Where It All Starts and Ends
Tags: julialang, opensource, gsoc, devjournal
Published: 2023-11-10 12:36:38

As the sun sets on my GSoC journey with Julia, I find myself reminiscing about the incredible experiences of the past few months. The final two weeks have been a whirlwind of collaboration, coding, and personal growth. In this blog post, I'll take you through my journey of iterating on the valuable feedback from the Julia community and the preparations leading up to my final submission.

### 🔄️Iterating on Awesome Feedback:
Imagine receiving a treasure map - that's what the feedback from the community felt like to me. Their insights were the guiding light that illuminated the path toward a better search UI.

Amidst the flurry of coding excitement, I had unintentionally omitted a close button for shutting down the search modal on mobile devices. How did I miss something as basic as that? It was like setting up a grand dinner party and forgetting to invite the guest of honour!

Thankfully, my oversight was caught by the vigilant eyes of the community, who promptly pointed out this rather conspicuous absence. It's moments like these that remind us that coding is as much about attention to detail as it is about grand designs. This also reinforced the age-old wisdom that a fresh perspective can work wonders. Amidst chaos and lines of code, it's remarkably easy to become 'code blind', missing the forest for the trees. And that's where the community steps in as a friendly lifeguard, ready to pull you out of the code sea when you're adrift. It's not just about code review; it's about having a fresh pair of eyes to spot the inconspicuous, question the obvious, and keep the ship sailing in the right direction.

Well, I added that much-needed close button, grateful for the watchful community that helped me steer clear of my oversight in this journey. And with some code cleaning, I made my final push to the PR. And here is what the finished product looks like in comparison to before...

Search UI Before

![Search UI Before](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rrbwhzwq9yt8sahky461.png)


Search UI After

![Search UI After](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/f3hf2h6q6v6qlkvrjmsj.png)

### Farewell, But Not Goodbye!
As the final submission date looms, a bittersweet feeling settles in. It's like bidding farewell to a beloved TV series - you're excited to see how it all concludes, yet sad that the journey is ending. These weeks have been a blend of challenges, triumphs, and late-night coding sessions fueled by equal parts determination and caffeine.

While I'll soon hit the "submit" button with a mix of relief and anticipation, what truly warms my heart is the camaraderie I've found within the Julia community. The people who were once mere usernames on a forum are now friends and mentors who have shaped me into a better coder.

So here's to the last two weeks of GSoC - a chapter filled with lines of code, laughter, and growth. As I wrap up my project, I can't help but look back and smile at how far I've come. As this chapter closes, I'm reminded that every farewell is simply a prelude to a new adventure.

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If you're interested in following my progress or connecting with me, please feel free to reach out!

Github: [Hetarth02](https://github.com/Hetarth02)
LinkedIn: [Hetarth Shah](https://www.linkedin.com/in/hetarth-shah-1ab392220)
Website: [Portfolio](https://hetarth02.github.io/)

Thank you for joining me on this journey, and look forward to more updates as I continue contributing to the Open Source community.