HCC bookstore on-line

Students not attending the mandatory orientation meeting by the end of the first week of the term will be withdrawn from the course as a No Show, unless prior arrangements are made with the instructor.

1. Demonstrate proficiency in performing data file activities.
2. Demonstrate proficiency in performing analysis activities.
3. Demonstrate proficiency in performing coding activities.”

Students may need USB flash drives to save projects or submit them from HCC.

In order to use computers on campus, you will need your HCC student ID and password.  These can be obtained from HawkNet.  You can use HawkNet (WebAdvisor) or FACTS.org to obtain your final grade for the course.  You can use CampusCrusier for email, college calendars, and course (and college related) resources.

HCC DM Open Lab
Computers are located in the computer science department open lab in DTEC–462.  Lab hours are:

Grading scale:  A=90-100,   B=80-89,   C=70-79,   D=64-69,   F=0-63

• During the orientation meeting(s) with the student, a project, a development language, and a schedule of deliverables will be developed.  This may take several meetings.  In general, the student can pick the development language and tools most familiar to them, and suggest their own project.
• Students can go to the open computer lab anytime they are open to work or to submit assignments.  Be sure you should leave yourself sufficient time to complete your work.  (So don't show up at 9:50 PM when the lab closes at 10:00 PM!)
• Attendance is required for the orientation meeting(s), except with the permission of the instructor.
• You must communicate with your instructor at least twice a month to verify your continued enrollment in this class.  Students receiving federal financial aid may have to return some or all funds if they fail to follow this policy!
• You must follow the academic honesty policy for HCC.  Any cheating offence will result in an F for the course.
• Communications Policy:  I will respond to your emails within 48 hours or two business days.  HCC policy is that grades can only be discussed in person or via email only if you use your assigned HCC HawkNet (Campus Cruiser) email account.
• If you are having difficulty with some aspect of your project please feel free to ask me about it (well before the due date).  You can send emails of questions and/or your work-in-progress, to receive feedback and suggestions.
• All discussions and agreements reached between a student and their instruction must be documented in emails.  It is up to the student to ensure this happens.
• No appointment is necessary to see me during my scheduled, on-campus office hours.  You can just walk-in.  You can make appointments for other times as long as I'm available. 
• Occasionally my office hours will be canceled on short (or no) notice, for example if the dean calls me for a meeting.  Before driving out to campus just for my office hours, you can contact me the night before to make sure I still plan to be there.
• Late Policies:  Late assignments (projects or exams) generally will not be accepted.  An assignment is late if not turned in by the due date and time agreed to with the student's project schedule.  Don't wait until the last minute to submit an assignment or project; if a problem arises you may miss the due date.

  Late assignments will be accepted late only if you obtain the instructor's permission prior to the due date of the assignment, or for a documented serious medical reason.  All late assignments are subject to a late penalty of at least one letter grade (10%) regardless of the reason for the delay.

  Work later than one week will receive a more severe late penalty; very late assignments without adequate excuses will receive a grade of F (0).  However if you have a very good reason your instructor may waive any or all of the late penalty.  (Examples of good reasons include extended illness that prevents working, being out of town for work, or military service.  Remember documentation will be required.)

• The flu pandemic requires some changes to normal policies.  HCC is implementing the recommendations for institutions of higher learning of the CDC.  (See www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/ and www.flu.gov/ for guidance from the CDC.)  You won't need documentation if you miss class due to the flu.  (But if you think you have the flu, you should see a doctor as soon as you can.)  In the unlikely event of a school closure, some plan to make up the missed work will be made.

  If you think you have the flu, stay home.  Do not come to HCC until 48 hours after your fever has broken.  People are infectious to others for a day or so before they have any symptoms.  Flu is spread by touching doorknobs, computer keyboards, railings on stairs, etc., that were touched by someone with the flu.  Avoid shaking hands; use the fist shake (touching of fists) if you must use a physical greeting.  The most effective way to prevent catching the flu is to wash your hands frequently, especially after touching something that was touched by others.  Avoid unnecessary touching of eyes, nose and mouth.  While not as good as properly washing hands, hand sanitizers have been installed throughout the campus; use them often.

Each project is different but all will include detailed requirements, a clear design, unit test framework, and a quality implementation that includes security and safety (as needed, for example to protect personally identifiable information), robust features, and quality comments.

The student is expected to pick their own project, which must be approved by the faculty advisor.  If a student selects a topic that requires a substantial technology-related learning curve, (such as learning a new language or operating system, etc.), then that portion of the effort is over and above the effort expected for the capstone project itself.  The project can take many forms, depending on your interests.  It must be educational, have a research component, and relate to your major.  It should also have a clear focus and well-defined success criteria.  You should analyze a problem, research known solutions and products that address the problem, develop a design and a plan, choose some interesting or challenging portion of the problem to implement and test.  Examples include:

• The communication layer of a multi-player network game
• Parsing National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA) electronic payment files
• A GUI for database creating and maintenance
• Implementing a standard game such as Minesweeper
• A defect tracking system
• On-line testing system for multiple choice tests
• There may be some problem in your work environment that needs attention, is related to your major, and is of particular interest to you.  Many students choose such projects.  One example is a process for remote collaboration in a geographically dispersed development team.  The project involved interviewing participants, evaluating and choosing tools, installing the tools and developing a process around them, and finally using the new process on an ongoing project.
• There are many existing open-source projects that need developers.  You could contribute to some Mozilla project (e.g., Firefox), Apache project, Linux project, etc.

The basic outline of the capstone process is something like this:

1. Each project will start with a realistic proposal.  You will need to negotiate the scope and goals of your project with your faculty advisor.  There is no set meeting time for this course, you will need to arrange times to meet with your faculty advisor.
2. Once done and approved, you will submit a detailed and complete written copy of the proposal requirements, deliverables, and a project timeline.  The detailed requirements should be in the form of use cases, database or XML schemas, narrative, or any combination of these, as long as the results are complete and fully detailed.
3. Next is your design.  This should include an explanation of the research you did into existing products and alternative designs.  The high-level design should include class diagrams (if your project is object-oriented and has classes), protocols, file formats, database schemas, and any other pertinent design documentation.  Since many project involve privacy concerns or regulated mandated security, do not forget these aspects in your design.  (A good design will also list potential changes, things that may change in the future.  A good design should allow such changes to be made relatively easily.)
4. Next you translate your design into a skeleton program, which typically means a set of classes with stub public methods (methods with a correct signature/prototype, return statement, but no implementation at all).  The skeleton should include comments based on the design.
5. Then build a unit test suite, based on the design and requirements.  For Java, use JUnit.  For C#, use CSUnit.  For other languages, find an appropriate testing framework (which you should have your faculty advisor approve).  Remember the purpose of the unit tests is to ensure the implementation properly fulfills the design.  You need enough test cases for this.  Note if your project is not a complete application, you will need to build some application to exercise your project.
6. After that comes the implementation and testing.  During this phase, you may decide you need to revise your design.  You are required to keep your faculty advisor informed as to your progress and any design changes.
7. The final phase is the presentation of your completed project.