Computer Project Ideas

rancheros

Heading back to college to finish of an hon degree in Computing,
I will have to do a programming project. But im dumb founded.

Anyone got any ideas of projects they may think would be Honours material,

This can be any programming language,
All idea's appreciated.

basquille if your reading this, stop stealing my ideas

clearz

What are your interests when it comes to computers.

One that came to mind the other day was a GPS Dublin bus timetable. You could text a bus code to a number and you would get a text back with the time and distance that next bus is to you. You could also be automatically notified when the next bus is within a certain distance from you so you know when to leave your house to goto the bus stop. The bus and your phone would need to be GPS enabled. BUT REMEMBER you only need to simulate this in a computer program. You dont need to buy any hardware.

SeanW

For my project, I did a Mulitplayer basketball game. The thesis and main project was counted as one subject, and I got a 75.

I used Borland Delphi for the job, and used TCP/IP Sockets as the communications system, with the client/server model of operation. I used the Incremental model of SDLC to guide the project, establishing each functionality, piece by piece.

I don't know if this is a rule of thumb per-se but it applied in my college (Athlone IT) is that your mark depended not so much on what project you chose, or even how you implented your proposal, what gets the marks is the research you put into your work, how much analysis of your proposal and the technologies and methodologies available to implement it, while the implementation, testing and later presentation also came in to play later on.

Merrion

You can probably get some inspiration from the Microsoft Research site...

fatlog

if i was you i wouldn't kill myself trying to come up with a killer idea. in my experience thats not what is always looked for. as mentioned above, one of the main things you will be graded on is your use of methodologies etc. so employ a proper design process(SDLC/UML). This will show your ability to plan all apsects of the project before you even go near any coding.
also maybe try to incorporate a language you don't know into the project. i for example spent my course doing COBOL and C/C++ mainly(few years ago now). For my final project i coded it in Java. Not a big jump but it shows that you can adapt your skills to another language.
Learning something like openGL would get you extra credit.
ALso look at some of the areas that people tend to avoid sometimes. like threaded multi-user applications. Like the multi-player basketball game mentioned above. There would be a number of areas were you would be showing of various skills in that project.
my experience is that it doesn't have to be something that hasn't been done before.

Peter B

For my final year project I programmed the Electronic Voting System. If you are reasonable at programming (I did it in Java) and don't mind losing half your hair by trying to understand ambiguities in the Irish Electoral Act this may be the project for you. It also means you don't have to do that much backround research as there is a lot of programming!

rancheros

clearz wrote:

What are your interests when it comes to computers.

One that came to mind the other day was a GPS Dublin bus timetable. You could text a bus code to a number and you would get a text back with the time and distance that next bus is to you. You could also be automatically notified when the next bus is within a certain distance from you so you know when to leave your house to goto the bus stop. The bus and your phone would need to be GPS enabled. BUT REMEMBER you only need to simulate this in a computer program. You dont need to buy any hardware.

you should patent that. Thats a cracking idea

madramor

rancheros wrote:

you should patent that. Thats a cracking idea

http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=8844728

daymobrew

madramor wrote:

http://www.enn.ie/news.html?code=8844728

and http://bussched.sourceforge.net, my app (for Palm, Pocket PC and Windows). I hope to port it to Java and then J2ME (mobile phones).

I acknowledge that my app is not real-time (nor is busTXT as described in the article). The Dublin Bus Real Time Passenger Information has been under test for 4+ years. It often announced 'ghost buses' - "Bus Approaching" the display would say - but there wouldn't be any buses to be seen.

Some guy has done some real-time mapping of DART trains using the real-time info on the Irish Rail site.
While the data is possibly not accurate, the site is fun to watch.

clearz

When I said I tought of that the other day I ment 2001. I tought about it back in 2nd year of college and was gonna do my final project on it. This was b4 they brought out the useless text service they have been offering since 2002 which only texts you the SUPPOSED times that the bus leaves at. Everybody knows that you can be standing at a stop for upto an hour b4 the bus comes even though it says one leaves every 15 minns on the timetable.

A GPS version would always text you the location and time from the bus-stop you want. Your phone wouldnt even need to be GPS enabled. Just the busses. Every stop could have its own code which you text to the SMS number along with the bus code. Then you would recieve a text back with the distance and time the next bus is from the stop. Imagine watching the TV in your house and knowing the exact minute to leave ao you arrive at the bus stop just b4 the bus arrives.

Just a side note away form the computer implementation would be the question of security. Not so much in Ireland but maybe somewhere like Israel. Busbombers could have a field day with such a system in place

NutJob

Good idea and compared to the voteing machines your on to a winner.


Besides if this country doesnt want it some forward looking one will :-)

rsynnott

This has already been done in other countries, I seem to remember.

clearz

rsynnott wrote:

This has already been done in other countries, I seem to remember.

Can you post an example. I would be interested in finding out more about such a system.

rsynnott

Sorry, you'll have to Google. I saw it a few years back.

rancheros

i thought that gps on worked on something stationary

Laguna

How about making a mod for your favourite game? Like a Half Life 2 mod or something?, that's what I was going to do for my project last year but they wouldn't let me, so I ended up building an online shop (I still made the HL2 mod though!)

clearz

rancheros wrote:

i thought that gps on worked on something stationary

Ever hear off/see "in car navigation"