Project Workshops

Initial Preparation

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Final Year Projects

• A significant piece of individual and academic work

• A double module -- 20% of final mark; a third of final year work

• Assessed mainly by report and oral exams• Compulsory Workshops on planning, writing,

evaluation• You will learn two main things

– How to conduct a big project, and evaluate it– Something about the project topic

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Date this Term

• Project Selection– Week 22-23

• Project Workshop – 12:00 3rd June (Week 26) Room CG85

• Resources Course– 5-6 June (Week 26)

• Project Specification– 6 June (Week 26)

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Deliverables

1. Project Specification• Staff to deliver 6 June (Week 26)

2. Preliminary Report• 20 June (Week 28)

3. Project Plan• Week 2 of Next Term

Final Year Projects

Selection Process

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Project Selection Process

1. Decide which area of Computer Science/Software Engineering you want to work in. Theme selection.

2. Develop a project proposal

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Project Areas - Themes

• Areas in which staff are interested in supervising projects

• Non-specific – there is room for negotiation

• Choose your Theme

• DEADLINE: 14th May (Week 23)

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Theme Allocation Project Supervisor

• Choices will be balanced to:– Satisfy as many first choices as possible– Evenly distribute the supervision load across

academic staff

• Project Supervisor will be allocated

• NOTIFICATION: 21st May (Week 24)

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Project Specification

• Student and supervisor work together to produce a project specification

• Basic, Intermediate and Advance Objectives

• There is flexibility BUT it MUST be within the Theme

• PERIOD: Week 24 and Week 26

• DEADLINE: 6th June (Week 26)

The Project

Types of Project

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Types of Projects

• Software Engineering– application of SE principles

• Computer Science – application of computer science

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Computer Science Projects

• To conduct a substantial piece of Computer Science research as an individual initiative

• To write and present that research in a scholarly fashion.

• To demonstrate management skills through project planning and organisation.

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Computer Science Projects

• To further analytical skills and abilities in oral and written communication.

• To draw together skills and techniques learned in other modules.

• To gain experience at presenting research coherently and effectively.

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Software Engineering Projects

• To draw together the skills and techniques learned in the final and previous years of the degree

• To demonstrate the application of a well executed software engineering development process.

• To further analytical skills and abilities in oral and written communication

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Software Engineering Projects

• Conduct a substantial piece of software engineering research as an individual initiative

• To write it and present it orally in a scholarly fashion

• To demonstrate management skills through planning, commitment and individuals focus to the project work

• Gain experience at presenting materials in an understandable way for those without a detailed knowledge of the specific technical area under study.

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Project ElementsCommon

• Week 10 Benchtest– check progress – design choice rationale

• Skills– Writing (report)– Presentation (to group in January)– Management (supervisor)– Viva Examination (demonstration of work)

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Assessment

Project Element Mark

Benchtest 5

Writing 5

Presentation 5

Management 5

Oral 5

TOTAL 25

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Project Elements

• Preparation and Literature Survey

• Analysis and Design

• Implementation

• Evaluation

The Project

General Information

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Timing

• Approx 14-16 hours per week– Be sure to do enough work - catching up is

hard– But do not be tempted to do too much– There are 4 other modules to pass (and you

need time off!)

• Good planning is essential -- and it is assessed!

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Planning

• Good planning is essential -- and it is assessed!

• In particular: keep the writing side in pace with other work

• Note that your supervisor plays a big role in marking, so it will be hard to get away with certain things

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What is the Supervisor for?

• Weekly meetings - your responsibility to arrange

• You can expect:– Help with organisation and planning– Help/advice on project topic – Some technical help, or suggestions on what

to do – Reading and comments on draft chapters

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What is the Supervisor for?

• Main points of meeting are recorded on a form, for reference and guidance

• Golden rule: use your supervisor!

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When Things Go Wrong

• It is a big piece of work, and most people run into:– Loss of motivation or focus– Problems of understanding– Technical difficulties (ie programming)– Writers' block– External problems

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When Things Go Wrong

• Golden rule: keep in contact with your supervisor

• We all suffer from these, at various times

• Do not waste time in a hole, when a quick chat could solve it

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Work this Term

• Project specification

• Course on productive use of library resources

• Preliminary reading on topic area, improving your background knowledge -- based on info in the project description

• At least two meetings with your supervisor

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Theme

Theme: Software Visualisation Visual representations of software can help

in the comprehension process. This project will develop a tool to visualise an aspect of software.

Keywords: program analysis; graphics; java3d, VRML

Type of Project: Software EngineeringNumber of Students: 2

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Project Specification

TitleProject Type/DegreeDescriptionPreliminary PreparationMinimum ObjectivesIntermediate ObjectivesAdvanced ObjectivesReferences

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Project Specification

Visualisation of Spreadsheets

Project Type/Degree

Software Engineering

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Project Specification

Description

Spreadsheets are a powerful tool that are developed and used by non-professional software engineers. They are also very prone to errors. This project will investigate the automatic analysis of spreadsheets in order to be able to view them in a Virtual World.

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Project Specification

Preliminary Preparation

1. A thorough understanding of Excel, Java3D and VRML

2. A survey of Virtual Reality techniques

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Project Specification

Minimum Objectives

1. Simple 2D visualisation of the dependencies within a Excel spreadsheet

2. Definition of the representation of spreadsheets in a Virtual World

3. Mapping of Excel spreadsheet into a Virtual World

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Project Specification

Intermediate Objectives1. Complete definition of all dependencies

in an Excel Spreadsheet2. Complete formal mapping of

dependencies to a virtual world3. Implementation of the Virtual World using

ether Java3D or VRML (or both)4. Evaluation of the visualisation using a

series of case studies.

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Project Specification

Advanced Objectives

1. Editing functions incorporated into the Virtual World software that will enable an Excel spreadsheet to be changed in the Virtual World and exported back to Excel.

2. Addressing the issues of embedded VB in the spreadsheet

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Project Specification

References

• The work by Gregg Rothermal on analysis of spreadsheels at http://csce.unl.edu/~grother/

• Books on VRML and Java3D

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Work this Term

• Short report (six pages) on what you have found out

• DEADLINE: last day of term (20th June)

• You can expect brief feedback on this document

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Work Over the Summer

• We acknowledge the pressures...

• But always good to keep things ticking over

• For example carry on background reading, or learn relevant techniques

• This helps to make better use of the first term next year

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Work Over the Summer

• Amount depends on your ambitions

• Suggest: one or two days a month?

• Note: do not try to finish the project!

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Plagiarism and Related Issues

• Golden rule: be honest and objective about the work

• Key point for us: we just want to know what is your work, and what came from others

• Reuse and sharing of work or ideas is fine, as long as it is correctly attributed

• Forms of dishonesty in project are taken seriously

• You will be required to sign a statement with the final report

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Summary

• Final year projects are important

• Make sure you know why type of project you are doing

• Meet with your supervisor

• Attend the Project Workshops