CS192 Information

Instructors:
Debbie Bartlett
Office: ComSc Room 272
Office Hours:
Friday 9:00 - 11:50 [ComSc 120]
Email: bartlett@cs.colostate.edu
Elaine Regelson
Office: ComSc Room 278
Office Hours:
Friday 9:00 - 11:50 [ComSc 120]
Email: regelson@cs.colostate.edu
Lecture:
Mon & Wed 9:00 - 9:50 ComSc 215
Mon & Wed 10:00 - 10:50 ComSc 215
Mon & Wed 11:00 - 11:50 ComSc 215
Extra lab time:
Fri 9:00 - 11:50 ComSc 120

Major Project

Early in the semester you are required to submit a written statement of the project you would like to pursue, and to get a written acknowledgement from us agreeing to this project. There is a very wide selection of acceptable projects (past students have done a huge variety). Our hope is that you will find something that is interesting and fun for you to do for your project. We want you to work hard and get a great deal back from doing so!

Some examples of projects past students have done include:

  • Write a program you have always wanted to try (maybe a game, a project that works with the robots, learn graphics, learn guis, ..)
  • Do some undergraduate-level research
  • Work with Judy Brobst in the Career Center to confirm/ identify the best major for you. Note that this requires multiple meetings with Judy and homework that you pursue outside of 192 class hours. People who are uncertain of the best major for them typically come back thrilled when they complete this process. Debbie or Elaine will work with Judy to assign the grade for this project. If you select this major project, you will also be required to do additional work that Judy may suggest such as: attending a student club from the possible majors; shadowing and/or interviewing someone (s) who has/have a job in the field being explored; and doing research on several jobs in each possible target major field. One more comment about this choice: doing this assignment thoroughly requires less work than is needed to earn all of the major project points. You will therefore need to negotiate an additional small project with us. Sample past projects have included developing more advanced web pages, writing small games, doing an extra paper on a topic you and we agree upon, or doing a book report or term paper related to a major you are exploring, etc.
  • Learn a new computer language (e.g. Perl, C or C++, Python, ...) and write some programs to demonstrate that you have learned it.
  • Do extra assignments and examples from your programming class text book.

Given that the major project represents 25% of your grade, continued progress throughout the semester is important. You will provide an update twice during the semester on your current project status.

You will also be required to demonstrate your project to one of the instructors and write a final report to wrap up this project. We would like final reports to be long enough to fairly reflect what you did and learned. If you tried a number of different small things the project report will need to be longer, including what you tried, why you changed, and what you learned at each stage. Briefer reports will suffice for larger, more complex projects that you can demonstrate and for which you can show off code.

Final reports must be well-written (including clarity, appropriate compactness, and good organization/flow; and, of course, perfect spelling and grammar). At the very minimum they should describe the project or project pieces, including telling what you did, what you learned, and what you would do differently another time.