Java on Prajwal's Blog

My Journey to Google Summer of Code 2026

Fri, 01 May 2026 10:00:00 +0530

Introduction

I’m Prajwal, and this is the story of my journey from a small village in Karnataka to being a Google Summer of Code contributor with the Apache Software Foundation. This is not a tale of overnight success, but one of struggle, perseverance, and the transformative power of open source. I hope my story can guide and inspire students who are on a similar path.

Humble Beginnings and a Spark of Interest

I come from a small village called Kuppinakeri in Karnataka. My parents are farmers, and I grew up in a humble environment. After scoring 86% in my 10th grade in 2020, I got into Morarji Desai PU college, a government institution that provided free education. This was my first time living in a hostel. My elder brother, Guru Prasanna, who works at Morgan Stanley, has been my guiding light. On his advice, I chose PCMCs (Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science) over PCMB. It was here that my love for computer science, particularly C++, began to blossom, thanks to my supportive lecturer, Sanjay sir.

BookHaven - A Modern Online Book Store

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0530

BookHaven is a comprehensive, full-stack e-commerce application designed for buying and selling books online. It features a robust Spring Boot backend and a dynamic, interactive React frontend, providing a seamless shopping experience for customers and powerful management tools for administrators.

Key Features

For Customers: Enhanced Home Page, Book Recommendations, Advanced Search, Wishlist, Shopping Cart, Secure Checkout, Order Tracking, Real-time Notifications, and Live Chat with administrators.
For Administrators: Comprehensive Admin Dashboard, Order Fulfillment, Customer Insights, Admin Notifications, Live Chat Interface, Inventory Management, and Role-Based Access.

Tech Stack Highlights

Frontend: React 18, Bootstrap 5, Framer Motion, Axios, React Router, React Stomp Hooks & SockJS.
Backend: Java 21, Spring Boot 3.5, Spring Security, Spring WebSocket, Spring Data MongoDB, Maven.

For detailed information on features, installation, usage, and project structure, please visit the BookHaven GitHub Repository.