Project Description and Proposal Form

Project Guidelines

You will work as an individual or in a pair to develop a piece of software and related documentation. That project may focus on creating a plugin to a currently existing component-based system such as Eclipse or some other open source software project; or it may be an application that you build from scratch. Your project should be constructed using component technologies presented in class. If you would like to use a technology that was not presented, please see Prof. Stafford.

How to Proceed

Identify what the project is supposed to do and what you will consider to be a successful project before you begin. Your statement must describe specifically what aspect of your project involves exploring the use or creation of software components. Submit this statement in the form provided below. Project proposals are due on November 30, but if you want to get a head start and submit yours early, Prof. Stafford and Eddie will read your proposal and approve it before Nov 22 or within 2 days of submission if submitted after Nov 20. It may be that these "requirements" evolve as you proceed with the project and, if that is the case, you must negotiate the change with the instructors and then update your requirements statement including the rational for the change.
Create a plan for what the major functionality of the application is to be, what components you will build, what connection mechanisms you will use to glue them together, what technology you will use to build them, etc. Again, this should be documented and may be revised as you work your way through the project. This document will be turned in with the project.
At this point you are ready to begin creating your application -- have fun and make sure to comment your code so Eddie and Prof. Stafford can read it.
Test your system thoroughly
Create a README file to deliver with your system that tells the instructors how to run it and what behavior to expect.

Project Evaluation

You will turn in both the code and the documentation for the project electronically to provide no later than midnight, December 14. Your grade for the project will be based on the clarity of your documentation and our success in using your system, the complexity of the project relative to the number of people working on it (A linear increase is not expected because adding more people means some of the effort will go into management but, for example, a two person project should be at least one and one-half times as complex as a one-person project. The suggested time contribution of 24 hours per team member should be your guide.), and the consistency of the documentation with the implementation.

Project Proposal Form

Please only submit one proposal from per team if working with a partner.

First Name:
Last Name:
Partner Name (If working as a pair):
Contact Email:
Please provide a brief description of application you plan to build:

Describe Component-Based Programming Aspects:

If you are creating a plugin or extension to some existing system, please provide the location of the system:
Technologies you will be using to build your application (language, underlying framework, etc.):

Proposed Grading Criteria: