Inspiration
I was inspired by my own difficulty to make a budget and stick to it.
What it does
The application helps you estimate your budget. You answer a couple of basic questions about your life style and we provide you with a suggested monthly budget. You can then create your final budget and manage it.
How I built it
Java and XML. The estimation is based on data found on university websites. I used the average monthly budget for college students in Canada. Based on it and on your answers, the application automatically adjusts and estimates.
Challenges I ran into
I wasn't quite sure of how to represent my data and manipulate it the most efficiently. I ended up choosing HashTables and ArrayLists. I also wanted to do too much for only 36 hours so I had to restrict my ambition. I am still working on saving the activity state and restoring it for the budget management part. I was also interested in taking the estimation result and outputing it in the budget management activity but I got stuck on how to transfer this data from one activity to another. One solution would be to make the destination activity extend the initial one.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
I am very proud of the design. I think it looks good and is fairly intuitive to use. I am also proud that my estimation activity works well.
What I learned
A ton of Java and XML.
What's next for College Budget
Improve the overall user experience and maybe use a learning algorithm to improve estimations. I would also like to make my Budget Manager activity way more complete. (I was limited by time)
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