll need to ensure that your authentication system works with these.

• API: If you host an API, you’ll likely need to build APIs for login, logout, password reset, account creation, and more. How are you handling API authentication? Tokens, OAuth, other?

• Compliance: Depending on the nature of your app and the data you’re handling, you may need to comply with certain regulations (like GDPR, HIPAA, and/or PIPEDA).

• Testing: Testing any system is time-consuming. Which bits need coverage? What if…? You get the point.

Developing software tends to become a complex and time-consuming endeavor.

Delusional quotes

Programmer: “Oi, quick one to knock off the task list, eh.”

Manager: “Will it be easy to add this new feature?”

You: “Done before breakfast.”