Build a Personal Budget Tracker
Monthly Coding Challenge: November 2024
A blog by: Code Flight — a personalized & affordable learn-to-code platform, that’s fully-virtual & self-paced, so you can learn on your own time from anywhere!
November Coding Challenge: Build a Personal Budget Tracker
This month, we’re challenging you to build a Personal Budget Tracker. This project is perfect for beginners looking to practice fundamental programming concepts, and it offers plenty of opportunities for advanced coders to add extra features. A Budget Tracker is a practical tool that can be coded in any language, making it a versatile addition to your portfolio. If you’re interested in learning to code, check out Code Flight.
Challenge Details:
Why Build a Personal Budget Tracker?
A Personal Budget Tracker is more than just a simple project—it’s a tool that applies to everyday life and can be enhanced with a variety of features. Through this challenge, you'll gain experience with:
Data Management: Track and categorize income and expenses.
User Input Validation: Ensure that all data entered is accurate and follows the correct format.
Basic Financial Calculations: Calculate totals, balances, and percentages.
User Interface Design: Create an intuitive layout that makes it easy for users to manage their finances.
These skills are not only essential for coding but also highly relevant in technical interviews for entry-level positions.
Getting Started: Basic Requirements
For beginners, the core functionality of the Personal Budget Tracker includes:
Add Income and Expenses: Allow users to input their income and expenses. Each entry should include a description, amount, and category (e.g., groceries, rent, entertainment).
Categorize Transactions: Enable users to categorize each transaction, helping them track spending in different areas.
View Summary: Provide a summary that displays total income, total expenses, and the remaining balance. This could be displayed in a simple table or list format.
Persist Data: Store the budget data using local storage or a backend solution to ensure that it’s saved between sessions.
Coding Languages: This project can be implemented in any programming language, such as JavaScript, Python, Java, C#, Ruby, or PHP. Code Flight offers personalized coding courses and practice problems in virtually any language — sign up today with a free trial!
Tools and Frameworks: You can use your preferred tools or frameworks, like React, Angular, Django, or Flask, depending on your skill level and comfort.
Leveling Up: Advanced Features
For those looking to add more complexity, consider integrating these advanced features:
User Authentication: Implement a login system to allow users to save their budget data securely.
Monthly Savings Goals: Add a feature that lets users set and track monthly savings goals. Display progress toward these goals in the summary.
Graphical Representation: Create visualizations, such as pie charts or bar graphs, to show spending by category or over time. This can be done using libraries like Chart.js or D3.js.
Export Data: Allow users to export their budget data to a CSV or PDF format for easy sharing or record-keeping.
These additional features not only make your app more useful but also showcase your ability to handle more complex programming tasks, which is valuable in technical interviews.
Breaking Down the Project: Weekly Goals
To help you manage your time and ensure you complete the challenge within the month, here’s a suggested weekly breakdown:
Week 1:
Set Up Your Environment: Choose your programming language and set up your development environment.
Design the UI: Create wireframes or sketches of your app's layout. Start coding the basic user interface components.
Implement Adding Transactions: Code the functionality to add income and expenses.
Week 2:
Categorization and Summary: Add the ability to categorize transactions and create a summary section to display total income, expenses, and balance.
Data Persistence: Implement data storage using local storage or a simple backend setup.
Week 3:
Advanced Features: If you're comfortable with the basics, start adding advanced features like user authentication, savings goals, and data export.
Graphical Representation: Work on creating charts or graphs to visualize the budget data.
Week 4:
Testing and Debugging: Thoroughly test your app to ensure all features work as expected. Fix any bugs you encounter.
Polish the UI: Refine the user interface to make it user-friendly and visually appealing.
Final Review: Review your code for efficiency and readability. If you’re planning to showcase this project, ensure that it’s well-documented.
