Description

Catalog description:

Study of the principles and tools applicable to the methodical construction and controlled evolution of complex software systems. Tools for all phases of the life cycle are presented; particular attention focuses on the design, testing, and maintenance phases. Attention to measurement models of the software process and product which allow quantitative assessment of cost, reliability, and complexity of software systems.

Detailed Description:

This class has two objectives: (1) provide a useful overview of the state of the art (2) introduce some of the research frontiers of the field. It accomplishes this through a mix of lectures and assignments focused on the state of the art, readings from the research literature, and guest lectures from specialists in sub-areas of software engineering.

Prerequisites

Graduate or senior standing in the Department of Computer Science and a prior course in software engineering, e.g., CS 4704.

Readings

The majority of the readings in the course will be papers available through the IEEE or ACM Digital Libraries. The instructor will provide all necessary readings.

The following books are recommended for background and reference:

• Software Engineering: A Practitioner’s Approach, by Roger S. Pressman, McGraw-Hill, 2010, 7th Edition.
• Software Engineering: Theory and Practice, by Hans van Vliet, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 2000.
• The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition), by Frederick P. Brooks, Jr., Addison-Wesley, 1995.

Grading and Evaluation

There are four elements to your grade: a final exam, a research project, short paper summaries, and class attendance and participation.

Distribution of points:

CTTC:

The short paper summaries “allow you” to demonstrate that you've read and thought about the assigned readings. Readings are assigned, as shown in the schedule, each week of the class. You are obliged to write a short summary and analysis of each week's papers. I am not interested in only reading a paraphrase of each paper's abstract. I am interested in reading your assessment of each paper: what points do you believe to be the important ones? Do you believe those points? Why or why not? What points did the author(s) not address that they should have? Since multiple papers are assigned, you'll have to learn how to present incisive, cut-to-the-chase (CTTC) analyses in few words.

Your CTTC's on each topic are due the night before class at 8:00PM (i.e., the night before the discussion of those papers). Each week you will submit a single PDF file with your summary for every paper assigned for that week. Your comments for each assigned paper should use at least half a page of a letter-sized document.

CTTC's must be submitted as follows:

• through Canvas — use the folder for the particular CTTC
• as a single PDF (Adobe Acrobat) document
• by 8pm Eastern time on the due date (normally the night prior to discussion, see schedule)

Research Project (Assignments):

The research project allows you to obtain some research experience in software engineering in a particular problem. In this project, you will pick a problem that is of interest to you, review the literature related to that problem, evaluate the current approaches for solving the problem, and propose a new approach of your own to address the problem.

Course Exam:

The final exam will entail your writing an evaluation of some sub-area of software engineering and identifying what you believe to be promising, or at least necessary, research directions. You'll be able to choose, in advance, the sub-area you'll write about. The purpose here is to demonstrate that you've thought substantively about an area of software engineering, to the point where you can identify some important needs, trends, opportunities, insights, ...

Policies

VPI & SU Honor Code is applicable. Consequences of cheating in this class: a letter in your academic file, and the course grade is lowered, most likely to F. Material that is copied from books or Web pages needs to be quoted and the source must be given. If you plagiarize, you run the severe risk of failing the class, in a most disgraceful manner.