About me

My name is Zhu Chen, I am an international student currently studying MSc Software Eniginnering at Oxford University in England. In the past a few years i studied Computer Networks and Distributed System at Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland, achieved a upper second honours degree. My undergraduate study covered a wide range of topics, from object-oriented technology to software enginering methods, data structure & Algorithms to database systems, and networking to distributed systems. The programming experiences i gained in my one year long paid student placement as an application developer in Information Statistics Division at NSS (National Services Scotland Headqurters) leaded to my honours project in developing a exprienmental framework to automatically evaluate students' network skills. It provides an virtual network enviroment via website for students to interact with "routers", and it has a web back end for lecturers managing student records and a core engine that supposed to evaluate and grade the students network skills automatically. However, it turned out to be virtually impossible without a predefined standard and human intervention(the standard can be defined only after serveral years of collecting and analysing student paper based exmination results). The virtual network envirment interface was much harder to implement than i expected, no to mention try to make it scalable (10-50 routers). Then i realised there is still much to learn about software in order to make it work, so i decided to study Software Engineering for my master's instead, after 3 month intensive MSc application period i have got offers from York, Bristol and Oxford, and finally i made my decision and moved down to Oxford.

Theoritically, I am proficient at Object-oriented Design & Programming, Database Design and Computer Networks, but not so strong on algorithm and data structures. In the coming month i would like to look into formal methods and Software Engineering Mathematics.

Technially, I am proficient at XML, XSD, XSLT, C#, ASP.Net, .Net Framework 1.1/2.0, MS SQL Server 2000/2005 and have working knowledge of Java, CSS, Web Services and JavaScript/Perl. At some point i would like to learn MS Sharepoint Application Development and Ajax.

Projects

[My Final Year Project] Automated evaluation framework for network configuration skills URL http://www.gilmoursentry.com/framework

Background
This project objective was to address the difficulties academic tutors faced in assessing students’ practical networking skills via academic coursework and written exams. I provided tutors with a practical, efficient, robust and, above all, reliable web-based learning environment which allows the automated assessment of students’ practical network skills.

Software/hardware
ASP.NET 2.0, .Net Framework, MS-SQL Server 2000.

[Placement Project] Data Protection Act 1998 CBT (Computer Based Training) URL: http://www.datatraining.scot.nhs.uk

Background
The mandate to comply with regulatory requirements necessitated a requirement to develop and deploy a data-driven and object-oriented designed version of the legacy ASP-based Data Protection Act 1998. I created an online training system, to adhere to the divisions coding and web standards. This was successfully executed and the new system is currently being used by NHS staff across Scotland.

Software/hardware
ASP.NET 1.1, .Net Framework, MS-SQL Server 2000.