“When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.” - Desiderius Erasmus
There are many ways of gaining knowledge, but the one I like most is - Reading a Book! When I started this project, I wanted to create something that will be helpful in enhancing knowledge by reading. Being a passionate book lover, I decided that an application which gives the current available book deals will be an interesting project to work on. And this idea resulted in the creation of gem book-deals.
What is book-deals? It is a gem which displays books with discounted prices on Goodreads website.
The main focus while implementing book-deals was creating a gem (The gem can be installed by following the README document provided with documentation.) and following Object Oriented Programming principles.
From users point of view, it was important to look into the ease of usability aspect. To conquer this, I made sure, that every step while executing book-deals is guided with helpful messages and color coded instructions.
Once, the user executes the program, he/she is greeted with a Welcome screen followed by a menu. This menu contains a list of categories to select from.
Welcome to Book Deals!!
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Select a Category to see the deals:
1. Today Only! (Press 1 to see Today Only!)
2. Bestsellers (Press 2 to see Bestsellers)
3. Romance (Press 3 to see Romance)
4. Mystery & Thrillers (Press 4 to see Mystery & Thrillers)
5. Fantasy & Science Fiction (Press 5 to see Fantasy & Science Fiction)
6. Fiction (Press 6 to see Fiction)
7. Nonfiction (Press 7 to see Nonfiction)
8. Young Adult (Press 8 to see Young Adult)
Enter your selection:
Now, if user wants to see the deals in category Bestsellers, he/she can press number 2 and enter on the keyboard.
This displays the list of book deals with book title, author name, description, deal price, original price, expiry date or time of the deal and the deal purchase url.
Enter your selection:
2
Deals for Category - Bestsellers
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Book Title: Six of Crows (Six of Crows, #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Description: From the New York Times and USA Today-bestselling author of the Grisha Trilogy. Criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker has been offered wealth beyond his wildest dreams. But to claim it, he'll have to pull off a seemingly impossible heist and a crew desperate enough and dangerous enough to get the job done.
Deal Price: $2.99
Original Price: $9.99
Expires in: a month
This book can be purchased on: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22294935-six-of-crows?rto=x_gr_w_activedealspage_bp
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Book Title: Disclosure
Author: Michael Crichton
Description: A New York Times bestseller. An up-and-coming executive at the computer firm DigiCom, Tom Sanders is a man whose corporate future is certain. But after a closed-door meeting with his new bossâa woman who is his former lover and has been promoted to the position he expected to haveâSanders finds himself caught in a nightmarish web of deceit in which he is branded the villain.
Deal Price: $1.99
Original Price: $5.99
Expires in: 3 days
This book can be purchased on: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35267827-disclosure?rto=x_gr_w_activedealspage_bp
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Total 12 deal/deals found for category Bestsellers.
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After displaying all the deals for the category, the user is prompted with the question “Do you wish to continue? (y/n)”. If user selects ‘y’, than he/she can continue viewing deals. Otherwise, if user selects ‘n’, the program exits with a message, “Thank you for visiting BookDeals. Hope to see you soon. Goodbye!”
Do you want to continue viewing deals? (y/n)
Enter your selection:
n
Thank you for visiting BookDeals. Hope to see you soon. Goodbye!
And this is the exit point for the program.
Working on this project was like a roller-coaster ride, filled with joy and excitement. It was also an unforgettable learning experience. Most enjoyable was the fact that I was creating something that I am passionate about - buying and reading books!