Dissertation Help, anyone :(

Lashout_UK · 9 Apr 2011 at 12:56

I put the majority of mine in what was my proposal (effectively the 'intro' section of mine) and then referred back to it, or expanded on it, at various points in the 'progress' section.

Sounds like mine was quite a different layout to yours, though, so take that with a pinch of salt

sandeep · 9 Apr 2011 at 12:58

Well the layout of mine, or requirements they want are:

- Project Proposal
- Poster Presentation
- Progress Report
- Project Report
- Project Viva (Programmed Application)

So I basically have to deliver all of them.

neil3k · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:03

you're screwed

Jongo · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:23

sandeep said:
Well the layout of mine, or requirements they want are:

- Project Proposal
- Poster Presentation
- Progress Report
- Project Report
- Project Viva (Programmed Application)

So I basically have to deliver all of them.

Surely you would've at least done the proposal? We have to do basically this + some other things but the proposal had to be approved by our tutor and done right at the start of the year.

sandeep · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:26

Jongo said:
Surely you would've at least done the proposal? We have to do basically this + some other things but the proposal had to be approved by our tutor and done right at the start of the year.

Well most of it is done, as I said the research part isn't done, and I believe the proposal holds the research you have done to date, so the supervisor hasn't seen the proposal yet.

Vanquish-Storm · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:39

Get off ocuk and get on with it.

Nivforever · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:43

24 days????

that's atleast another 2 weeks of playing games and doing nothing until you have to get started

Jongo · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:48

Vanquish-Storm said:
Get off ocuk and get on with it.

This is probably the best advice yet

Cookeh · 9 Apr 2011 at 13:50

moody said:
At least you know what your perfect job will be, a programmer for the next Duke Nukem game!

Brilliance.

OP, talk to your Tutors at your next opportunity and in the mean time, as often suggested, knuckle down and get to it - guidance should be on the intranet.

Robert · 9 Apr 2011 at 15:06

I'm amazed by this! I'm the king of procrastination and somehow managed a 2.1 in my dissertation. I really wish I'd have pushed myself.

SiriusB · 9 Apr 2011 at 15:14

You are doing a dissertation for what I assume is a Comp Sci or similar course and you still have no idea how to do research? Every module I did during my Comp Sci courses required research at some point!

Just break it down to what you need to know.

What is it you are going to develop?

Why are you developing it?

Who will use it?

Why is it better than the alternatives?

Which language will it be developed in?

Why that particular language?

Are there any considerations? [platform limitations or cost for example]

Those are just a few questions I could think of, but all require a certain amount of research to answer properly.

A.N.Other · 9 Apr 2011 at 15:17

reflux said:
Mitigating circumstances tbh.

What ******* mitigating circumstances? Not to put to fine a point on it, he's had the same amount of work as everyone else. Excluding something that would properly impact attendance or mindset, I'm not seeing anything other than the fact that the OP needs to pull his finger out.

On a practical note, I assume you're capable of coding what you need to do, even if you're not sure what waffle they need to go with it, so get on with that and then contact a tutor about the rest next week.

sandeep · 10 Apr 2011 at 16:19

I made a move on it, unluckily I've come down with a huge flu which is slowing my progress on the Project down!

I've created a proposal with what I think a good amount of information and also will be having two supervisor meetings this week if and when my supervisor replies to my emails.

My aim is to have all material before the project report completed, including my actual program by the end of the week. Leaving two weeks to write my Project report giving me sufficient time.

blueacid · 10 Apr 2011 at 18:24

SiriusB said:
You are doing a dissertation for what I assume is a Comp Sci or similar course and you still have no idea how to do research? Every module I did during my Comp Sci courses required research at some point!

Just break it down to what you need to know.

What is it you are going to develop?

Why are you developing it?
Who will use it?
Why is it better than the alternatives?

Which language will it be developed in?

Why that particular language?
Are there any considerations? [platform limitations or cost for example]

Those are just a few questions I could think of, but all require a certain amount of research to answer properly.

This.

Jongo · 10 Apr 2011 at 18:39

sandeep said:
I made a move on it, unluckily I've come down with a huge flu which is slowing my progress on the Project down!

I've created a proposal with what I think a good amount of information and also will be having two supervisor meetings this week if and when my supervisor replies to my emails.

My aim is to have all material before the project report completed, including my actual program by the end of the week. Leaving two weeks to write my Project report giving me sufficient time.

At least you seem to be now getting a start on it

. As long as you work extremely hard theres no reason why you couldn't achieve that.

Can i ask what program you are designing?

sandeep · 10 Apr 2011 at 18:42

Jongo said:
At least you seem to be now getting a start on it . As long as you work extremely hard theres no reason why you couldn't achieve that.

Can i ask what program you are designing?

Well I'm stuck on my progress report, as soon as that's out the way then I'll slowly be moving on.

My project idea is a Theatre booking system using Silverlight.
So a user can register, login book a theatre ticket for a specific time and seat. Then have their tickets stored in their own account area. An admin can also change information etc.
Hopefully using SQLite as the database that way I don't need no separate server to make remote connections to for a database.

blueacid · 10 Apr 2011 at 23:28

sandeep said:
Hopefully using SQLite as the database that way I don't need no separate server to make remote connections to for a database.

Consider mentioning this in your report; how much time could be saved through making it SQLite? Compare that to how much extra time might be needed to have it properly query a separate database (such that then other things could also query this database) - consider the pros and cons.

sandeep · 10 Apr 2011 at 23:30

blueacid said:
Consider mentioning this in your report; how much time could be saved through making it SQLite? Compare that to how much extra time might be needed to have it properly query a separate database (such that then other things could also query this database) - consider the pros and cons.

What do you mean, as in the time it takes to implement a database in the program and also how fast SQL queries can be executed?

Jongo · 10 Apr 2011 at 23:33

sandeep said:
What do you mean, as in the time it takes to implement a database in the program and also how fast SQL queries can be executed?

just say how its best to use sql lite and any alternatives that you considered and turned down and explain why easy couple of words there

Mul · 10 Apr 2011 at 23:47

sandeep said:
Well I'm stuck on my progress report, as soon as that's out the way then I'll slowly be moving on.

My project idea is a Theatre booking system using Silverlight.
So a user can register, login book a theatre ticket for a specific time and seat. Then have their tickets stored in their own account area. An admin can also change information etc.
Hopefully using SQLite as the database that way I don't need no separate server to make remote connections to for a database.

Remember that you will need to provide solid justification to back up your choice of Silverlight as well as SQLite. Reasons related to the convenience of implementation and your familiarity with a particular framework or programming language is rarely considered to be valid.

You will need to show that your design and implementation is sound from a software engineering perspective. How are you structuring the program's operations? How will you test functionality? How are you going to determine that the user interface is intuitive?

You'll want to focus on how such a system can be improved over real life implementations to score the higher marks. How can the system be made more resilient against erroneous bookings? i.e.- two users simultaneously trying to reserve the same seat? Reserving a seat only for the credit card payment service to fail?

With 3 weeks to play with, you are going to have to focus on researching the bare essentials and get a demonstration worthy implementation complete.

I presume (like me) you have exams as well as a dissertation deadline + viva. It might be wise to prioritise your time to make sure you score higher in aspects of the course that contribute more towards your degree.