CS 4243-4: Senior Design

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  • What is Senior Design all about?
    Think of this course as the course that "brings it all together," an opportunity for you to apply what you have learned to a substantive project. In Senior Design, you will build and demonstrate a "product". In doing so, you will not only learn how to manage your time in a large project, but also get to practice many related skills: design, planning, software engineering, presentation, and writing.

  • Who should take this course?
    The course is required for students in the B.S. program, and for those B.A. students who aren't doing their project in the second major.

  • I haven't taken some of the prerequisites. Can I take this course?
    If you haven't taken any of the Junior year CS courses (Foundations, OS, Algorithms), we'll need to know why and we'll need to make sure you are prepared, or are able to function in a team. Please stop by to discuss.

  • Am I required to program in Java?
    Not at all. There is no language requirement at all. That said, it's probably a good idea to discuss implementation choices with your mentor.

  • What's covered in the labs? Is attendance mandatory?
    Attendance is mandatory for lectures and mentor meetings. The lab/lecture terminology comes from standard GW terminology for courses; neither applies here. Instead, we'll refer to
    • Tuesdays: meetings with your mentor in Tompkins 402
    • Wednesdays: most Wednesdays, all students (both sections) will meet in the same room for a common lecture or project update. On other Wednesdays, we will split into two groups for presentation practice.

  • What constitutes an acceptable SD project?
    In a nutshell, an SD project needs to have core computer science as its "meat", something that's innovative, somethat that will challenge you and take you out of your comfort zone. See this page for more details.