Student Programming Project

Purpose

The Student Programming Project was founded for these reasons:
  1. To expose students to the entire software development cycle, from conception, through design, to implementation of a piece of software
  2. To provide students with the opportunity to learn independently about areas of computer science which they are interested in
  3. To enable students to explore areas of computer science which are too vast to study independently
  4. To allow students to program in an informal environment, free from the pressures of deadlines and marks
  5. To provide students with more challenging, less trivial, and more realistic programming tasks than those assigned as part of computer science courses
  6. To foster greater collaboration and camaraderie between computer science students
  7. To encourage senior computer science students to share their knowledge and expertise with junior students
  8. (And hopefully, as the project develops and matures) To act as a high profile demonstration of the talent available at the University of Waterloo

Executive

Because this term is the very first term that the Student Programming Project has been organized, it is difficult to determine what the ideal organizational hierarchy for the project should be. As such, only one executive position exists at the moment. As the project progresses, the types of executive positions needed will hopefully become more obvious and ideal candidates for those positions will hopefully emerge.

The only executive position that exists at the moment is the self-appointed moderator Ming-Yee Iu. The duties of the moderator include

  1. Organizing and running meetings
  2. Getting as many students involved as possible
  3. Fostering a safe and positive environment
  4. Maintaining the Student Programming Project web page
  5. Performing build management and source control
  6. Ensuring that the project runs smoothly

The term moderator was carefully chosen so as not to imply any technical superiority or authority. The moderator is NOT a technical lead or team leader. Although the moderator may perform these roles (especially if it is needed to ensure that the project runs smoothly), the duties of the moderator do not include acting as team leader. Since the Student Programming Project is a collaborative effort, decisions about the project should be made by the students participating in the project; the moderator should not impose his or her own ideas on the group. Nonetheless, the moderator may take control of the direction of the project if it necessary for the smooth running of the project.

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Last updated January 28, 1998.
Maintained by Ming-Yee Iu.