Tigran Muradyan

AWS is the gold standard for cloud infrastructure, offering unmatched scalability and reliability. For Quit Sugar, I chose AWS for backend deployment, domain management, and load balancing because of its extensive services and global availability. Tools like EC2 for hosting, Route 53 for DNS management, and Elastic Load Balancer for distributing traffic ensure the app remains fast, secure, and highly available. Compared to alternatives like Google Cloud or Azure, AWS's mature ecosystem and extensive documentation made it easier to implement a robust, cost-effective solution for a growing user base.

Firebase simplifies the heavy lifting of backend tasks like authentication, notifications, and real-time database management. Its ready-to-use authentication service with Google and email login saved hours of development time compared to rolling out custom solutions. Firebase's real-time database capabilities enable instant syncing of user progress and collaborative challenges, making it perfect for the social features in Quit Sugar. Its tight integration with Flutter made it a natural choice over alternatives like AWS Amplify.

MongoDB's document-based model is perfect for handling dynamic data structures like health logs and user preferences. It provides flexibility in data storage without the constraints of rigid schemas seen in relational databases like MySQL. For Quit Sugar, this allowed seamless integration of user-specific data, such as sugar intake, hydration levels, and custom challenges. MongoDB’s scalability ensures the app remains performant even as the user base grows.

Node.js excels in building fast, scalable backend systems. Its non-blocking, event-driven architecture is perfect for handling Quit Sugar's real-time data, like logging sugar intake and collaborating with friends. Unlike traditional backends like PHP or Ruby on Rails, Node.js integrates easily with frontend technologies, ensuring a smooth and efficient development. Its extensive ecosystem of libraries via npm made building APIs quick and hassle-free.

ChatGPT stands out as an AI assistant due to its exceptional natural language understanding and generation capabilities. Its ability to parse complex inputs and provide clear, actionable responses seamlessly integrated with the AI-powered food scanning and insights feature. Compared to other AI APIs, ChatGPT offers unparalleled flexibility for generating personalized health suggestions and crafting engaging experiences, ensuring that users feel guided and supported every step of their health journey.

Flutter is my go-to framework for mobile development because of its hot reload feature, which makes iteration super fast. Unlike React Native or other cross-platform frameworks, Flutter delivers a native-like performance with a single codebase. Its extensive widget library and support for responsive designs allowed me to create the modern, interactive interface of Quit Sugar. The vibrant developer community and frequent updates from Google further solidify its reliability.