Diploma in Creative Media Production and Technology

Unit 8 Project Proposal

Candidate Name Ty Mason

Candidate Number

Pathway Computer Science

Project Title Relay

Section 1: Before joining the course, I had years of experience in a few languages like JavaScript,
Rationale TypeScript, HTML, CSS, and Golang. I also had a few years’ experience in Web / Full stack
(approx. development and Web design, however, this course has not only taught me a new programming
100 words) language, but also how to plan a software project effectively, to design intuitive user interface, to
write formally, to realise that mistakes aren’t something to look down on, but to look up with a
new perspective and learn from them. I’ve also learned how to create a video game using the
Unity engine, and learned that I don’t particularly like making them, leading me to strengthen my
skills in the Web / App development area.

Section 2: I’m going to be creating a communication platform called Relay, similar to applications like
Project Discord, WhatsApp and Visual Studio Code. The main difference between my approach and
Concept theirs is the framework. Those applications use a framework called Electron which uses
(approx. Chromium on the front-end to render the application, and NodeJS on the backend, which are
200 words) both notoriously known for being unsafe, slow and resource intensive. Instead of using that
stack, I’m going to be using an application framework called Tauri which uses the built-in
webview for the frontend, and Rust for the backend.

Tauri takes a different approach. Instead of bundling Chromium with your app, it uses the
operating system’s default webview resulting with a much smaller bundle size. For instance, a
production grade application built in Tauri app weighs 24.7MB on macOS, while the same app
built in Electron weighs 1.3GB. Additionally, Rust is notoriously known for being extremely
memory-safe and type-safe, for instance, Rust doesn't use null, so you can't have accidental null
dereference errors; Option provides a high performance alternative with clearer semantics.
Another good example is that the Rust compiler verifies the safety at compilation unlike C, which
will happily compile a program that will crash the moment you start it.

Section 3: For this project, I am going to be using Github to commit changes to a repository, and Trello to
Evaluation plan each task for each week. This will allow me to keep track of the tasks I’ve done so writing
(approx. about the things I’ve done will be easy. I am going to be updating a blog every week to
50 words) summarise and explain the things I did in that week, while also pointing out the things I changed,
what went well and what didn’t.

Proposed Research sources:

Research
Sources Oenning, G. (2023) Why I chose Tauri instead of electron, Aptabase. Available at:
and https://aptabase.com/blog/why-chose-to-build-on-tauri-instead-electron (Accessed: 07 March
Bibliograp 2024).
hy
(Harvard Tauri Apps (no date). Build smaller, faster, and more secure desktop applications with a web
Format) frontend. Available at: https://tauri.app (Accessed: 07 March 2024).

Meta Inc (no date). Build cross-platform desktop apps with JavaScript, HTML, and CSS.
Available at: https://www.electronjs.org (Accessed: 07 March 2024).
 Project Action Plan and Timetable
Week Date Week Beginning Activity / What you are
intending to do - including
independent study
Come up with three
Week 1 11th March 2024 ideas, presenting those
ideas, and planning what
technologies to use. Set
up any servers, services,
and API’s needed.
Creating a design
Week 2 18th March 2024 mockup and user survey
related to it for feedback.
Set up the Git repo and
the boilerplate for the
project.
Using the feedback
Week 3 25th March 2024 received, rework the
design and start
development on the
front-end.
Continue front-end
Week 4 1st March 2024 development, creating
various UI components
needed, and finish up on
the design.
Start work on the
Week 5 8th April 2024 backend of the
application, and get
authentication and friend
requests working.
Polish up any bugs or
Week 6 15th April 2024 issues, then move on to
implementing direct
messaging and real time
user updates.
Clean up any issues,
Week 7 22nd April 2024 bugs, etc. Work on some
stretch goals if there is
time.
Use unit testing to find
Week 8 29th April 2024 any issues or bugs, as
well as set up a study
group to additional test
the application.
Resources / What you
will need to do it -
including access to
workshops
A computer, an internet
connection, and a
notebook.
A computer, an internet
connection, a site that
allows creating surveys, a
group of candidates for
the survey.
A computer with an IDE
and the Tauri
prerequisites installed
and an internet
connection.
A computer with an IDE
and the Tauri
prerequisites installed
and an internet
connection.
A computer with an IDE
and the Tauri
prerequisites installed
and an internet
connection.
A computer with an IDE
and the Tauri
prerequisites installed
and an internet
connection.
A computer with an IDE
and the Tauri
prerequisites installed
and an internet
connection.
A computer with an IDE
and the Tauri
prerequisites installed, an
internet connection and a
group of people willing to
test Relay.
Week 9 6th May 2024 Fix any issues found in A computer with an IDE
unit testing and group and the Tauri
study. Go through one prerequisites installed
final test run. and an internet
connection.

Deploy the application, A computer with an

Week 10 13th May 2024 finish up on any blog internet connection.
posts, and references
needed. Finally, send
everything off.