Building large software systems is hard, but experience shows that building large software systems that actually work is even harder. And trying to do all this before your competitors has proved fatal to many software projects. This course covers techniques for dealing with the complexity of software systems.
CS61A-C. It is very helpful if you have been already involved in a medium sized software project, perhaps a semester project in one of the project classes (CS162, CS164, or CS186).
There is no required textbook for this class. Instead I will assign readings from research papers. I also recommend a few textbooks if you want to read more about the topics covered in class.
There will be a number (5 to 6) of assignments in which you will be guided in the use of standard tools for software engineering: debuggers, automated testing tools, version control, and bug finding tools.
The major component of the course will be the course project. The project is split into several components. In the first component, you will have to write a short proposal for a project topic, in which you argue the usefulness and feasibility of the project.
You will loose 0.5% of the score for an assignment, for each hour it is late.
There will be one midterm examination (in-class, closed-book). There will be no final exam. Instead, each project team will have to given an oral presentation and a demo about the project.
The University of Southern Maine (USM) has seen an increase in students with disabilities in recent years, and recognizes the requirement to modify its curricula, instruction, assessment, and environment to address the diverse needs of its changing population. Older students, veterans, students with disabilities, students for whom English is not their first language, transfer students, and others all bring special needs along with them to the first day of class, and retaining and educating these students means ensuring that courses are designed in a such a way that they are accessible to all students.
EAST is funded under National Science Foundation Award No. HRD 0833567. This article is part of the collection Universal Design in Higher Education: Promising Practices sponsored by the DO-IT Center. The content is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant #HRD-0929006. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of funding sources or the DO-IT Center.