Code review Friday
1. Need a laptop at each table, with code
on the laptop and ready to display.

2. Goals. Each of you should walk away with:
-- Clear ideas on what parts of your code are
are confusing, hard to extend, in need of
improvement
-- Concrete suggestions on how to change it
to make it better






Final project
1. Your choice of topic. Teams of size 1-3.

2. Scale similar to or bigger than web app.

3. Two choices of frameworks
(a) A Java GUI application using a variety of
Swing classes, including menus, windows,
buttons/text fields/whatever as appropriate.
-- or --
(b) A web application using Javascript, HTML,
and CSS on the client side to implement the
user interface, and Ajax-style communication
with the server.

4. Focus: usability and extensible architecture
(assuming the good coding practices we have talked
about--good naming, consistent error handling,
functional cohesion, robustness in the face of
bad data, etc.)

5. Schedule:
Monday, May 21: short project description with
3-5 key user stories. Bring paper copies to class
for your table. Get feedback. Make modifications
as appropriate.

Wednesday, May 23: Mockups and class diagrams.
That is, first draft layout of the user interface,
and first draft structure of the underlying code
(with essential instance variables and method signatures).
Bring on paper, on thumb drive, or make available
via the web. Get feedback.

Friday, May 25: Submit to me as pdf in Hand-in
-- Original description and user stories
-- Modified description and user stories, with notes
on whether/how the feedback adjusted your plan
-- Mock-ups and class diagrams

(Monday, May 28: this is now the due date for your
revision of a previous project)

Monday, June 4, 5:00PM: submit all code via Hand-in
or cs-research1, as appropriate.

6. Project ideas
-- A small social network. (Create account, search
for friends, make friend connection, rudimentary wall.)
-- 



Class structure (remind me to talk about this Monday)
-- Think about data first













Usability
-- List of software that's a pleasure to use
-- List of software that's frustrating to use
-- Concise general principles that flow from those two lists


The Design of Everyday Things, Donald Norman
The Humane Interface, Jef Raskin
About Face, Alan Cooper et al.


General principles
-- Navigability: make it easy (to learn and to use)
-- Hierarchies of features can be good:
     Common operations, really easy to find
     Less common ops can be buried deeper
-- Customizability: double-edged sword
-- Learnability: easy is mostly good, but see audience
-- Feature scope: know your audience
-- Frustration is bad: poor performance, crashing, error messages



Things to think about
-- Intended audience: novices, intermediates, experts
-- Posture: dominant, accessory,...