CHAPTER ONE

Munir Sh Abdullah
MARCH-2016

S
Welcome and
introduction
 OBJECTIVE

S Understand the different types of academic

projects in computing and information sciences

S Understand different degree structures and

project requirements

S Understand how this book is arranged

 Overview

S Academic projects should provide evidence of a

much deeper understanding

S ‘deeper’ understanding of situations, problems,

and events is supported by your research skills
 CON

Academic projects are usually a critical component

of your degree course because of
S Assessment across a number of disciplines
simultaneously
S Allows you to develop new skills

S Work independently

S Make a contribution
 What are (computing)
projects?

S Projects can be defined as ‘something which has a

beginning and an end’ (Barnes, 1989 cited by
Turner, 1993: 4).

S The desirable situation in this case represents

some form of contribution to knowledge – perhaps
representing the development of a new tool,
technique, discovery, and so on
 cont
S Projects
S Have beginning and an end time frame
S Have purpose (beneficial change)
S Made up of a series of considered activities or
broken down into a sequence of planned activities
S Consume a number of resources

S Computing projects come in all different

.

Nature of Computer
Science …
S Computing projects need to do more than develop
a piece of software,
S You must involve an element of research
S You must justify its context and
S You must evaluate and discuss its results

Computing Projects are drawn from both the ‘hard’

sciences (natural science) and the ‘soft’ sciences
(social science).
 The Landscape of
Computing

S Theoretical part concerned areas of computer

science such as mathematics, logic, formal methods,
artificial intelligence, etc
S Practice focuses less on theory and more on the
development of software systems like software
engineering, software project management, design,
development processes, requirements capture and
so on
S The application part concerned with the applying
and use of computers and information technology
CONT
Computing Project Types

S Five categories of computing projects. These

categories are not intended to be discrete; you
may well find your own project falls into two or
even more of these classes
S Research-based
S Development
S Evaluation
S Industry-based
S Problem solving
 Effective note taking
requires:

S recognizing the main ideas

S identifying what information is relevant to your task

S having a system of note taking that works for you

S where possible, write information in your own words

S Record full bibliographic details

 Development

 Development
S The development of, not only software and hardware
systems, but also of process models, methods,
algorithms, theories, designs, requirement
specifications, and other interim documents
S Software Engineering courses may focus on the
development and evaluation of a piece of software
while Information systems courses may require to
focus more on the development of broader syst
cont
 Problem solving
S Involves developing a new technique to solve a
problem, improving the efficiency of existing
approaches or an evaluation of different approaches
or theories in different situations
S It might also involve applying an existing problem-
solving technique or theory to a new area
S In these cases, some form of evaluation would be
expected: for example, did your new approach work
well or did you discover reasons why it was
unsuitable for problems of this nature? Why does
one approach or theory work better in some
situations than in others?
 Degree structures

S Degree structures
S Educational institutions throughout the world have
many different degree structures that take students
from school/college level education through
undergraduate study to doctoral degrees
S At the ‘undergraduate’ level, some countries have a
single tier of higher education leading to the start of
doctoral studies
S Other countries have a two-tier structure in place
that leads, first, to a bachelor’s degree and then to a
master’s degree
Degree Requirements for
Projects

S Differences between the projects undertaken at

these different levels
S Have general guidelines – your own department and
university (and country) can offer specific guidance
on what is and what is not appropriate for your own
level of study
S A project undertaken as part of a taught course
(bachelor’s or master’s degree) does not need to
make great breakthroughs in science
How this book is arranged

S This book is split into five main sections

S Section 1 covers some preliminary background
S Section 2 covers the skills to set project’s foundation
S Section 3 looks at how to manage your project
S Section 4 covers completing and submitting
S Section 5 looks into the future
BOOK
S END
CHAPTER ONE

S LITRATURE REVIEW
 2.0 Introduction

S HISTORY GOLOBEL TO LOCAL

 EXAMPLE

S Since they first emerged in the mid 1990’s,

course management systems have evolved
from some what basic collections of disparate
applications into intricate, integrated enterprise
system. Online course management system

S >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 Tools used to develop
PRPJECTS :

S BACK END FRONT END

 2.1

S 2.1 THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL

DEVELOPMENTS

S >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
 CONT

S 2.2.2 USER REQUIREMENT SPECIFICATION

S 2.2.3 SYSTEM FUNCTIONS

 CONT

S 2.3 COMPARING BETWEEN PREVIOUS AND

CURRENT SYSTEMS

S - 

S 2.3.1 EXISTING SYSTEMS

S 2.3.1.2 WEAKNESSES OF PREVIOUS SYSTEM

 CONT

S 2.3.2 CURRENT SYSTEM

S TABLE OF COMPARIOTION
 Chapter Summary

S Chapter Summary

S This chapter is divided into sections:- introduction

to literature review, theoretical and conceptual
development, System features and it’s criteria,
System functions, User requirement specifications
and comparing between the previous work and
existing system.