Week 5

Final Project

Like to see some of last year’s final projects?

Week 5

The climax of this course is its final project. The final project is your opportunity to take your newfound savvy with programming out for a spin and develop your very own piece of software. So long as your project draws upon the course’s lessons, the nature of your project is entirely up to you, albeit subject to the staff’s approval. You may implement your project in any language(s) as long as the staff approves. You are welcome to utilize any infrastructure, provided the staff ultimately has access to any hardware and software that your project requires. All that we ask is that you build something of interest to you, that you solve an actual problem, that you impact campus, or that you change the world. Strive to create something that outlives this course.

Inasmuch as software development is rarely a one-person effort, you are allowed an opportunity to collaborate with one or two classmates for this final project. Needless to say, it is expected that every student in any such group contribute equally to the design and implementation of that group’s project. Moreover, it is expected that the scope of a two- or three-person group’s project be, respectively, twice or thrice that of a typical one-person project. A one-person project, mind you, should entail more time and effort than is required by each of the course’s problem sets. Although no more than three students may design and implement a given project, you are welcome to solicit advice from others, so long as you respect the course’s policy on academic honesty.

Extensions on the final project will not be granted.

Ideas

Here are just some of the possibilities. Discuss any and all with the the staff! And if you’d like to solicit collaborators for an idea you have, do post in Ed!

a web-based application using JavaScript, Python, and SQL
an iOS app using Swift
an Android app using Java
a Chrome extension using JavaScript
a command-line program using C
a hardware-based application for which you program some device
a web-based application using Node.js
a game using Lua with LÖVE
…

Combining Courses

If taking some other course this semester that has a final project, you are welcome and encouraged to combine this course’s project and that course’s project into one, toward an end of applying lessons learned in CS50 to some other field, so long as the joint project satisfies this course’s and that course’s expectations. Before pursuing a joint project, though, you must disclose to both courses and receive approval from both courses.

Specifications

Extensions on the final project are not granted, except in cases of emergency.

Proposal

due by 2024-06-23T23:59:00-04:00

The proposal is your opportunity to receive approval and counsel from the staff before you proceed to design.

The staff will either approve your proposal or require modifications on your part for subsequent approval. Your proposal, even if approved, is not binding; you may alter your plan at any point, provided you obtain the staff’s approval for any modifications. Projects submitted without approval may not receive credit.

What to Do

Go to CS50’s Gradescope page.
Select Final Project: Proposal.
Answer all questions therein.

If you are collaborating with other students, it is incumbent on one member of the group to submit on behalf of everyone in the group (and everyone in the group is responsible for confirming they have a submission on file by the deadline).

Status Report

Gradescope will not allow you to upload your status report until after the Proposal deadline has passed.

due by 2024-06-25T23:59:00-04:00

Not only is the status report intended to keep the staff apprised of your progress, it is an opportunity to keep yourself on track.

What to Do

Go to CS50’s Gradescope page.
Select Final Project: Status Report.
Answer all questions therein.

Implementation

Gradescope will not allow you to upload your final implementation until after the Status Report deadline has passed.

due by 2024-06-28T23:59:00-04:00

Ultimately due are implementation and documentation of your final project. Your submission thereof must include all of the below.

Documentation for your project in the form of a Markdown file called README.md. This documentation is to be a user’s manual for your project. Though the structure of your documentation is entirely up to you, it should be incredibly clear to the staff how and where, if applicable, to compile, configure, and use your project. Your documentation should be at least several paragraphs in length. It should not be necessary for us to contact you with questions regarding your project after its submission. Hold our hand with this documentation; be sure to answer in your documentation any questions that you think we might have while testing your work.
A “design document” for your project in the form of a Markdown file called DESIGN.md that discusses, technically, how you implemented your project and why you made the design decisions you did. Your design document should be at least several paragraphs in length. Whereas your documentation is meant to be a user’s manual, consider your design document your opportunity to give the staff a technical tour of your project underneath its hood.
Any and all files required to run your software (even if intended for some infrastructure other than cs50.dev), including source code as well as, if applicable, configuration files, Makefiles, sample inputs, SQLite databases, and so forth. Needless to say, all source code should be thoroughly commented.
A short video (that’s no more than 3 minutes in length) in which you present your project to the world, as with slides, screenshots, voiceover, and/or live action, ideally with you yourself appearing in the video. Your video should somehow include your project’s title, your name and year, your dorm/house and concentration, and any other details that you’d like to convey to viewers. See CS171’s tips on how to make a “screencast” though you’re welcome to use a phone or actual camera. Upload your video to YouTube as “public” or “unlisted” and include the URL of the video in your README.md file.

For your final project (and your final project only!) it is reasonable to use AI-based software other than CS50’s own (e.g., ChatGPT, GitHub Copilot, Bing Chat, et al.), but the essence of the work must still be your own. You’ve learned enough to use such tools as helpers. Treat such tools as amplifying, not supplanting, your productivity.

How to Submit

If your project requires (for execution and testing) hardware or software other than that offered by VS Code, be sure that the the staff are aware of and have approved your project’s needs.

Step 1 of 2

We recommend you upload your project at least once, prior to 11:00 PM ET. Even if you make a subsequent upload later, at least you have a submission on file if something goes wrong with the upload at the last minute.

Download a ZIP file of your final project by running zip -r project.zip * within your project’s folder in VS Code. Find the project.zip file in the file browser and right-click to choose Download. (If you created your final project outside of VS Code, you should still create a ZIP file of the project folder.)
Go to CS50’s Gradescope page.
Select Final Project: Implementation.
Drag and drop your ZIP file to the area that says “Drag & Drop”.
Click “Upload”.

Trouble uploading to Gradescope? (e.g. due to large file count/large file size) Gradescope does have a soft file size limit when uploading (if it times out, Gradescope will reject it). We recommend your ZIP be no larger than 15MB if at all possible; you can probably help trend it in this direction by, if needed, omitting any large assets like images and any datasets that your project requires. At an absolute minimum, and only if none of the above options work, you may upload your README.md and DESIGN.md file to Gradescope, so long as your README.md includes a link to your code files publicly accessible on, e.g., Google Drive, Dropbox, GitHub (not to be edited after the deadline!), etc.

You should see a message that says “Final Project: Implementation submitted successfully!”

Step 2 of 2

Submit this form.

This last form is on the longer side, so no worries if you start it before the deadline but finish a bit after.

And that’s it; you’ve finished. This was CS50!