COMP 208214215216 Lecture 1

1
COMP 208/214/215/216 Lecture 1

• Introduction

2
Group Software Projects

• Peter McBurney (Room 1.04)
• Course Co-ordinator
• Project Monitor, Lecturer
• Trish Lunt and Wendy England
• (Centre for Lifelong Learning)
• Lecturers on Group Working
• Birgitta Weber
• Project Monitor (Room 1.13)
• Trevor Bench-Capon
• Project Assessor
• Phil Jimmieson
• Technical Support/Advice (Room G.41)

3
Aims of the Course

• To give experience of working as part of a team
  to develop a substantial piece of software
• Both of these aspects are important
• Building a large piece of software presents
  different problems from coursework exercises
• Almost all work in the real world is done by
  teams.

4
Software Development is usually a team effort

• RedHat GNU/Linux 7.1
• 30 million source lines of code (SLOC)
• 8,000 person-years effort
• Cost (if developed conventionally) gt US 1 bn.
• Windows XP
• 40 million SLOC
• Debian GNU/Linux 3.1
• 213 million SLOC (predicted).
• Source Wikipedia Source Lines of Code
  (consulted 18.01.06)

5
This is your project
2U

• The project gives an opportunity to show
  initiative and to take control of your learning
• As a group you are responsible for
• Choosing the application area
• Finding what you need to know
• Planning the project
• Progressing the project
• Delivering the products on time
• Of course, all of this will be done within the
  guidelines laid down.

6
Project Framework

• The framework comprises
• The software required
• For 208, essentially a database application, in
  an area of your choice
• For 215/216, WAP access to a database
• For 214, a search engine for a P2P network
• Various intermediate deliverables which need to
  be available at appropriate check points
• Requirements, design, implementation
• To provide feedback on your progress
• To form the basis of assessment
• A methodology to be followed.

7
Software Required 208

• The aim of the project for COMP208 is to produce
  a database application in an area determined by
  you, which, as a minimum
• Supports users and administrators
• Is of reasonable complexity
• Contains useful information
• Supports a range of sensible queries and
  transactions.
• It is permitted (but not necessary) to provide
  web access to your database (eg, using PHP).

8
Software 215-216

• The aim of the project for COMP215-216 is to
  create a WAP (Wireless Access Protocol) interface
  to a database in an area determined by you,
  which, as a minimum
• Supports users and administrators
• Is of reasonable complexity
• Contains useful information
• Supports a range of sensible queries and
  transactions.
• You may emulate the WAP interface if you are not
  able to find a free-ware WAP simulator.

9
Software Required 214

• The aim of the project for COMP214 is to create a
  search engine able to query a Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
  network.
• Information (such as music files) in a P2P
  network is distributed and may be difficult to
  find. If there is no central catalog of which
  nodes hold which files, then some search
  algorithm is needed to locate nodes (peers) with
  the desired information.
• You will need to define the P2P network structure
  (eg, flat, cellular, hierarchical) and develop
  alternative algorithms for searching the network.

10
Resources

• Project Web Page
• www.csc.liv.ac.uk/peter/teaching/comp208.html
• Any questions please email me at
  p.j.mcburney_at_csc.liv.ac.uk
• Books
• Lectures
• The Web
• Your Project Monitor.

11
Books

• Thomas Connolly and Carolyn Begg Database
  Solutions, Addison Wesley, 2000.
• This book gives a step by step guide to
  developing a database application. This book will
  serve as a "project handbook". It is essential
  that each team in COMP208 has access to a copy of
  this book.
• Christian W. Dawson Computing Projects A
  Student's Guide, Prentice Hall, 2000.
• This book gives good advice on all aspects of how
  to set about computing projects. Every team in
  all modules should have access to a copy of this
  book.
• Of course, you can make use of other books and
  the WWW if you wish

12
Lectures

• There will be 12 lectures on this course.
• A schedule can be found at
• www.csc.liv.ac.uk/peter/teaching/comp208.html
• Lectures cover
• Introduction (1)
• Transferable skills meetings, planning, quality
  assurance, presentations, writing reports (5)
• Information about the assessments requirements,
  design, demonstration, final portfolio (3)
• Group working skills (3) One of these sessions
  will be 2 hours (14/2/06).

13
Project Monitors

• Each team is assigned a project monitor. The
  project monitor will
• Check progress on the project
• Assess the project at the various review stages
• Act as a point of contact for queries and
  problems.
• Project reviews will be undertaken by
• Dr Peter McBurney
• Dr Birgitta Weber
• Professor Trevor Bench-Capon.

14
Technical Support

• For technical problems, the first point of
  contact should be
• Mr Phil Jimmieson (Room G.41).
• Phil will advertise times at which he will be
  available for consultation.
• Normally available
• 2 - 4 pm Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

15
Project Stages

• Detailed planning is up to you. But you must
  follow the following phases
• Phase 1 Requirements (weeks 1-4)
• Phase 2 Design (weeks 5-8)
• Phase 3 Implementation and Testing (weeks 9-10)
• Phase 4 Final Report (weeks 11-12)
• Each phase will produce an assessed deliverable
  Details of what is required at each stage can be
  found in Connolly and Begg and on the Web page.
• You may aim to complete these phases more
  quickly, but each phase must produce its
  deliverable by the stipulated time.

16
Assessed Work

• Meetings
• Each team must meet formally each week. A (hard
  copy) note of each meeting must be given to the
  project monitor within 1 week. (More on meetings
  in tomorrows lecture)
• Requirements
• Review with project monitor in week 5
• Design
• Review with project monitor in week 8
• Demonstration
• Given to project monitor in week 10
• Portfolio
• Submitted at end of week 12.

More details on the web page and in later
lectures
17
Phase 1 - Requirements

• Database planning
• Choose an area for your data base
• Determine its objectives and aims
• System Definition
• Decide what will be in the database and what
  wont
• Identify categories of potential user
• Requirements Collection and Analysis
• Specify the requirements for each class of user.

18
What to Do First

• Chose your application area
• e.g. sporting information players, teams,
  matches, competitions
• e.g. music information musicians, bands, albums,
  record companies, charts
• e.g. product information models, brands,
  manufacturers, outlets
• NOT a video/music/game shop that is the case
  study in the text book
• Plan your project
• Read Connolly and Begg to find out what needs to
  be done
• Identify the tasks that will achieve these things
• Decide who will carry out the tasks.
• More on planning in Lecture 3.

19
Professional Issues

• Awareness of professional issues is considered
  important for software developers.
• The British Computer Society issue a code of
  conduct.
• You should be aware of what this says, and follow
  it as applicable. It is available by following
  the Professional Issues link from the module
  homepage.

20
Submission Deadlines

• Requirements documents Friday 17.02.06
• Design documents Friday 10.03.06
• Group Portfolio Friday 05.05.06
• Individual Submission Friday 05.05.06.
• All submissions due at 12 noon.
• Submit to
• Mrs Lowry, Room 3.12, Chadwick Building.

21
Finally...

• This course is different to your other courses in
  second year.
• You will need to take a more active role.
• If you have questions about the course, please do
  ask me. I prefer e-mail.
• I hope you will find the course interesting and
  enjoyable.