Shereen Khoja

Assistant Professor of Computer Science

Email: shereen@pacificu.edu

Phone: (503) 352-2008

Office: Strain 203C


 

CS490 - Introduction to Senior Capstone I

 

Class Times:

  • T 9:25 AM - 11.25 AM
  • One-one-meetings throughout the semester

Location: Strain 101

 

The goal of this course is to help you get a good start on your project and to become a responsible, productive software programmer. The purpose of this course is to complete the design of your senior project and to begin implementing it. There are six main phases to completing your project:

  1. Requirements analysis
  2. High level design
  3. Implementation
  4. Testing
  5. Analysis of results
  6. Final report

During this semester you will complete steps 1 and 2 and start on step 3. Next semester you will complete the remaining steps.

 

Prerequisite:

 

  • CS385: Junior Seminar

 

Optional Textbooks:

 

  • The Pragmatic Programmer by Hunt and Thomas
  • Software Project Survival Guide by McConnel
  • Code Complete by McConnel
  • The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

 

Grade Distribution:

 

  • Planning documentation: 20%
  • Design and implementation: 50%
  • In-class discussions and demos: 15%
  • Written reports: 15%

 

Percent Breakdown:

 

      92-100 A   90-92 A-
88-90 B+   82-88 B   80-82 B-
78-80 C+   72-78 C   70-72 C-
68-70 D+   60-68 D      
0-60 F            

 

 

Important Dates:

 

  • September 6: Labor day holiday
  • September 13: Last day to add course. Last day to drop courses with no record
  • October 8: No classes (Arts and Sciences)
  • November 8: Last day to withdraw from courses
  • November 24 - 26: Thanksgiving break

 

Policies:

 

  1. Assignments are to be turned in by the beginning of class on the day they are due. Absolutely no late assignments will be accepted. Some of the due dates for assignments will be set by your professor, others will be determined by your schedule. In either case, you are responsible for making your deadlines. More details and policies for setting your schedule will be discussed in class.
  2. Your project completeness grade will reflect how well you implemented your project as planned. Unnecessary modifications to your project (e.g. eliminations of elements due to time) will severely penalize your grade.
  3. If you are scheduled to lead a discussion or make a presentation, you must be in class. No exceptions.
  4. The format of this class will not be a traditional lecture. I will expect you to participate and come to class prepared to talk about your project. Also, you will be expected to work independently. I will provide you with access to information, but many times you will be required to learn it on your own.
  5. The cheating policy is defined in Pacific Stuff & the Pacific Catalog as well as the Academic Policy that each of you signed. Be sure you read this policy carefully. It will be extremely serious if you cheat during any point of your senior project. Copying others' work and failing to cite others' work are serious infractions.
  6. No project may be work for which you receive any restitution, whether it be money or credit for another class.
  7. The project will become the intellectual property of Pacific University at the end of the course sequence. Therefore, the project cannot be tied to any particular company.
  8. Presentations will be peer reviewed.
  9. A weekly log of your progress is required. Make a habit of documenting everything you do in a notebook along with any ideas or questions that occur to you. This will help you write your weekly status repo rts.
  10. No exams will be given in this class.

 

Printing:

 

A pdf version of the complete syllabus is available for printing