CSCI 260 Spring 2008, Syllabus

Course webpage:http://www.cs.xu.edu/csci260/08s/
Time:TR: 2:30 - 3:45 pm
Location:Alter 223
Instructor:Gary Lewandowski
Phone:513-745-2836
Office:Hinkle 109
email:lewandow@cs.xu.edu
Office hours:MTR: 4:00-5:00, W: 4-4:30.
Also by appointment, see my schedule at http://www.cs.xu.edu/~lewandow/schedule08s.html
Textbook:Project-Based Software Engineering, by Stiller and LeBlanc
GradingAssessment will be based on three tools: Projects (50%), homework (25%), and exams (25%).
The Mathematics and Computer Science Department has a uniform Grading Standard. You should also read my statements on academic integrity and plus/minus modifiers for insight into my grading philosophy.
Late Policy This course is essential to your computer science education; if you wish to be successful, allocate sufficient amounts of time to do the work for the course. I will not be giving extensions or incompletes for work during this semester unless you have an extreme emergency.

All projects are due on Midnight of the stated due date, e.g. if I say an assignment is due February 10, then you have the complete 24 hours that constitute February 10 to work. You may submit assignments electronically. Details on using the hand-in program will be provided in class. Homework is due at the beginning of the class for which it was assigned.

Course Objectives

The course description is as follows: Software development process; software requirements and specifications; software design and implementation; verification and validation. Pre-requisite: CSCI 220

In a nutshell, this course is about actually developing something useful, in a team process using techniques that are considered best practices by many in the software engineering industry. This semester we will be working with Mercy Neighborhood Ministries in developing a database and interface to support their work in a wide variety of ministries.

Specific objectives include

  1. Students will be able to gather requirements, developing use cases and a requirements spec.
  2. Students will be able to function effectively in teams to learn tools and skills necessary to complete the project.
  3. Students will be able to translate a requirements document into a project design.
  4. Students will be able to build test cases and provide testing of the system as it is built.
  5. Students will be able to successfully build a working product.

Cooperating with others

Yeah. Teamwork. A portion of your project grade will come from peer assessment. Cooperation good.

Tentative Schedule

Honesty in action. This is my first time teaching the course. My expectation is that we will spend approximately the first half or so of the course introducing all of the concepts of software engineering, and the last portion heavily involved in the project itself. This will also allow time for deeper discussions of ethics and job situations (possibly including guest speakers and some fun activities).

With that said, here's the tentative schedule for the early portion of the course:
DayTopic
1: 15 JanuaryOverview of the SE process
2: 17 JanuaryTeam stuff
3: 22 JanuaryIntroduction to Requirements (guested by Liz Johnson)
4: 24 JanuaryRequirements exercise (assemble into teams and complete)
5: 29 JanuaryRequirements discussion
6: 31 JanuaryReal life elicitation of requirements with Mercy Neighborhood Ministries
7: 5 FebruaryUse cases
8: 7 FebruaryClass diagrams and UML
9: 12 FebruarySkills/tools we need, part I
14 FebruaryWinter Break (Requirements due before you leave)
10: 19 FebruarySkills/tools, part II
11: 21 FebruaryExam I, oh the fun!
23 FebruaryNational Karen Moebius Intoxication Day
12: 26 FebruaryProduct design
13: 28 FebruaryUser Interfaces
29 FebruaryLeap Day!
14: 4 MarchClass Design
15: 6 MarchImplementation stuff
16: 11 MarchImplementation stuff, II
17: 13 MarchGary at SIGCSE
17-24 MarchSPRING BREAK
18-28: 25 March - 1 MayMaking it work
6 MayFinal Exam: 1-2:50 pm!!
8 MayPICNIC!! afternoon -> dark


Gary Lewandowski
Last modified: Tue Jan 15 11:52:38 EST 2008