Syllabus for SSE 659

Design Quality and Maintenance

Changes are possible.

Fall Semester 2009 (09F)

Instructor: Dr. Paul E. MacNeil

Office:       Suite 223a, School of Engineering

Phone:       478-301-2185

                  478-301-2732

Email:        macneil_pe@mercer.edu

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Textbooks and Supplies:

Texts (including web sites):

• Software Engineering (8th ed.) by Ian Sommerville, Addison Wesley (2006) in2smithereens@hotmail.comISBN 978-0321313799 (Required). Check this text out at Amazon.com

• Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (1st ed.) by Martin Fowler, Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201-48567-2 (1999) Check Out This Text at Amazon.com (Required)

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Software (including web sites):

• Note that this course is intended to be OS neutral.

• An Internet ftp client of your choice.  Core FTP LE is free and works well http://www.coreftp.com/ .  (Required, but your choice)

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Other Useful Resources (including web sites):

• TBD.

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Catalog Description (Course Purpose):

Software maintenance and the improvement of the design of existing code. Incremental development, adding new features with support from refactoring. Design quality evaluation and design quality improvement. Test-first development.

Please note that this course is conducted *asynchronously* with regard to the face-to-face class meeting schedule. That is, the course begins on August 25, 2009, for *all* students.

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Course Objectives:

Breadth and Depth in Defining, Analyzing, and Solving Complex Problems:

• After successfully completing this course, you should be able to demonstrate a basic capability to apply refactoring techniques to solve complex problems.

Communicate Technical Aspects of the Solution for Complex Software Engineering Problems to a Technical Audience:

• After successfully completing this course, you should be able to demonstrate a basic ability to communicate regarding the application of refactoring techniques to a technical audience.

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Prerequisites:

SSE 556 Java Design I or permission of the program director based on you documented capability to develop object oriented software.

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Class Location:

• The (limited) Macon face-to-face meetings take place in the Engineering Building Room 216b. (Directions to the Macon campus, and a map of the Macon campus can be found at  http://www2.mercer.edu/Admissions/macon.html and  http://www2.mercer.edu/About_Mercer/MaconMap/default.htm [look for Building 34 on the map], respectively.)

• The Online Learning asynchronous "meetings" take place in Cyberspace; i.e., on the Internet.

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Grading:

Credit will be given only for original work.

Listserv/Wiki Contributions

• The Listserv/Wiki contribution grade will be awarded based on the professor's professional judgement regarding your contributions to the course.
• The course wiki pages are for technical issues, technical solutions, and other substantive material relevant to the course subject matter.
• Course-specific listserv messages are for technical issues, technical solutions, and other substantive material relevant to the course subject matter. Other course-related items (questions, procedural issues, etc.) are also welcome.
• There is another listserv that is not specific to any one course. Messages on this listserv are for software engineering-related items that are applicable to several courses or to no course.
• If you have a question about any of this, please ask!

More information about grading is contained in the General Project Rubric.

This course will also use an additional grading rubric.

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Assignments:

• Purpose of projects:

  • Use the projects to develop your capabilities, and

  • Use the projects to demonstrate your capabilities.

• Deliverables for all projects:

  • Your report should be a single, standalone document in .html or .doc format.

  • The target audience for your report is the set of practicing software engineers who have not studied refactoring.

  • Your report should be organized in such a way as to make the topics that you want credit for covering easy to find, and demonstrate your capabilities clearly and convincingly. Everything you want considered for credit, including code and tests (including test results), should be included in the report.

  • Each project can be a single, integrated project that tries to actually do something, or a collection of exercises that demonstrate your capabilities but don't accomplish anything else, or any combination of these two alternatives that you find convenient.

  • You may include other material outside of the report, if you wish, but this material may or may not be considered in evaluating your work.

  • For each capability that you demonstrate within a report or major section of that report, you may present only the final result of your work; you need not demonstrate every step in the development of that result.

• Some suggestions for doing a project are contained in the One Way to Do a Project page.

