

Ask HN: Best MS CompSci thesis work you have seen - FraaJad

I am starting MS in Computer science in Spring 2012. While MS is considered to be preparation for a PhD, there may be some thesis work which stand out on their own in terms of original contribution.<p>Please share the work that you consider important, exciting etc.,
======
iqster
Probably BumpTop by Anand Agarawala @ UofT. It was great research (got a CHI
paper), got lots of public attention (over a million people saw the YouTube
video), and was the basis for a successful company.

That said, please don't try to aim for a brilliant M.Sc. thesis ... many grad
students have fallen into that trap. You need to just do stuff. Keep reading
papers, making prototypes and submit papers to conferences and workshops. Best
suggestion I can give ... find an existing research topic (worked on by great
PhD students and faculty), and contribute a well-defined but small part. You
will get authorship in a good publication, and learn how to do research. Do
this in the first 6-months to 1-year. This will actually help you when you
write your own thesis (which can certainly be independent.)

P.S. I assume you are in Canada, eh?

~~~
ColinWright
Now that HN doesn't show upvotes, I'm largely compelled to add a comment
endorsing this reply.

Yes, some people have written brilliant MSc theses. Yes, you might be one of
them. But don't make that your aim.

By all means try to write a really good thesis, but your deadline is much,
_much_ more important. Work hard, produce something solid, contribute to other
people's work, and that will give you a much better launching pad. It may be
that your thesis ends up being brilliant, but if you make that your target,
the overwhelming odds are that you will crash and burn.

ObHN: Most of the people who started huge companies did not have that as their
target, it happened as a consquence of hard work, a good idea, a bit of luck,
and some undefinable magic fairy dust.

