Mozilla’s Firefox browser’s rise to prominence was due almost entirely to its open source platform. Google’s Chrome followed suit and has also grown very quickly. Normal users can integrate add-ons to change the look of browser or block ads. More-advanced users can take advantage of add-ons that break down the code of a Web page into easy-to-digest sections or even alter the layout of certain websites, such as Facebook and Google. For a project, create your own browser add-on. Try to: find the word count on a page; find all the links on a page; block all the Javascript on a page; number Google or Yahoo results; or devise an add-on to make some feature of Firefox of Chrome better for you.
When Pandora.com debuted, its most unique feature was its ability to leverage basic metadata and user recommendations to group similar artists. The more users who participated, the more thorough the program became. For instance, when a user chooses an artist, he will get a playlist of similar artists. As more users suggest similar artists, that group grows. Taking it a step further, Pandora allows users to give a thumbs up on an artist they like and thumbs down to artists they dislike, making the listening experience unique for each listener. For a senior project, try something similar, but with recipes, photographs or movies.
Unlike basic HTML that can be saved as an .html file and opened in a Web browser, most programming languages require a compiler to move a program from the programming environment to an environment where it can be used. A compiler, then, is an interpreter program. Programmers of Javascript, Perl and other languages often have their favorite compilers, because, while the basic function of compilers is the same, the graphical user interface (GUI) of the programming environment differs from compiler to compiler. This provides senior project opportunities for creating compilers that provide unique GUIs and still fulfill the functions of a compiler.
There was a time when video games were the domain of teenage boys. Those days are long gone, however. As of this writing, the group that plays the most online games is 40-something women. The types of games they play, though, differs greatly from the games designed for young boys. This means that the arena for video games is wide open. From sports games, to role-playing games, to card games, to puzzle games and more, computer programmers can create any number of games and be sure to find an audience somewhere.