CPSC 310: Introduction to Software Engineering (2014/2015 Winter Term 1)

Calendar

Quick Links

• Project page
• Assignments
• Lecture notes and readings
• Marks (Connect)
• News and Forum (Piazza)

Course Description & Prerequisites

Introduction to Software Engineering: Specification, design, implementation and maintenance of large, multi-module software systems. Principles, techniques, methodologies and tools for computer aided software engineering (CASE); human-computer interfaces, reactive systems, hardware-software interfaces and distributed applications.

When you complete this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the technical and interpersonal challenges of software development
• Communicate technical matters with programmers, managers, and clients effectively
• Perform the activities of software development effectively, using up-to-date methodologies or tools

Prerequisite

1. CPSC 210 (Note, CPSC 211 is also an acceptable pre-req although the SSC may display a warning. Please email undergrad-info AT cs DOT ubc DOT ca if you're having trouble registering.)

People

Marc Palyart (Instructor)

• Office: ICICS X469
• Email: mpalyart AT cs DOT ubc DOT ca (please start your email subject with [CPSC310])
• Office Hours: Right after class, Monday/Wednesday/Friday.

I will also see students outside of scheduled office hours – email me if you would like to schedule an appointment to speak to me. If you send me emails regarding course content, I will post your question on the discussion forum so that other students can see it and my answer.

TAs

• Andrew Lai (aa8362 AT gmail DOT com)
• Giovanni Viviani (vivianig AT cs DOT ubc DOT ca)
• Li-Che (David) Hsiao (u8e8 AT ugrad DOT cs DOT ubc DOT ca)
• Tik Hang (Tim) Cheung (timch326 AT interchange DOT ubc DOT ca)
• Kevin Stark (kevostarks AT gmail DOT com)
• Nowrin Anwar Joyita (joyita AT cs DOT ubc DOT ca)

The schedule for TA office hours will soon be available on the DLC page.

Lectures & Labs

Labs are an important part of this course. Labs will provide you with the practical knowledge and skills required for the completion of your course assignments. Each lab is designed to give you the opportunity to meet and work as a group, and attendance is mandatory.

Each lab session is supervised by a teaching assistant (TA), who will introduce the necessary tools, provide instructions for the projects, answer questions and meet with each group to discuss the progress of the project.

There will be no labs in the first week. The first labs start the week of September 8th.

Course Resources

Textbook

There is no required textbook for the course. Lectures, labs and assigned readings will contain all information covered by the exams. You will often be given an assigned reading from an available online resource.

Lecture material

Lecture slides and other material will be posted before lecture on the lectures page.

Piazza forum

The discussion forum is hosted at Piazza.com. The forum is required reading as the instructor and TAs will post important information and updates there. Please check it, as this is the official communication channel in the event of cancelled classes or labs, rescheduled deadlines, and so on. In addition, you are encouraged to post your questions about the course material on the course bulletin board. You are also encouraged to respond to questions for which you know the answer. In case you need a face-to-face discussion, you can bring you questions regarding the course material, assignments, project and labs to:

• the lab sessions,
• the instructor’s office hours listed above,
• appointments made with the instructor or your TA.

Please join the CS310 group by logging into Piazza with a cs.ubc.ca or ubc.ca email address. If you have not used Piazza before, you will need to create a new account.

Please note that Piazza is a service that is hosted in the United States. (It is a startup that originated at Stanford University.) Some of you may wish to preserve your anonymity on Piazza, so that none of your personal information is stored in the United States. You are free to do this simply by creating a new anonymous email account and joining Piazza using that anonymous email account. (If you already use a gmail, hotmail or other US hosted email account this is essentially moot.) If you do choose to join Piazza with an anonymous account then please send Marc a private email message stating the anonymous email account you joined with Piazza with. I don't think that you can join the course yourself unless you use a .ubc.ca address, but if you let me know which anonymous address you used to join Piazza, I will add you to the course.

Project Resources

See the project page

Evaluation

Your grade in this course will be based on exams, labs, a project, and class participation as shown in the table below. In addition, lab attendance is mandatory and you will lose 1% of your overall grade (up to 5%) for each lab that is missed without an acceptable reason (e.g. illness).

To pass this course, you must obtain a 50% overall mark and, in addition, you must:

• pass the project overall, AND
• on average, pass the two sprints of the project, AND
• pass the final examination.

