themthem Posted February 12, 2018 Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 (edited) Hi everyone, We were asked to think of an IA topic in Computer Science, so I came up with an idea but I'm not sure whether it is acceptable. I thought I could make an application that helps IB students manage their CAS portfolio. So basically, there will be a database storing proposal and reflection forms, and students can fill it up and all this data will be stored in a database. Is this topic acceptable? Thank You. Edited February 12, 2018 by themthem Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
astonky Posted February 12, 2018 Report Share Posted February 12, 2018 Are you thinking of a mobile, desktop or web-based application? All three options should be fine, provided you can find/have a suitable client e.g. CAS coordinator. Actually someone scored very well on this topic, and their IA is available on the following page, if you want some inspiration: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B16boVJjEaNBMzl2RW50VmZ2aUU I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions just ask, as I'm also taking computer science and I'm working on my IA right now (doing an Android quiz app). Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themthem Posted February 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 8 hours ago, astonky said: Are you thinking of a mobile, desktop or web-based application? All three options should be fine, provided you can find/have a suitable client e.g. CAS coordinator. Actually someone scored very well on this topic, and their IA is available on the following page, if you want some inspiration: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B16boVJjEaNBMzl2RW50VmZ2aUU I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions just ask, as I'm also taking computer scienceand I'm working on my IA right now (doing an Android quiz app). 3 Thanks for giving the useful information! I will be making a web-based application in Python using Flask. But since this topic has been done by a previous student, can I do something similar? (I didn't know that it's already been done) Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
astonky Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 Don't worry themthem, many IA topics are repeated by students all around the world, often without the students even realising how common they are. On the one hand, this is natural due to the constraints/requirements of the tasks, and secondly, the way you are going to solve your client's problem is likely to look different from the way another student solved theirs. As long as you don't copy, you should be fine. And for the example I sent you, that was made in Java on Android Studio, so that already sets your IA apart from it. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomenclature Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 (edited) 20 hours ago, themthem said: Hi everyone, We were asked to think of an IA topic in Computer Science, so I came up with an idea but I'm not sure whether it is acceptable. I thought I could make an application that helps IB students manage their CAS portfolio. So basically, there will be a database storing proposal and reflection forms, and students can fill it up and all this data will be stored in a database. Is this topic acceptable? Thank You. I just wanted to point out that you shouldn't use a database if you just need to store the information locally on that computer. It sounds like you want to save it to memory, not a database. I make the distinction because using a database is a lot of pointless time and effort that you don't need. I nearly used a database in my IA before I realized I didn't need it. I spent some time doing pointless research for it. The topic is certainly acceptable. Good luck; the project sounds fun. Edit: I see that you're making a web-based application, but I'd still try to avoid a database. I'd imagine you could save the data with cookies. Edited February 13, 2018 by Nomenclature Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themthem Posted February 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 7 minutes ago, Nomenclature said: I just wanted to point out that you shouldn't use a database if you just need to store the information locally on that computer. It sounds like you want to save it to memory, not a database. I make the distinction because using a database is a lot of pointless time and effort that you don't need. I nearly used a database in my IA before I realized I didn't need it. I spent some time doing pointless research for it. The topic is certainly acceptable. Good luck; the project sounds fun. Edit: I see that you're making a web-based application, but I'd still try to avoid a database. I'd imagine you could save the data with cookies. Thank you for your reply! But I will be making a web-based application so it will store data for a number of students, so I will be using a database. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nomenclature Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 (edited) 13 minutes ago, themthem said: Thank you for your reply! But I will be making a web-based application so it will store data for a number of students, so I will be using a database. Do you need to change that data dynamically from a server? Again, if you are just storing data, a server is not necessary. Edit: A database does make a lot more sense for a web application. But I think the option to just use cookies is also viable and something to consider if you get stuck with databases like I did. You lose the ability for a legitimate username and password login, but other than that you can do everything with cookies. The reason that cookies wouldn't be so viable in real life is that they can of course be manipulated by the user, so sensitive data is stored with databases, but cookies are a reasonable option for you if you only want each user to be able to view their own profile. Edited February 13, 2018 by Nomenclature 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
themthem Posted February 13, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 6 hours ago, astonky said: Don't worry themthem, many IA topics are repeated by students all around the world, often without the students even realising how common they are. On the one hand, this is natural due to the constraints/requirements of the tasks, and secondly, the way you are going to solve your client's problem is likely to look different from the way another student solved theirs. As long as you don't copy, you should be fine. And for the example I sent you, that was made in Java on Android Studio, so that already sets your IA apart from it. Hi, I had a few questions, and I hope I'm not disturbing you too much! I know a web-framework in Python called Flask and it has its own way of user authentication and database management with sqlite (sqlalchemy). Is it okay if I use these libraries? All database operations can be done with sqlite but sqlalchemy makes the database easier to maintain. Does the look of the website of matter? Should I make it look good or are we not marked on that? Thanks a lot!! 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
astonky Posted February 13, 2018 Report Share Posted February 13, 2018 2 hours ago, themthem said: Hi, I had a few questions, and I hope I'm not disturbing you too much! I know a web-framework in Python called Flask and it has its own way of user authentication and database management with sqlite (sqlalchemy). Is it okay if I use these libraries? All database operations can be done with sqlite but sqlalchemy makes the database easier to maintain. Does the look of the website of matter? Should I make it look good or are we not marked on that? Thanks a lot!! You can use external libraries in your IA, provided you refer them in the Development section (Criterion C) and explain why you used them (e.g. efficiency, reduced complexity of code). The look of the website might matter, as you create a video of your product for the final submission, but I'd focus on the functionality first, unless you have one of the success criteria relating to the visual polish of the website. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kage Posted February 6, 2021 Report Share Posted February 6, 2021 Hi guys, I am having a hard time finalizing on my IA and because of covid DP year-1 is basically gone and I have to finish everything before november. I came here to get some suggestions. Thank you. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CSPhysicsTeacher Posted October 5, 2021 Report Share Posted October 5, 2021 On 2/13/2018 at 5:48 AM, Nomenclature said: using a database is a lot of pointless time and effort that you don't need. I nearly used a database in my IA before I realized I didn't need it. I spent some time doing pointless research for it. Aren't expandability and complexity major components of the rubric? I read a teacher's post that using OOP and a DB gets you most of the points on criterion C, which is hard to get full points on. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaD07 Posted January 4, 2023 Report Share Posted January 4, 2023 On 2/12/2018 at 9:35 PM, astonky said: Are you thinking of a mobile, desktop or web-based application? All three options should be fine, provided you can find/have a suitable client e.g. CAS coordinator. Actually someone scored very well on this topic, and their IA is available on the following page, if you want some inspiration: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B16boVJjEaNBMzl2RW50VmZ2aUU I hope this helps, and if you have any more questions just ask, as I'm also taking computer science and I'm working on my IA right now (doing an Android quiz app). Hey can you make the link accessible , this would be really helpful for my IA !! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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