Java Project Requiremnts

Due : May, 1999 (No Extensions!).

Java Project Requirements

The objective of the Java project is to create an applet which will sit on your web page. The applet will consist of three distinct segements:

1. Data Input. Some method of obtaining user input for the engineering computation. Preferably, this would be graphical in nature. The data must be checked to ensure that it is acceptable data, and poor data must be rectified. This is a user interface.

2. Computation. Employing the data collected in phase 1, a computation is performed. In many cases, this code does not have to be developed by scratch. Perhaps the numerical method can be adapted from some standard library.

3. Data output. The result of the computation is displayed, preferably, in a graphical manner. This is a user interface function.

In general, you should be able to execute these steps in any order. That is, some initial data set is supplied. The data input can be modified, when modified, the computation is run and the data output display is changed.

The code must be organized along these lines. In particular, it is absolutely essential that the data object, which contains the input data, output data, and computation functions, be seperated completely from the user interface code. Most likely, you will wish to divide the work along these lines as you have two people on each team -- one person will be responsible for the data object and the numerical method, the other with the user's interface, that is, input and output.

The graphical user interface is the most likely area where code will change over time. Having a plain Java data object (no awt calls) will allow those changes to be made swiftly with a minimum of pain.

Java Project Deliverables.

1. Project Requirements/Specification Report (due April 7)

   A one page rough description of project design (hardcopy or on the web).

   • Who is on your team?

   • What areas will each team member focus on?

   • Description of the project (what will it do, what problem will it solve, what will the user interface look like).

2. Project Design Report (hardcopy)

   • Formal Requirements ( checklist ).

   • Formal Architecture ( checklist ).

   • Formal Design ( checklist ).

   A description of the design approach, including use of structured code, information hiding, object-oriented classes (i.e., classes, inheritance, etc..).

3. Project on the Web

   Each group should present their Java Project in a Project Web page. The project page should contain:

   • An explanation (user's guide) of the project.

   • A link to your Java applet.

   • Code organization page (How is your program designed? What are the classes in your program? How are they related?).

   • A link the Java source code. We expect that most projects will contain 500 - 1500 lines of user-written code. To avoid problems of cheating etc. don't add this link until the last possible moment.

4. Java Project Page

   Please e-mail me (austin@isr.umd.edu) the abstract (4 or 5 sentences) and URL for your project well before the due date, and I will add your project to the "Java project page".

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   Developed in March 1999 by Greg Walsh and Mark Austin
   Last Modified March 29, 1999
   Copyright © 1997, Mark Austin, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Maryland