COMP 340: Databases, Fall 2019
Project Milestone 1
Your task for this milestone is to (a) pick a group of people to work with, and a
(b) choose a domain that you want to design a database-driven web application around.
What you need to do
- Read over the project guidelines.
- Find a group of four people. There are 24 people in class, so we should end
up with six groups of four people.
- Give your group a name.
- Pick a domain for your project: the "main idea" behind the web application your group will build.
Some ideas to get you started are listed in the project guidelines.
- Decide how your website will function from the user's perspective. In other words,
describe how a user would interact with the website: what can can do and what they
see while doing it. Don't get technical here; use language that a non-computer scientist could
understand. Be detailed; explain all the functionality that you can. You can use flowcharts or pictures
or diagrams if you want.
- Hint: The goal here is not necessarily an algorithmically-interesting project, but rather a project
that emphasizes the database aspects. Take Amazon's website as an example. There's not much about that
site that is complicated from an algorithmic perspective (with the exception of maybe the part that suggests
other products you might like based on the one you're looking at). Instead, the website is driven by tons
of data: who the customers are, what their purchase histories are, what's in their cart right now, reviews
of the item they're looking at, etc.
What to turn in
Hand in a one-page write-up describing all of the above items (group name, members,
domain, and website functionality). Do not skimp on the functionality section; try to
brainstorm as many details as you can. It's better to have too many ideas here than
too few.