Take‑Home Assessment

Welcome, candidate! This project contains intentional issues that mimic real‑world scenarios. Your task is to refactor, optimize, and fix these problems.

Objectives

🔧 Backend (Node.js)

1. Refactor blocking I/O

   • src/routes/items.js uses fs.readFileSync. Replace with non‑blocking async operations.

2. Performance

   • GET /api/stats recalculates stats on every request. Cache results, watch file changes, or introduce a smarter strategy.

3. Testing

   • Added unit tests (Jest) for items routes (happy path + error cases).

💻 Frontend (React)

1. Memory Leak

   • Items.js leaks memory if the component unmounts before fetch completes. Fix it.

2. Pagination & Search

   • Implement paginated list with server‑side search (q param). Contribute to both client and server.

3. Performance

   • The list can grow large. Integrate virtualization (e.g., react-window) to keep UI smooth.

4. UI/UX Polish

   • Feel free to enhance styling, accessibility, and add loading/skeleton states.

📦 What We Expect

• Idiomatic, clean code with comments where necessary.
• Solid error handling and edge‑case consideration.
• Tests that pass via npm test in both frontend and backend.
• A brief SOLUTION.md describing your approach and trade‑offs.

Quick Start

node version: 18.XX

nvm install 18
nvm use 18

# Terminal 1
cd backend
npm install
npm start

# Terminal 2
cd frontend
npm install
npm start

The frontend proxies /api requests to http://localhost:3001.