Final Report (last homework, final exam) Instructions

IMPORTANT DATES:

December 8, 11:59 p.m.:

If you get me a final or semifinal draft by this time, I will give it a tentative grade right away. If there are any deficiencies, you will have the right to remedy them and then submit a revised version. If on the other hand your draft is already of A quality, I will treat that as your formal submission.

December 9, 11:59 p.m.:

Report is due. NO LATE SUBMISSIONS!

Project description:

You will choose a publicly available Python or R library (could be a freestanding program rather than a "library" per se), designed for use in some application domain, and then report on it.

CS does not count as an "application." For example, consider R's CRAN Task Views page. Examples of suitable areas are genetics and social sciences, while graphics and high performance computing would NOT count. Anything that is primarily mathematical counts. Games, spam filters etc. are not eligible.

IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT AS TO WHAT IS SUITABLE, ASK ME ABOUT IT BEFORE YOU START.
A good source for Python libraries is here. But there are many other places you might look for both Python and R, including SourceForge.

Your report MUST clearly explain what the goal of the package is. For instance, a statement like "This package implements non-compartmental analysis methods," understandable only to a specialist in the pharmocology field, is not acceptable.

Your report must given an overview of the code, discussing some features of Python or R that were used, including any third-party libraries.

Your report should have a minimum of 1200 words. (Missing this slightly is not a problem.)

LaTeX writeup:

You are required to use LaTeX to write up your report. I have a very quick (5-10 minutes) tutorial here. Given the importance of the deadlines, you should make sure you familiarize yourself with LaTeX as soon as possible, rather than waiting until the last minute and then finding that something doesn't work right.

Make sure you have proper references. If a paper was published somewhere, cite the publication, not the URL where you found the paper. Near the beginning of your report, state the name and URL of the package.

If you decide to include images in your report, make sure that they are in either .jpg or .pdf format.

Include an appendix in your writeup (using the LaTeX \appendix command) that gives a brief account of "who did what" in this project among the various group members. Not everybody need have done exactly equal work, but something of the nature "Transported a USB key to campus" doesn't count as a contribution.

IMPORTANT SUBMISSION DETAILS:

Your group submits just ONE copy of the report.

Make sure that all partners' names are on the report.

Package your report as you have been doing with the homework, except that you will use "PROJ" instead of the homework number in the name of your .tar file.

Then e-mail that file to ALL of the following addresses:
- matloff@cs.ucdavis.edu
- normmatloff@gmail.com
- normmatloff@yahoo.com

Grading criteria:

Adherence to instructions.

Clarity. This is very difficult, but quite achievable if you work at it. Ask a friend not in the class to read it and tell you if it makes sense.

Correct spelling and grammar.

Professional-quality presentation. It doesn't have to be fancy, but should not look sloppy.

One of the reports from ECS 158 (a programming course, thus somewhat like ECS 145), Spring 2010 is available here. This earned an A+ grade and was later a winner in the campus Prized Writing Contest.