MMPAlmost there

Mid Project Demonstrations

• A chance to get a quick view of your work

• A prompt for some to get work started

• Not looking at the work in detail– That comes in a few weeks

Writing your report

General Structure

• Background and Objectives• Development Process• Design • Implementation• Testing• Evaluation• Annotated Bibliography• Appendices

Plagiarism

• A reminder of what was said earlier in the year – Ensure that you declare sources for text and

use of other code

• I really don’t want to have to investigate allegations of plagiarism, but I will…

Striking the balance

• Reports that say too little

• Reports that say too much

Speak to your supervisor

• Ask if you can show them some extracts

• Discuss with them and plan when you would show them parts of your writing

Check your writing

• Read the text out aloud

• Set the text aside and come back to it a bit later

• Ask a friend to read parts

References

References

• Serialization is the process of translating data structures or object state into a format that can be stored (for example, in a file or memory buffer, or transmitted across a network connection link) and "resurrected" later in the same or another computer environment [1].

[1] Wikipedia “Serialization” [Online] Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serialization (Accessed 21st March 2013)

• Serialization provides:– a method of persisting objects, for example writing

their properties to a file on disk, or saving them to a database. [1]

– a method of remote procedure calls, e.g., as in SOAP. [1]

– a method for distributing objects, especially in software componentry such as COM, CORBA, etc. [1]

– a method for detecting changes in time-varying data. [1]

• Serialisation is a mechanism that allows the transfer of structured data from data in memory, e.g. objects, to file storage or transmission to another location. This may use native formats or be used to transfer data to an intermediate format, e.g. SOAP, as mentioned in [1].

Sections

• Organise content into sections:– Introduction (This chapter discusses…)– Subsections (A key technique in this area is

X. This section reviews the technique…)– Sub-subsections – ?– Summary (This section has discussed…) –

useful in some places, but not necessarily all of the time.

Use the Passive Voice

• As I worked on this section, it became clear to me that I needed to return to the design. Firstly, I reviewed the use-case diagrams for completeness. I identified that …

• During work on this section, it became clear that further design was necessary. Firstly, the use-case diagrams were reviewed to check for completeness. It was identified that…

Spelling…

Spelling

• Common mistakes: – Its and It’s – Possessive (its) or It is / It has (it’s)

– Misuse of apostrophes • plurals - Macbook’s (Macbooks) • possession - Chris’s (Chris’)

Spelling

• Common mistakes: – The wrong word:

• Where - were • Their – there - they’re• Your - you’re • Whether - weather• Definitely - Defiantly

Spelling

• Common mistakes: – Using American spellings: Color/Colour,

Behavior/Behaviour

– Not checking spelling in your diagrams

Sentence != Paragraph

Demonstration

• Details after Easter

• I will want to confirm a timetable in the first week back (April 15th)

Backup your work

• Good – subversion– git

• Bearable…– Copy to your central filestore – Dropbox– …

• No, no, no, no, no…– USB Pen Drive– No backup at all

What if…?

What if…?

• My project might fail…• I am really, really, tired. • There are other issues affecting my work

• Speak to someone• Supervisor• Me (the module co-ordinator)• Someone else in the department

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