macOS Need help with good B.Sc thesis subject

[mydzio]

Hi,

I have a bit of a problem.

I am a BSc student in Computer Engineering, and I am preparing to write my final thesis. My tutor asked me to come up with some ideals for a possible subject of my thesis. I need some help The requirements are as follows:
- has to be a development project -> simply, do something creative rather than write an essay

- I own a Mac - PB 15-inch 1.67GHz PPC
- My tutor does NOT own a Mac and has to be able to test my work on his computer so I can not stick to any Mac-only technology
- I have Virtual PC + Win 2000 but due to very poor performance I don't want to do anything more complex with it than occasional testing

- I have an academic background in Visual Studio.NET, Java, C, C++, Win GUI (WinAPI, MFC), Databases, PHP, shell, etc.
- no nothing about graphics, not specially interested in advanced electronics, assembler language, I/O devices
- I was thinking of some sort of cross-platform development (for ex.: what do you think of a project to convert source code of a program built around Windows.Forms into one using gtk#, wx.NET or Java environments?)
- I was thinking of writing something useful for the community -> when I graduate I would post my work for any further development/use on some sort of open-source licence.
- Time frame is max 5 months

Any ideas? Please share a thought. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks in advance
Peter

 

[rtharper]

Hi,

I have a bit of a problem.

I am a BSc student in Computer Engineering, and I am preparing to write my final thesis. My tutor asked me to come up with some ideals for a possible subject of my thesis. I need some help The requirements are as follows:
- has to be a development project -> simply, do something creative rather than write an essay

- I own a Mac - PB 15-inch 1.67GHz PPC
- My tutor does NOT own a Mac and has to be able to test my work on his computer so I can not stick to any Mac-only technology
- I have Virtual PC + Win 2000 but due to very poor performance I don't want to do anything more complex with it than occasional testing

- I have an academic background in Visual Studio.NET, Java, C, C++, Win GUI (WinAPI, MFC), Databases, PHP, shell, etc.
- no nothing about graphics, not specially interested in advanced electronics, assembler language, I/O devices
- I was thinking of some sort of cross-platform development (for ex.: what do you think of a project to convert source code of a program built around Windows.Forms into one using gtk#, wx.NET or Java environments?)
- I was thinking of writing something useful for the community -> when I graduate I would post my work for any further development/use on some sort of open-source licence.
- Time frame is max 5 months

Any ideas? Please share a thought. Any help would be appreciated
Thanks in advance
Peter

Code porting doesn't seem very thesis-esque to me. While there are challenges to porting source code, as an academic exercise it's not very intellectually challenging.

There's lots you can do in C, C++, Perl, Python, etc. that can be compiled on any platform. Beyond that, give us a little more focus. What sort of application would you like to develop? Do you want something that is client server? Something that is usual to the average user?

Don't be concerned with what platform and language you develop on until you have a goal in mind.

 

[mydzio]

About BSc

What sort of application would you like to develop? Do you want something that is client server? Something that is usual to the average user?

In fact that's the main problem - I can not think of anything specific. I am quite open to anything really, unless it is too complicated or - as most of my ideas i could think of - too stupid .

Client-server app would be an obvious choice, however it would be really nice to do something more creative (what does not necessarily mean more complicated)

On the other hand I am not completely sure if the definition of a BSc. thesis project is the same in USA as it is here in Poland -where I study. So, just to make sure that we know what we are talking about I can give you some samples of BSc thesis subjects:
- Database + Win GUI for a garage management (.NET)
- Application (Oracle Database + GUI in Java) for airport flight planning
- Java based control of some I/O devices in an "intelligent home"
or more sophisticated ones like:
- building a small robot moving, omitting barriers
- building an "arm robot" with pressure/stress sensors
as well as some lousy:
- just an essay on Bluetooth
- just an essay on UMTS

But in general it is a project which consists of writing an actual program (with the necessary functionality, mostly nothing fancy) + some paper work with conclusions etc. - approx. 40 pages in print).

Thanks for reply
Peter

 

[rtharper]

In fact that's the main problem - I can not think of anything specific. I am quite open to anything really, unless it is too complicated or - as most of my ideas i could think of - too stupid .

Client-server app would be an obvious choice, however it would be really nice to do something more creative (what does not necessarily mean more complicated)

On the other hand I am not completely sure if the definition of a BSc. thesis project is the same in USA as it is here in Poland -where I study. So, just to make sure that we know what we are talking about I can give you some samples of BSc thesis subjects:
- Database + Win GUI for a garage management (.NET)
- Application (Oracle Database + GUI in Java) for airport flight planning
- Java based control of some I/O devices in an "intelligent home"
or more sophisticated ones like:
- building a small robot moving, omitting barriers
- building an "arm robot" with pressure/stress sensors
as well as some lousy:
- just an essay on Bluetooth
- just an essay on UMTS

But in general it is a project which consists of writing an actual program (with the necessary functionality, mostly nothing fancy) + some paper work with conclusions etc. - approx. 40 pages in print).

Thanks for reply
Peter

That sounds about the scope I was thinking. Most BSc degrees in the US do not require a thesis at all, but some do. It sounds like you're more interested in application development than, say, robot controls or some academic research. That's fine, there's plenty you can do.

Some projects I've seen done/suggested in the past:

-Secure voting clients.
-OpenGL-based 3D games.
-Chess game with an AI computer opponent.
-Any number of Web 2.0 applications

Some other less application development type projects:
-Wardriving around an area with a GPS unit and providing a map of all Wireless networks, and their network keys (broken with AirSnort...this was an actual assignment for a grad class...)
-Modelling traffic light patterns using intelligent agents
-Can't think of any more right now

Hopefully this at least gets your gears turning..