research-school-2025/writeups/task.md

Develop a Comprehensive Blogging Platform

Design and implement a fully functional, feature-rich blogging platform with the following core features and functionality:

1. User Management

   • Registration & Authentication: Allow users to create accounts, log in, and manage their profiles. Support user authentication via email/password and multi-factor authentication.
   • Role-based Access Control: Implement different user roles (e.g., Moderator, Admin, Author, Reader) with varying levels of access and permissions.
   • Profile Management: Users should be able to update their profile, change passwords, and manage account settings.
   • Password Reset: Implement secure password recovery functionality.

2. Blog Post Management

   • Create, Read, Update, Delete: Enable authors to create, edit, view, and delete blog posts. Posts should include:
     • Title, body, tags, and publication status (draft, published, archived)
     • Option to add images or media (via file upload).
     • The posts shall be written using markdown.
   • Versioning & History: Track changes made to each post (diffs), including the ability to revert to previous versions.
   • Scheduling Posts: Allow authors to schedule posts for future publication.

3. Commenting & Engagement

   • Comments: Allow users to comment on blog posts. Support threaded comments and allow users to reply to comments.
   • Moderation Tools: Implement a basic moderation system that allows post authors and admins to delete inappropriate comments or flag them for review.
   • Likes & Reactions: Users should be able to like or react to posts and comments.

4. Search & Content Discovery

   • Search: Implement a search function that allows users to find posts by title, body text, tags, and categories.
   • Filters: Users should be able to filter posts by tags, author, publication date, and post category.
   • Categories & Tags: Support categorisation of posts by topic (e.g., technology, lifestyle) and tags for additional metadata.
   • Subscriptions: Users should be able to subscribe to blogs and see their feed in their home page.

5. Security & Privacy

   • Data Encryption: Ensure sensitive data is securely stored by using encryption (where applicable).
   • Input Validation & Sanitisation: Prevent SQL injection, XSS, and other common web vulnerabilities by implementing thorough input validation and output sanitisation across the platform.
   • Session Management: Implement secure user sessions, with features such as session expiry, logout functionality, and session tracking.

6. Performance & Optimisation

   • Caching: Implement resource caching.
   • Pagination: Implement pagination for blog posts and comments.
   • Optimised Media Upload: Ensure that media is uploaded efficiently, with automatic resizing and compression.

7. Analytics & Reporting

   • Post Analytics: Track and display metrics for each post, such as views, comments, likes, and shares.
   • User Engagement: Provide basic analytics for authors regarding the performance of their posts (e.g., most viewed posts, most engaged users).
   • Reporting Dashboard: Implement a simple dashboard for admins to monitor platform activity, user registrations, and post statistics.

8. Legal Framework

   • https://ari.lt/legal/

Development of 6 Versions of the Platform

You will create 6 distinct versions of the blogging platform, each with different priorities. For each version, consider how the balance between security, readability, and maintainability impacts the development process.

Version A (High Security, Manual Development)

This version will focus on implementing robust security measures, prioritising secure coding practices, and ensuring the platform is resistant to common vulnerabilities.

Focus Areas:

• Implement secure authentication, including multi-factor authentication.
• Apply best practices for password hashing (e.g., Argon2).
• Implement comprehensive input validation and output sanitisation (e.g., to prevent SQL injection, XSS).
• Use encryption for sensitive data storage (e.g., personal information, media) and ensure secure transmission of data via SSL/TLS.
• Implement secure session management (e.g., secure cookies, session expiration).
• Deploy logging and monitoring to detect and respond to potential threats.

Version B (High Readability, Manual Development)

This version will focus on clean, readable, and maintainable code. The emphasis will be on creating clear, well-organised code that is easy to understand, refactor, and extend.

Focus Areas:

• Use a modular architecture, breaking down functionality into small, reusable functions and components.
• Consistent naming conventions, well-documented code, and descriptive comments.
• Simplicity in design: prioritise clear and straightforward solutions over complex or highly optimised approaches.
• Easy-to-follow code structures, avoiding deep nesting and ensuring functions/classes are focused on single responsibilities.

Version C (Balanced, Manual Development)

This version will seek a balance between security, readability, and maintainability, incorporating key practices from both versions A and B.

Focus Areas:

• Ensure robust but not over-engineered security practices (e.g., secure authentication and input validation).
• Maintain clean and modular code, with an emphasis on readability without sacrificing necessary security features.
• Simple, clear architecture with focus on maintainability and scalability for future development.

Version D (High Security, AI Optimised)

This version will leverage AI tools to help optimise the security of the platform, with a particular focus on ensuring the code is secure while maintaining readability.

Focus Areas:

• AI-driven recommendations for secure coding practices (e.g., encryption, authentication mechanisms, input validation).
• Use AI to identify and suggest improvements for areas prone to security risks (e.g., weak password storage, insecure endpoints).
• AI-powered refactoring to optimise security-heavy code for better readability without compromising security.

Version E (High Readability, AI Optimised)

This version will use AI tools to improve the readability and maintainability of the code, ensuring the platform remains both understandable and efficient.

Focus Areas:

• AI-assisted refactoring to improve the clarity of complex code and simplify error handling.
• AI suggestions for improving code structure, modularity, and adherence to best practices for readability.
• Optimise security practices via AI while ensuring the platform remains simple and intuitive.

Version F (Balanced, AI Optimised)

This version will combine the strengths of both security and readability using AI, with the aim of finding the optimal balance between the two priorities.

Focus Areas:

• AI-driven insights for balancing security features (e.g., encryption, authentication) with modular and clean code.
• Use AI to identify the trade-offs between complexity and readability in security code and suggest the best balance.
• Real-time AI feedback during development to guide decision-making on code quality and security.