Course Expectations and Tentative Syllabus

CSC:481 Project Design Spring 2004

Olney 200 MW 2:00-3:15pm

Professor: Dr. Michael Redmond

330 Olney Hall (215) 951-1096

redmond@lasalle.edu

http://www.lasalle.edu/~redmond/teach/481/

Office Hours: MW 11am-12:50pm, Th 11am-12:30pm

And at other times by appointment. Also, by phone and e-mail.

Text:

Sommerville, I., Software Engineering, Sixth Edition, Addison-Wesley, 2001

Course Description:

This is the second course in a two course senior sequence of courses. The intent is for these two courses (480 and 481) to act as a “capstone” on the undergraduate experience. To do this, we develop a large semi-realistic project. We also cover basics in software engineering – which is a field within computer science devoted to applying rigor to the software development process in order to increase the odds of successful projects.

The catalog description of 480 says:

Basic concepts and major issues of project design using a software engineering approach; project planning; cost estimation; requirements definition. Requires a team project to design a software system.

The catalog description of 481 says:

A continuation of CSC 480; Implementation issues; programming language features; validation techniques; software maintenance. Requires a team project to develop, document, test, and maintain a software system.

This course focuses most heavily on development and control of development, validation and maintenance. This is perhaps the most applied, most project oriented course(s) in the CS curriculum. Group work is fundamental to this course, in order to be realistic. Class attendance is critical, due to in class meetings/ group work. We continue with the project started in 480.

Grading:

Midterm 15%

Final Exam 20%

Project

Midterm version 10%

Final Version 30%

Presentation 10%

Reflective Paper 5%

Participation 10%

Final Grades:

A 92-100 A- 90-91

B+ 88-89 B 82-87 B- 80-81

C+ 78-79 C 72-77 C- 70-71

D+ 68-69 D 60-67 F < 60

Makeup exams only by advance arrangements or for documented real emergencies, such as medical problems. Makeup may involve oral exam or double counting the final exam.

The project is a group project. You will be assigned to groups. Part of your responsibility is to make the group work (as in the real world). Groups will be shuffled from last semester. The project has two delivery points over the course of the semester, and again you will present your project at the end of the semester. This presentation will be more of a sales job. We will dive right into continuing the project. Most weeks will include some time for groups to meet and to meet with me. It is expected that significant additional time and communication outside of class will be necessary. Note also that, to discourage slackers, that if you do not do your share of the project you can get a lower grade than the group grade. If there appears to be a problem in a group, first try to solve it internally. You may find it beneficial to have one person who serves as a team leader. This semester, I may also play the role of a higher level manager, in addition to other roles. I reserve the right to assign different project grades to different team members if effort appears to be unequal. In addition, you will again write a short, reflective paper about what you learned in working on the project. More details will be available later.

Class attendance and participation are important, and is counted in the final grade. An important part of class participation is preparation. Reading the assigned readings prior to class allows class time to be productively used for discussions and activities rather than repeating information that is in the book. Hence to encourage and assess preparation, students must turn in at the start of each class in which a new chapter is to be covered a brief write up with – A) what you believe is the most important point of the chapter; B) how something in the chapter could be applied to your project; C) the biggest question you have on the material; and D) a possible test question on the material covered.

Course Objectives

Concepts:

1. The student should understand the concepts and strategies behind system validation and testing, and quality management.

2. The student should understand important aspects of change management, including configuration management, and problem tracking.

3. The student should understand important aspects of project management including managing people and estimating costs.

4. (time permitting) The student should understand the additional issues involved with maintaining and evolving legacy systems.

Applications:

1. The student should gain further experience in a significant team development project.

2. The student should gain further experience managing a significant project.

3. The student should gain experience carrying out iterative, evolutionary prototyping.

4. The student should gain additional appreciation for and experience with concepts covered in CSC 480.

5. The student should have a final prototype that they can be proud of.

Tentative Course Plan:

Date	Material	Reading
Jan 12	Intro to Class
Jan 14	Project – Another Look at Requirements
Jan 19	MLK Jr Holiday – NO CLASS
Jan 21	Project – Group Organization
Jan 26	Verification and Validation	Chapt 19
Jan 28	Project – Revising Requirements
Feb 2	Software Testing	Chapt 20
Feb 4	Software Testing
Feb 9	Project – Revising Design
Feb 11	Configuration Management	Chapt 29
Feb 16	Configuration Management
Feb 18	Project – Revising Design
Feb 23	MIDTERM
Feb 25	Project - Prototyping
Mar 1	SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS
Mar 3	SPRING BREAK – NO CLASS
Mar 8	Project – Prototyping and Testing
Mar 10	Project – Prototyping and Testing
Mar 15	Software Change – midterm prototype due	Chapt 27
Mar 17	Quality Management	Chapt 24
Mar 22	Quality Management
Mar 24	Project – Revisiting Requirements
Mar 29	Project – Revising Design
Mar 31	Managing People	Chapt 22
Apr 5	Project – Revising Prototype
Apr 7	Cost Estimation	Chapt 23
Apr 12	EASTER MONDAY – NO CLASS
Apr 14	Project – Prototyping and Testing
Apr 19	Project – Prototyping and Testing
Apr 21	Project –Presentations – final prototype due
Apr 26	Final Exam – 2:30pm

Class Participation Grading

4 Parts: Being there, being prepared, and contributing to class, and contributing to the group.

Being There:

1 point for each class attended

Being Prepared:

2 points for each “check-minus” participation paper

3 points for each “check” participation paper

Contributing:

1 point for each class in which you contribute

2 points if you make multiple contributions

Project Contribution:

All students will divide 10*(N-1) points (where N is the number of members of the group) among their teammates in their group based on their contribution to the group. The sum of points received from your teammates will be divided by (N-1) to obtain a project contribution score.

Standard: Max score (100% for class participation) if you

Attend 90% of classes (besides tests, presentations etc) 0.9 * 24 = 21.6

Contribute in ½ of classes with discussion 0.5 * 10(est) = 5.0

Earn a “check” on participation papers for

90% of chapters 0.9 * 3 * 7(est) = 18.9

Project contribution – average contribution = 10.0

55.5

Other grades are % of this number of points. E.g. if 50 points earned, then class

participation grade (under assumptions above for number of classes with discussion, etc) = 50/55.5 = 90%

Lateness: The intent of participation papers is for you to be prepared for class. It is not useful to do them later, so late papers are not accepted. Also, to avoid people writing them up during class, they are to be turned in at the start of class.