Assignments for COMP492
**[Start of content added 4/20/2023]**
New optional fun twist to senior seminar project
One important goal of working on software or research projects is to build something fun and enjoy doing it. With that in mind, you are invited to spend the last few weeks of the semester on any creative project whatsoever that is relevant to your chosen open source or research project. This is called the fun twist for your project. The fun twist is optional. You are also welcome to continue on standard contributions such as pull requests for Issues on your project’s Issue Tracker. Choosing to work on a fun twist will not change your grade. You are still expected to devote the same amount of effort to your project, whether continuing to work on Issues, or spending time on a creative fun twist.
What could my fun twist be?
You can work on this as an individual, in a small sub-team, or as an entire team. You could build a small webpage or demo that is based on your project, or maybe some new content related to your project. It could be a crazy new feature that wasn’t requested by the maintainers. You could create something artistic that will look good in your final presentation. Feel free to pitch any and all ideas to the instructor. Please continue to log your efforts in the Slack live log.
**[End of content added 4/20/2023]**Overview of the senior seminar project
The most significant component of COMP492 is the continuation of the senior seminar project started in COMP491. As is usual for COMP491/492, some students work in teams on contributions to a large-scale pre-existing open-source project; others work individually on a research project.
The goals for the project are the same as for COMP491:
- For open-source projects, the goal is to make meaningful contributions to the upstream project, which can include: documentation improvements, bug gardening, bug fixes, commenting on issues, resolutions of issues, and any other contributions. It is highly desirable to have contributions accepted by the upstream project maintainers, but it is also possible for a senior seminar project to succeed in many other ways.
- For research projects, the goal is to produce empirical and/or theoretical results that address the research question.
In all cases, grading of assignments related to the senior seminar project will take into account demonstrated effort as well as concrete achievements. This principle applies to 5-15 reports, the checkpoint presentation, the poster presentation and the final presentation. The best way to demonstrate effort is to maintain a detailed and regular Slack live-log, as described next.
Slack live-logs
A Slack live-log is a Slack channel that will be used to assess effort invested in the senior seminar project. You may also use the same channel for communication among your team members, but its primary purpose is as a detailed diary to show the instructor when you have been working on which tasks. It is recommended that you log some kind of message every 30 minutes while working. Typically, you would describe in 1-2 sentences what you achieved in the last 30 minutes and what you are planning to do in the next 30 minutes.