Introduction to Information Systems Project

Debriefing Phase 1

Overview

General Problem analysis Database design Data extraction

Technical SQL & PostgreSQL Regular expressions Java JDBC

Main problems in phase 1

Finding correct mappings Real world Abstract schema Abstract schema Database schema

Use of suitable data types Not everything is a varchar …

Writing documentation Good documentation helps yourself understand

code you wrote 4 weeks ago … … and it helps us understand your work

What was great …

Big effort of many students Large time investment

Interactive Good questions in the forum High participation during project sessions

Some excellent work Well designed databases Great bots

Good understanding of RegExp Remember: Learning RegExp is for life :-)

No server crashes (knock on wood! :-)

… what was not so great …

Too many questions via e-mail. Use the forum instead, so everybody can profit!

Slight asynchrony between course and project (our fault, sorry!)

… and what was bad

Deadlines not respected (by 42%) 42% for phase 1 21% for report URLs

Hand-ins in wrong formats Database dumps in HTML or PDF

People don’t read the web site Wealth of information available Skimming is not enough

Minimalist reports Half a screen page for five weeks Incomplete (missing graphics and explanations)

Phase 1 in Numbers

54 students 19 groups in 6 consortia Some 200 e-mails One group had

147,460 albums with 1,874,842 songs 68 MB database >45 GB traffic in one day (EPFL average is 183 GB/day)

Average grade: 4.4

What will change

Strict deadlines 10% deduction per day (5 minutes late = 0.5

points less) Exponential deduction for repeating offenders

Valid XHTML required 0.5 points deduction if invalid Use XHTML validator at: http://validator.w3.org/

“Checklist” for hand-ins Pure courtesy, don’t expect this in real life …

Tips for the remaining phases Read No, not just skim, read Use the documentation (Postgres, J2EE)

Very useful and important for future projects Indispensable in real life

Don’t be afraid to try new things “Learning by doing” – Writing stuff from scratch instead

of extending sample code takes more time but pays off Use the forum …

… to ask questions, … to learn from other people’s problems

What could change

Your critique? Problems? Feedback?

Now’s the timeAlso by e-mail or in personConstructive feedback is always well

received, positive or negative

Have a good start for phase 2!