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“Hi everyone, my name is Ben Repp, and this is my final project presentation for CSC489 at Wilmington University. The app I created is called BoomStar, and today I’ll walk you through the development process, key features, challenges, and lessons learned.” Slide 2 Welcome Agenda “Here’s a quick overview of what I’ll be covering • Why I chose this project • How it’s structured • The tools and languages I used • A demo of how it works • Challenges I faced • Lessons I learned • And finally, what’s next for BoomStar Slide 3 Why BoomStar “I created BoomStar to help students manage their weekly academic workload more effectively. As someone who juggles assignments, deadlines, and personal goals, I wanted a tool that’s fast, intuitive, and mobilefirst. BoomStar is designed to reduce stress and improve planning. It’s built for clarity and speed, and it reflects real academic needs. The tagline sums it up ‘Plan smarter. Stress less. Succeed together.’” Slide 4 Project Structure “BoomStar is built around three main screens • The Home Screen shows your weekly time summary—how many hours you’ve set aside and how much remains. • The Task Input Screen lets you add tasks with urgency and time estimates. • The Calendar View displays those tasks with emoji indicators to show urgency. Behind the scenes, the app uses simple time logic to calculate how much time you have left each week. The structure is modular, so I can update components independently.” Slide 5 Tech Stack Tools “I built BoomStar using React Native with Expo CLI. JavaScript powers the logic and UI. I explored Firebase for backend integration but chose to keep the app local to avoid subscription barriers and focus on stability. Expo Go was essential for testing on mobile devices, and I created custom components like the time picker and calendar view to match the app’s style and functionality.” Slide 6 UIUX Design Choices “The design is clean and minimalist to help students focus. Tasks are colorcoded for quick visual parsing, and navigation flows naturally from Home to Task Input to Calendar. I tested responsiveness across devices and refined the layout based on feedback. Every component was built with usability in mind.” Slide 7 Challenges Solutions “BoomStar’s development came with real challenges. During a refactor, I lost functionality on the Home and Task Input screens. I rebuilt them manually, which taught me the importance of version control and preserving working features. Firebase integration was another hurdle—I paused it to focus on local stability. UIUX inconsistencies were resolved through iterative testing, and layout issues across devices were fixed with responsive styling and Expo Go testing.” Slide 8 Demo – How BoomStar Works Now I’d like to walk you through a live demo of BoomStar in action. This will show how students can use the app to manage their weekly study time with clarity and ease. When you first open BoomStar, the Home Screen prompts you to set your weekly study hours. This becomes the foundation of your time budget. Let’s say you plan to study for 20 hours this week. You enter that number, and BoomStar immediately begins tracking how much time you’ve used and how much remains. This helps students stay intentional and realistic about their weekly goals. Back on the Home Screen, we see that 20 hours are set and still available since no tasks have been added yet. Now let’s move to the Task Input Screen. This is where you add individual tasks—like a math test assignment. We’ll input that it’s due on the 25th at 12 PM and will take 2 hours to complete. After submitting, the Home Screen updates to show 18 hours remaining. Under Weekly Tasks, the due date appears in yellow—indicating that we only have two days left to complete it. Let’s add another task, this time called “Write Essay.” It’s due on the 29th at 3 PM and estimated to take 6.5 hours. The Home Screen now shows just 11.5 hours left for the week. These realtime updates help students stay aware of their workload and avoid overcommitting. Looking at the calendar, you’ll notice a book emoji on each day that has a scheduled task. This visual cue helps you quickly identify your workload. The calendar also shows how many hours you’ve used and how much remains, helping you pace yourself throughout the week. When you mark a task as complete, a strikethrough appears on the task name, and a party emoji pops up at the top of the screen to celebrate your progress. The layout is clean and colorcoded, so you can scan your progress without feeling overwhelmed. Each task includes an urgency emoji—high, medium, or low—making it easy to prioritize at a glance. You can tap on any task to view its details or make edits. The calendar is responsive and scrollable, so it works smoothly on mobile devices. BoomStar’s navigation is designed for speed and simplicity. You can move between the Home, Task Input, and Calendar screens with just a tap. Transitions are smooth, and the layout adapts to different screen sizes thanks to Expo Go testing and responsive styling. Whether you’re on a phone or tablet, BoomStar stays intuitive and consistent. That’s the core workflow of BoomStar—from setting your weekly hours to tracking tasks and staying on top of your schedule. It’s built to be fast, clear, and studentfriendly, and every feature reflects real academic needs I’ve experienced firsthand.” Slide 9 Key JavaScript Code “One of the core functions in BoomStar is the handle add task. It validates the user’s input, checks that minutes are between 0 and 59, and creates a new task object with urgency and time. Here’s a snippet from the Task Input Screen Java file. This JavaScript snippet is part of BoomStar’s task input validation logic. It ensures that when a user enters estimated hours and minutes for a task, those values are properly formatted and within realistic bounds. The parse int function converts the input strings into integers, and the fallback or zero guarantees that empty or invalid inputs default to zero instead of causing errors. The conditional if mins 59 checks whether the minutes exceed 59—since 60 minutes equals one hour, allowing higher values would break the app’s time tracking logic. If the input is invalid, the app displays an alert message and exits the function early to prevent faulty data from being processed. This helps maintain accurate weekly time calculations and ensures a smooth user experience. Slide 10 Lessons Learned “This project taught me a lot. Rebuilding lost features from memory sharpened my problemsolving. UIUX refinement helped me appreciate the value of feedback. Working solo deepened my React Native fluency, and balancing development with academic writing improved my time management. Most importantly, I gained confidence in presenting and documenting my work.” Slide 11 Final Thoughts Takeaways “To wrap up BoomStar simplifies academic time management. It’s built from scratch with resilience and clarity. It combines technical skill with usercentered design and reflects my growth as a solo developer. I’m proud of what I’ve built, and I’m excited to submit BoomStar and explore future improvements. Thank you.”