Students who fail the project or the final exam will be assigned as the final grade in the course the minimum of 45% (an F) and the grade computed using the above formula. (I reserve the right to change the grading formula during the term).

The 5% of your grade allocated to participation will be based on in-lecture activities. For some of these activities you will receive credit simply for participating, so in-class attendance is necessary to receive the credit and is highly recommended. In addition the number of questions from your classmates that you answer on Piazza will be taken into account

Grade disputes

• For project or assignment grades, first contact your TA and try to resolve the issue with them.
• Unresolved project/assignment disputs and exam grading disputes must be brought to the instructor. Midterm exam grade disputes must be brought to Marc within one week of the midterm being returned, regardless of whether or not you are present to pick up your exam. Remarked assignments and exams may go up or down in grade. If you ask me to remark your exam, I reserve the right to remark the entire exam.

Posting grades

Grades will be posted regularly via Connect.

Late policy

Assignments will be due at a specific time, typically via handin or in lab. If you are not prepared for a lab it makes it very difficult to complete the remainder of the project. Although you will have to complete your assignment so that you can continue working on the project, assignments that are not completed by the due date and time will be worth 0. There will not be any extensions.

Examinations

There will be a midterm and a final examination.

Labs and Project

There will be a large, semester-long group project, using an ‘agile-like’ approach. Deliverables will be broken into several milestones, including two major sprints. Assignments will be geared towards completion of the project.

The submission procedure will be clearly specified in each assignment.

Your projects are group work, but no inter-group communication about projects is permitted unless explicitly noted in the assignment description.

Note that the project is a mandatory component of this course. You must obtain a passing grade in the project in order to pass the course. You must also obtain a passing grade on the two major sprints in order to to pass the course.

Course Objectives

The following is a tentative list of the objectives of this course by topic. When you complete this course, you will be able to:

1. Process
   • Explain the basic software development phases
   • Explain the risks of skipping or reducing any phase
   • Compare and contrast traditional and agile process models
2. Requirements
   • Explain the typical difficulties of technical communication
   • Negotiate requirements with a client
   • Specify requirements in User Story form
3. Design
   • Explain and apply common design patterns
   • Design a project in a group setting
4. Implementation
   • Implement reusable code from a design using reflection and generics
   • Improve code quality and productivity by using software tools
   • Coordinate implementation efforts using a code repository
   • Break up implementation work into tasks
   • Identify and fix problems using an issue tracking system
5. Testing
   • Test code using various coverage criteria
   • Explain basic testing terminology
   • Recognize common testing strategies (white-box, black-box) employed in the industry
6. Ethics
   • Become familiar with the ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics
   • Explain basic intellectual property issues
   • Recognize conflicts of interest
   • Leverage secure software design principles to protect customer's interests

General Advice

• Start the project early.
• Attend lectures and labs. If you miss a lecture, find out what you missed from a fellow student. Once you've discussed the material with a fellow student, come and see me if you still have questions.
• Takes notes during lecture. Takes notes when you are reading. Re-read the material after lecture or lab to make sure you understand the main points.
• Do the assigned reading (if there is one). Some reading will be assigned before lecture or lab. Reading this material prior to lecture or lab will ensure you get the most out of attending and will ensure we can cover more interesting material.
• Be a good group member. Part of your mark will be based on peer-evaluation.
• Do your share of the work.

Accommodation

• Lab attendance is mandatory. If you must miss a lab, please notify your teammates and your TA. Your overall project mark will reflect your participation, but it is possible to make up for your absence by doing work outside of scheduled class time.
• If you are sick and unable to write the midterm, please contact Marc.
• Students who miss the final exam due to illness should consult the Faculty of Science Policy on missed exams immediately after (or preferably even before) the exam. Note that a student who does not complete sufficient course work (labs, assignments and midterm) during the term may not qualify for academic concession if they miss the final.
• Students who require dispensation based on their unique circumstances should refer to the UBC policy on Academic Concessions.
• Cell phones, calculators, translators, and all other electronic devices are prohibited on desks during exams. They must be turned off and placed in your bag or on the ground.
• Students who need exam accommodation must make an official request to the Access and Diversity Office.

Academic Conduct

Each student is responsible for understanding and abiding by the University and Departmental policies on academic conduct. Specifically:

• UBC policy on Academic Misconduct
• Computer Science Department Lab policies and responsibilities.

Respectful Environment

Everyone involved with CPSC 310 is responsible for understanding and abiding by the University's Respectful Environment Statement.