• Project 1 (solo):

  • Find some code in your selected language (Java, C#, or C++) that you can refactor for this project. (Hint: the source code for Junit, Nunit, or CppUnit would not be an appropriate choice. Otherwise, open source software may be a good source of code to refactor.)

  • Develop and demonstrate your capabilities in the topics covered in Chapters 3 through 7 of Fowler.

  • TBD.

• Project 2 (team):

  • Find some code in your selected language (Java, C#, or C++) that you can refactor for this project. (Hint: the source code for Junit, Nunit, or CppUnit would not be an appropriate choice. Otherwise, open source software may be a good source of code to refactor.)

  • Develop and demonstrate your capabilities in the topics covered in Chapters 3 through 11 of Fowler.

  • Two person teams are strongly prefered; three person teams require the prior written (email is okay) approval of the professor.

  • TBD.

• Project 3 (team):

  • Read in Sommerville Part 6 and Chapter 32.

  • Write a report that demonstrates your good understanding of each chapter and chapter section (e.g., 26.3) in the assigned reading.

  • Two person teams are strongly prefered; three person teams require the prior written (email is okay) approval of the professor.

  • Your report will be evaluated based on breadth, depth (completeness), and quality. You need not cover every topic to the maximum level of completeness, but you should demonstrate completeness in at least some topics. However, don't leave any topics (i.e., chapter sections) uncovered.

  • Including explanations of how you could or would apply the topics of to a real or potentially real project helps in developing and demonstrating your understanding.

• TBD

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Additional Information:

• Asynchronous Learning Nets (ALNs)

  • Self Study: You study the texts and any other course study material on your own.

  • Collaborative Projects: After your self-study, you collaborate (via the Internet [email, ftp]) with your partner(s) to produce a team product. Your collaborative work is substantial, asynchronous, and rapid.

  • This course is an online learning course with 100% optional face-to-face class meetings Please read this Online Learning web page regarding online learning in this course and this program.

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• What Do I Do?

• Subscribe to the course email listserv and be able to access our FTP server; your professor can tell you how to do this.

• Study the assigned material.

• Write and read email messages about ideas, problems and solutions to do with the assigned study material.

• Do the assigned exercises.

• Write and read email messages (to/from the listserv) about ideas, problems and solutions to do with the assigned homework.

• Review the exercises done by other people, as assigned by the professor.

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Changes to this Syllabus:

There will be changes to this syllabus, so check back frequently, and don't forget to hit "Reload" or "Refresh".

Schedule of Events and Assignments:

Notes:

tbd

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Schedule of Macon Face-to-face Class Meetings:

attendance is 100% optional.

All Macon face-to-face meetings are from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm.

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List of all courses.

Contact Information

• My Name: Dr. Paul E. MacNeil (Atlanta, Macon and DL Section)

• My E-mail: macneil_pe@mercer.edu .

• My Office Phone: 478 301-2185

• My FAX: 478 301-2732

• US Mail:

   

  • Dr. Paul E. MacNeil

  • School of Engineering

  • Mercer University

  • 1400 Coleman Ave.

  • Macon, GA 31207

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Important Additional Information:
Students requiring accommodations for a disability should inform the instructor at the close of the first class meeting or as soon as possible.  If you are not registered with Disability Services, the instructor will refer you to the Disability Support Services office for consultation regarding documentation of your disability and eligibility for accommodations under the ADA/504.  In order to receive accommodations, eligible students must provide each instructor with a “Faculty Accommodation Form” from Disability Services.  Students must return the completed and signed form to the Disability Services Coordinator on the 3rd floor of the Connell Student Center.  Students with a documented disability who do not wish to use academic accommodations are also strongly encouraged to register with Disability Services and complete a Faculty Accommodation Form each semester.  For further information, please contact Carole Burrowbridge, Disability Services Coordinator, at 301-2778 or visit the web site at http://www.mercer.edu/stu_support/swd.htm

Accreditation: Mercer University is accredited by SACS.