CS 1130 (VB)   Project Assignment

Overview

For the course project, you are to create a program that satisfies your personal needs or interests. You may already have an idea for an application that you have always wanted or needed. You may choose to create an original program, or you can choose to emulate some software that you already use. You are encouraged to work in partnership with a classmate on the project assignment.

Some examples of problems that could be developed as projects include:

You may be interested in blending Visual Basic and MS Excel or MS Access as your project (I don't have any experience there but am willing to learn with you). Whatever project you choose, the expectations indicated below will need to be met. Feel free to discuss your project with me mostly outside of class (I try to reserve class time for activities or questions of import to most students).

There will be five graded components of the project assignment—proposal, midway check-in, near-the-end demonstration, project code, & project report. The general expectations and the components are discussed below. Combined, they will count for 30% of the course grade. The code will count for 15 of the 30 percent and the other components will each count 3-5 of the 30 project points.

Specifications

This project should highlight and demonstrate your mastery of the skills and concepts we explore in this class. While the general topic is your choice, your project is expected to meet certain requirements. Specifically, your program should accomplish/include the following:

It may be okay to not have all the above elements if your project clearly does not need to make use of them and it is complex enough to make up for the deficiency. Please check with me to verify that is the case on your project (to avoid a grading deduction).

Additionally, you are to demonstrate your understanding of programming style/documentation by using reasonable names for projects, forms, form controls, variables and subroutines and by including descriptive documentation in your code. ("WindowsApplication1", "Form1", "Button1", "TextBox1", "RadioButton1", "CheckBox1", "GroupBox1", etc. should not appear in your project.

I encourage you to start thinking immediately about what your project might involve. Feel free to discuss possibilities with me as part of the exploration process.

Project Proposal and Meeting

I expect to have a discussion with each person/pair and come to an understanding of what the project is expected to do. That process starts with a project proposal prepared by the students. It should briefly describe the project indicating its general and specific purpose. Sketches of all the forms anticipated to be included should be supplied. File data external to the program needs to be identified. Finally, an overview of the interaction between users and the program should be supplied—it should address all the major actions of users. The more detailed the plans, the better. When planning be sure to consider what the computer will do in response to each user action. The proposal should be in electronic form. Drawings can be scanned to produce electronic copy (see me if you have difficulty accomplishing this). See my sample proposal for Pepe's Pizza project as a example of what you might shoot for.

Once you have decided what you wish to do as a project, produce your proposal and then arrange a meeting about the proposal (use e-mail or an in-office visit to allow me to place the appointment on my calendar). Once the meeting is arranged you should send your proposal to me so I can prepare for the meeting. The meetings will last about 30 minutes. I need to receive the proposal 24 hours prior the the meeting.

To submit the proposal, send me a message with the following characteristics:

The project proposal and meeting will count for about 5% of the course grade. The score/grade will be based on the completeness of the message and form representations noted above and the thought/planning demonstrated (by both partners) during the meeting with the instructor.

The meeting should be completed prior to the end of the tenth week of class. A deadline for will be posted on the course website. A relatively heavy penalty for being late is likely. Students should leave with a clear idea of what they intend to do for the project and some idea of how to go about it.

Project Check-in

You are encouraged to discuss your project with me during all phases of work on it. Do not wait until the check-in meeting to ask questions!

When you have code that involves at least three of the main project elements—selection (If statements), interacting forms, iteration, collection/array, files— you may schedule a project check-in meeting. I want to meet with each pair/individual to see how the work is proceeding and to help identify potential problems and plan to avoid or overcome them.

You should use e-mail to set up the appointment. That message should:

Each person/partner should be prepared to discuss the project and explain the working of the code you have completed.

The check-in meeting will count for about 3% of the course grade. The grade will be based on the completeness & accuracy of the message noted above and the understanding demonstrated (by both partners) during the meeting with the instructor. Not understanding the code will likely be treated as evidence of not having produced the code and could lower the final project score.

The meeting should be completed by about the thirteenth week of class. A deadline for it will be posted on the course website. A relatively light penalty for being late may be assessed.

Project Demonstration

The project demonstration is to occur during the last week or two of class or during finals week. Please use e-mail to set up the appointment. That message should:

Be prepared to discuss your project and explain the working of the code you have completed.

The demonstration meeting will count for about 3% of the course grade. The grade will be based on the completeness of the message noted above and the understanding demonstrated (by both partners) during the meeting with the instructor. Not understanding the code will likely be treated as evidence of not having produced the code and could lower the final project score.

The meeting should be completed during the last two weeks of class (before finals week). A relatively heavy penalty for being late will be assessed. This meeting can be held even if the project is not quite done.

Project Submission

The project will be a VB project folder. In addition to all the code, images, files, etc. necessary for the program to run, it should include a user guide. The guide is to be included as a ReadMe.txt file this is placed in the same folder as the solution file used to run the program.

The project code will count for about 15% of the course grade. A project that meets all the elements in the specifications, fulfills the proposed activity, runs correctly, appears to be the work of the student(s) submitting it will, and can be readily run from the information in the ReadMe file will receive at least some sort of C grade (i.e., 8.5&endash;11.5 points). Better scores/grades will be based on:

Note. Programs should not require substantial data entry on the part of the instructor to effectively display intended capabilities. For example, entering all the stats for 10 or 20 or 50 players in a fantasy football app or the prices of items for sale in a pizza ordering app. If your program requires such data entry see the instructor for assistance in automating that process so he doesn't have to make up and enter data to test the program.

To submit the final version of the project, you will need to:

The due date for program submission is the last day of finals week (Friday). A late penalty will like be assessed with its weight depending on how late. Programs submitted after the Monday following finals week will not be checked (will receive a score of 0). It is better to submit a working program late, but ... (not too late) than to submit a non-working project—something is better than nothing.

Project Report/Reflection

Each student is to prepare a project report that describes and assesses the project and provides an opportunity for to reflect on the project, their learning, etc. The report should be typed (or copied and pasted, not included as an attachment) in an e-mail message and, minimally, should contain/address:

To submit the project reflection, send me a message with the following characteristics:

The project report will count for about 4% of the course grade. Elements of assessment/grading are a) clarity & completeness of the requested information, b) perceived quality of reflection, and c) quality of the writing (grammar, etc.).