Project 2 in Computer Science: Design of an Interactive Website

Teacher(s)

Barbette Tom;

Language

French

Prerequisites

These projects assume the parallel acquisition of basic notions in programming as targeted by the course LSINC1101.

Main themes

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
S1.I2 , S2.1, S2.2, S2.4 , S4.1, S4.2, S4.3 , S5.2, S5.3, S5.4, S5.5, S5.6	With regard to the AA reference system of the "Bachelor in Computer Science" program, this course contributes to the development, acquisition and evaluation of the following learning outcomes:     S1.I2     S2.1, S2.2, S2.4     S4.1, S4.2, S4.3     S5.2, S5.3, S5.4, S5.5, S5.6 Students who successfully complete this course will be able to: analyze a concrete situational problem requiring the development of an interactive website and perceive the role that it will have to play; design the website corresponding to the identified needs and justify the design choices; implement the website wisely using the Python language and a database; document the web application and implement unit tests to validate its proper functioning; use a programming environment comprising integrated programming tools such as an editor, compiler, debugger, and tools for handling files, tests, documentation. Students will have developed methodological and operational skills. In particular, they will have developed their ability to: contribute to group functioning within the framework of cooperative active learning devices of the project type, explain the issues (advantages, disadvantages) of group work and give some operational leads to promote effective group work; lead a process of developing a computer application; understand a situational problem described via written documents, an oral presentation and extract what makes its essence and reformulate it in order to define the expected result; establish the specifications and a roadmap for a project; outline the architecture of the interactive website to give a high-level description allowing any IT specialist to quickly perceive its structure; document the application so that it can easily be adapted later by another IT specialist; design and perform tests to validate the developed application; collaborate effectively on application development; write a coherent and structured project report in order to convince of the success of the project.

Content

The course presupposes basic knowledge of the python programming language as seen in the LSINC1101 course. Students work in groups to solve more complex problems than those covered in the programming course. Each group will work on a unique project, but with several deadlines and intermediate developments.
Generally speaking, students should learn to:

• work effectively in a group
• write correct programs
• document their codes

During the different phases, the following skills will be assessed:

• write tests that validate the proper functioning of their programs
• document their programs and associated testing
• take a critical look at the work of other groups of students to help them improve (constructive peer-review)
• evaluate the performance of their programs
• find python libraries and modules that solve similar problems
• compare the features and performance of different solutions to the same problem
• document and analyze these differences in functionality and performance
• build simple SQL queries
• quantitative analysis of the energetic impact of selecting a particular web technology

Teaching methods

Project-based learning in groups of several students. Each group will be supervised by a member of the teaching team.
4 or 5 lecture sessions are organized (depending on progress) to cover the basics of web technologies, SQL, the Python Flask framework, unit testing, or Graph.js.
At the beginning of the year, practical exercises follow the lectures; these practical exercises are gradually replaced by project follow-up sessions.
Project-based learning means that students must work independently for approximately 8 hours per week to go beyond the basics covered in class in order to build their projects. It is impossible to pass the course by attending only lectures and practical sessions.
Students are encouraged to ask questions during the lectures, and of course, during the follow-up sessions.
This teaching unit addresses issues related to sustainable development and transition through a module dedicated to exploring the performance and power consumption of web servers based on the technological choice among various web technologies.

Evaluation methods

• Evaluation of individual and group participation during the year, based on the follow-up by the person from the teaching staff delegated to follow up the group (15%).
• Evaluation of the different phases of the project on the basis of written reports and documentation (70%).
• Evaluation of the final phase of the project based on the oral presentation (10%).
• Peer review assessment (5%).

Although participation counts for 15%, a student who does not actively participate in their group's work may have their other grades (such as the grade for a phase of the project) reduced based on, for example, but not limited to, code tracking via Git, group assessment, monitoring by tutors, assistants, and the professor.
Participation in all teaching activities is mandatory. Failure to submit a project will result in a grade of absence. There is no exam.
Students who fail in June will be able to redo an individual project during the summer, which will replace the 70% of the evaluation of the project phases. The project will be submitted a few days before a new oral presentation of the project, which will also replace the presentation grade for the year (10%). Other activities are not organized during the summer, so the participation grade (15%) and the peer review grade (5%) are still retained. There will also be no assistance during summer from the teaching staff. This also include tools and accesses used along the year.
Although AI is one of modern digital tools, it is essential to understand the basics of programming yourself in order to use it effectively. This course aims to teach the basics of computer science through a relatively simple project for an expert. Therefore, the use of generative AI (such as ChatGPT, Consensus, Perplexity, etc.), other than for writing assistance (i.e., rephrasing a sentence written by you, correcting it or translating it) is strictly prohibited. The teacher reserves the right to give a 0 to some or all projects that contain code generated by AI. The use of AI may also be considered a case of cheating, which will be dealt with by the year jury. The teacher also reserves the right to summon a student in case of doubt about the authenticity of the code in order to verify that he or she is capable of explaining the code he or she has submitted.

Other information

The course presupposes knowledge of Python. If the student has missed the Computer Science 1 course, it is his/her duty to participate in the remedial sessions.

Online resources

Moodle (https://moodle.uclouvain.be/course/view.php?id=9475)
Syllabus (https://sites.uclouvain.be/linfo1002/)

Faculty or entity

> SINC