One of our favorite things to do is to show off our creations. We hope to keep this website dynamic and post new projects here as they are completed. First, let's take a look at some projects done by students in a first programming course. At the end of the semester in CS 125, Software Basics, students usually work in teams to develop a piece of software of their choice.  Games are very popular.  But other programs may be developed also.  Below are two games that you can try.

Games can also be popular hardware design projects.  The engineering and computer science students at Loras take an introductory digital logic course that usually contains an end of the semester project.  In the spring of 2004 students built timers to help with the popular Xbox game, halo.  Another group that semester interfaced their logic design with a remote control for an RC truck.  These projects had to be dismantled before we could get pictures of them.  But, we can show you the digital logic hardware used by the students. 

Later on in the sophomore or junior year, students who major or minor in computer science will student computer architecture.  As part of that course the students build one or two computers to analyze performance by running benchmark tests.  Below are photos of inside the cases of the computers built in the fall of 2002 where we did tests to compare an Intel P4, 2.4 GHz processor against an AMD Athlon 2400.  We found very little difference between the two on our integer benchmark tests.  Since Loras is a catholic school we have nicknamed our computers with the names of Saints.  The P4 is Peter and the AMD is Aloysius. 

Intel or AMD?  Can you tell the difference?  We found very little difference in performance

NAND/NOR Drawing tool.  Right mouse click-n-drag inserts NOR, Left mouse click-n-drag inserts NAND, center mouse click-n-drag inserts line.  Click on the picture to download the program

Graphics is an important part of most software developed today.

Here are screen shots of two programs written by students in an upper level graphics course. 

3-D view of a small neighborhood.  Buildings are colored oddly to help with visualization. Click on the picture to download the program

In the senior year, computer science and engineering students work together to design and build an autonomous device.  Projects in the past few years have ranged from fire fighting robots to sumo robots to the Purple Ping Pong eater.  The fire fighting robots competed in the national competition in Connecticut. 

To take a look at the Purple Ping Pong Eater visit the Loras College Robot Site:  http://robot.loras.edu

If you have questions about any of the above projects, contact Steve Mosiman at Steve.Mosiman@loras.edu.