Computer Science 338 - Term Project
proposal due: 9:55 AM, Thursday, November 2, 2000
presentations begin Tuesday, December 5, 2000
paper/writeup due: 9:55 AM, Thursday, December 7, 2000

You are to choose your own topic for the term project. Choose a topic related to parallel computing which we have not covered in detail in class and research it. Your project should include programming, but the amount of programming may vary from topic to topic. Everyone is required to produce a formal research paper, and to present a brief summary of your paper to the class.

You may work individually or in a group of two for this assignment.

• The proposal. Please start thinking about a topic right away and come to me with your ideas. By November 2, you should submit a proposal, no more than one page in length, which describes your topic, indicates what you are planning to look into, and describes your plans for code development. The proposal should be submitted electronically as plain text or as a postscript file.

• The paper. This is to be a formal research paper, and should be organized as such. You should begin with a title, author list, and abstract. The main body of the paper should be organized into sections including (i) an introduction in which you describe the general topic and the particular aspects you will be examining, (ii) one or more sections comprising your main text, (iii) a conclusion, which should include ideas for future investigation into your topic which were beyond the scope of your paper, and (iv) a complete list of citations. I can provide examples of papers which fit the expected format.

  Proper English and a good technical writing style are important. Writing well is very difficult - it is an iterative process and cannot be done all at once. Be precise and be concise. Group members should proofread and make suggestions about each other's writing. If you would like, I can take a look at a draft when you have one available. The paper should be approximately 10 single-sided pages, using 1.5 spacing, one inch margins, and a 12-point Times Roman font (or as close as you can come). Please do not adjust margins and font sizes to force a certain length. Length is not the important thing here - content and quality are. Papers as short as 6 pages or as long as 20 pages will be acceptable if the length is appropriate for the content.

  Your paper should be submitted electronically as a postscript file by December 7.

• The project. Your project must involve programming, and you should submit your source code and instructions on how to build it. The software should be described in the paper. For programs which run on systems other than the CSLab Unix systems, you will need to make arrangements to demonstrate the program. Source code should be submitted by December 7, and demos should be scheduled by then as well.

• The presentation. Each group will be alloted 20 or 30 minutes on December 5 or 7. In late November, we will pick time slots for everyone's presentations. You are encouraged to include a demonstration of any software you have developed.

• Grading. This project comprises 25% of your final grade. The grade will be based on all aspects of the project, including both the content and writing style of the paper, and quality of the presentation.

• Choosing a topic. Here are some general areas you might want to consider when choosing your topic:

  • Applications of pthreads or MPI
  • Applications of semaphores or other synchronization techniques
  • Applications of parallel programming languages
  • Performance analysis for parallel programs
  • Performance optimization for parallel programs
  • Partitioning and load balancing techniques

  This list is by no means complete. I hope everyone can find a topic they find interesting and appropriate.