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.

Employee Management System - A Microservices Architecture

Mon, 01 Dec 2025 10:00:00 +0530

The Employee Management System is a comprehensive, enterprise-grade application demonstrating a complete transition from a monolithic architecture to a distributed microservices system. As a cornerstone project in my portfolio, it showcases advanced backend development techniques and a deep understanding of modern cloud-native patterns.

This project serves as a practical guide to service decomposition, inter-service communication, centralized configuration, and robust security in a distributed environment.

Key Architectural Features

Service Decomposition: The system is broken down into independent, domain-driven microservices, each with its own database and logic.
- Employee Service: Manages core employee data and handles user authentication.
- Payroll Service: Processes detailed salary and payroll information.
- Leave Service: Manages employee leave requests and approvals.
Service Discovery: Utilizes Netflix Eureka as a service registry, allowing services to dynamically find and communicate with each other without hardcoded endpoints.
Centralized Entry Point: A Spring Cloud Gateway acts as the single entry point for all client requests. It is responsible for routing, load balancing, and cross-cutting concerns like security.
Decentralized Security: Security is enforced at the gateway level using Spring Security and JSON Web Tokens (JWT). The gateway validates tokens before forwarding requests to downstream services, ensuring the entire system is secure.

Core Technologies

Backend: Java 21, Spring Boot 3
Microservices: Spring Cloud Gateway, Netflix Eureka
Security: Spring Security 6, JWT (JSON Web Tokens)
Database: Spring Data MongoDB (for data persistence)
Build: Apache Maven

For a detailed explanation of the architecture, API endpoints, and setup instructions, please visit the Employee-System GitHub Repository.

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.

AI-Powered Fitness - Your Intelligent Personal Trainer

Mon, 17 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0530

AI-Powered Fitness is a modern, full-stack health application designed to democratize personal training. By leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs), the platform generates highly personalized nutrition and workout roadmaps based on a user’s unique body metrics (BMI), fitness goals, and available equipment.

Key Features

For Users: Personalized Fitness Profiling, Instant BMI Calculation, AI-Generated Custom Diet Plans, Tailored Workout Routines, PDF Export for offline access, and 24/7 AI Chatbot support.
Intelligent Services: Real-time health advice via Groq AI, location-based gym and yoga studio discovery using Google Maps integration, and secure progress tracking.

Tech Stack Highlights

Frontend: React 18, TypeScript, Vite, Tailwind CSS (Glassmorphism UI), Lucide React, jsPDF.
Backend & Integration: Supabase (PostgreSQL & Auth), Groq SDK (Llama 3), Google Generative AI (Gemini Pro).

For detailed information on features, installation, usage, and project structure, please visit the AI-Powered Fitness GitHub Repository.

About Me

Sat, 27 Jul 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Hi, I’m Prajwal Banakar 👋

I’m a Google Summer of Code 2026 Contributor with the Apache Software Foundation and a passionate open-source developer. My journey is fueled by a deep curiosity for building high-performance distributed systems and real-time data infrastructure from the ground up.

I am an active contributor to Apache Fluss (incubating), a streaming storage system for real-time analytics. My journey with Fluss began with small documentation fixes and grew into authoring FIP-37 (Fluss Improvement Proposal), a plan to integrate native RoaringBitmap support into the storage engine. I am now implementing this proposal as my GSoC project.

What is Open Source and Google Summer of Code?

Thu, 23 May 2024 14:00:00 +0530

After I shared my journey to GSoC, many aspiring students reached out with the same questions: What exactly is open source? What is GSoC? And how can I get started?

This post is for you. It’s the guide I wish I had when I was just starting out.

What is Open Source?

Imagine a chef has a secret recipe for a fantastic dish. In the normal world (called “closed source”), they keep that recipe locked away. You can buy the dish, but you can never see how it’s made.

What is Apache Fluss? A GSoC Story on Making Real-Time Analytics Simpler

Thu, 23 May 2024 12:00:00 +0530

The Swiggy Problem: Analytics at the Speed of Now

Imagine you’re running Swiggy or Zomato. Every second, thousands of orders pour in from across the country. You need to answer critical business questions in real-time: How many unique customers ordered in Bangalore in the last 10 minutes? Which dish is trending right now?

This is the world of real-time analytics. You need to process and understand data the instant it arrives.