CS 320: Introduction to Software Engineering

Fall 2022

This website is for the section of CS 320 taught by Prof. Yuriy Brun.

News | Description | Logistics | Grading | Integrative Experience | Schedule | CS 429 | Nondiscrimination | Academic integrity | Reading | Prerequisites | Acknowledgements

News:

Description:

Software engineering goes beyond software development. It involves defining software products, dealing with customers who may not understand software or even their own needs, coordinating large teams of coworkers, ensuring the quality of software, shipping and maintaining software, and much more! As well as requiring strong technical skills, a good software engineer requires strong teamwork and communication skills. Get ready to learn software engineering principles first hand, ship product, and survive to do it again!


Logistics:

Lecture:Tuesday and Thursday 1:00–2:15 PM in Flint Lab, room 105
Discussion:Wednesday 12:20–1:10 PM in Flint Lab, room 201
Instructor:



Yuriy Brun
office: CS 302
office hours: Monday 10:00AM–11:00AM
email:
TA:



Vivien Jamba
office: email for meeting place
office hours: Friday 11:15AM–12:15PM
email:
TA:



James Nguyen
office: email for meeting place
office hours: Wednesday 2:30PM–3:30PM
email:

All assignment submissions are through Moodle.

Late policy: Assignment due dates and times are listed on the schedule. All deadlines are sharp and the submission site will be closed at the specified time. No extensions will be granted after the assignment is due. Early requests for extensions will be considered only in extenuating circumstances.


Grading:

Students are responsible for submitting all assignments. Each student who fails to participate in one or more of the exams, or whose group fails to submit one or more of the seven (7) project assignments, will receive the grade F for the entire class.

 Assignment Grade
exam 1 20%
exam 2 20%
class and lecture participation 10%
project 50%

The project's 50% are further broken down:

product idea 2%
requirements specification 6%
software design 8%
α release 5%
β release with presentation 10%
user report 4%
1.0 release with presentation 15%
total: 50%

Integrative Experience:

CS 320 is an integrative experience course. It focuses on developing communication, reflection, and learning-aware learning skills. Each student will:

Schedule:

(subject to change; check regularly)

week date day topic due
Week 1
Sep 6 T Course introduction product idea slides:
due Mon Sep 19, 9:00PM EDT
Sep 7 W No discussion first week
Sep 8 Th Software development lifecycle
Week 2
Sep 13 T Teamwork
Sep 14 W (discussion section): Work on product ideas. No formal class meeting.
Sep 15 Th Pair programming activity
Week 3
Sep 20 T Product idea presentations
Sep 21 W (discussion section): No formal class meeting. project preference survey:
due Fri Sep 23, 11:55PM EDT
Sep 22 Th Product idea presentations
Week 4
Sep 27 T Requirements requirements specification:
due Tue Oct 4, 12:00PM noon EDT
Sep 28 W (discussion section): Guest lecture by Diana Freed, speaking about
software's role in preventing intimate partner violence. In CS building, room 150/151.
Pizza available at 12, talk starts at 12:20.
Sep 29 Th We will use this class time to work in groups on the requirements specification assignment.
Week 5
Oct 4 T Architecture and UML
Oct 5 W (discussion section): Work in groups design specification:
due Tue Oct 11, 12:00PM noon EDT
Oct 6 Th Effective presentation and teamwork discussion
Week 6
Oct 11 T Design presentations
Oct 12 W (discussion section): Guest lecture by Juliana Freire:
Usability, Transparency, and Trust for Data-Intensive Computations
In CS building, room 150/151.
Pizza available at 12, talk starts at 12:20.
α release:
due Tue Oct 25, 12:00PM noon EDT
Oct 13 Th Design presentations
Week 7
Oct 18 Tu User interfaces
Oct 19 W (discussion section): work in groups
Oct 20 Th Testing
Week 8
Oct 25 T Exam review. Design patterns
Oct 26 W (discussion section): Guest lecture by Ihudiya Finda Williams: video. Material will be on the test. Team Assessment 1:
due Thu Nov 3, 11:55 PM EDT

β release:
due Tue Nov 8, 12:00PM noon EST
Oct 27 Th Exam 1
Week 9
Nov 1 T Debugging
Nov 2 W (discussion section): Guest lecture by Daricia Wilkinson: video. Material will be on the second test.
Nov 3 Th No lecture. Use time to work on β release.
Week 10
Nov 8 T β release presentations
Nov 9 W (discussion section): Work in groups
Nov 10 Th β release presentations user report:
due Mon Nov 21, 12:00PM noon EST
Week 11
Nov 15 T OPTIONAL extra credit assignment (in class): Ethics in software engineering
Nov 16 W (discussion section): Work in groups
Nov 17 Th The promise and perils of using machine learning when engineering software
Week 12
Nov 22 T NO CLASS (Friday schedule)
Nov 23 W NO CLASS: Thanksgiving break
Nov 24 Th NO CLASS: Thanksgiving break
Week 13
Nov 29 T Groupthink design exercise 1.0 release:
due Fri Dec 9, 11:55PM EST
Nov 30 W (discussion section): work on your 1.0 release
Dec 1 Th Groupthink design exercise
Week 14
Dec 6 T Exam review. And Reasoning about software.
Dec 7 W (discussion section): work on your 1.0 release
Dec 8 Th 1.0 release presentations Team Assessment 2:
due Tue Dec 13, 11:55 PM EST
Week 15
Dec 14 W Exam 2: 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM in Flint Lab, room 105

CS 429: Software Engineering Project Management

CS 429 is an advanced class on project management. Each student in CS 429 leads a team of CS 320 students toward a successful project completion. In addition to all the CS 320 lecture and discussion meeting times, CS 429 students also meet on Tuesday, 2:30–3:20PM in CS Building, room 343. The prerequisite to take CS 429 is an A- or better in CS 320 and instructor approval.

Nondiscrimination policy:

Software engineering is at its nature a collaborative activity and it benefits greatly from diversity. This class includes and welcomes all students regardless of age, background, citizenship, disability, sex, education, ethnicity, family status, gender, gender identity, geographical origin, language, military experience, political views, race, religion, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and work experience. Our discussions and learning will benefit from these and other diverse points of view. Any kind of language or action displaying bias against or discriminating against members of any group, or making members of any group uncomfortable are against the mission of this course and will not be tolerated. The instructor welcomes discussion of this policy, and encourages anyone experiencing concerns to speak with him.


Academic integrity:

Students are allowed to work together on all aspects of this class except the midterm. However, for the homework assignments, each student must submit his or her own write up, clearly stating the collaborators. Your submission must be your own. When in doubt, contact the instructors about whether a potential action would be considered plagiarism. If you discuss material with anyone besides the class staff, acknowledge your collaborators in your write-up. If you obtain a key insight with help (e.g., through library work or a friend), acknowledge your source and write up the summary on your own. It is the student's responsibility to remove any possibility of someone else's work from being misconstrued as the student's. Never misrepresent someone else's work as your own. It must be absolutely clear what material is your original work. Plagiarism and other anti-intellectual behavior will be dealt with severely. Note that facilitation of plagiarism (giving your work to someone else) is also considered to be plagiarism, and will carry the same repercussions.

Students are encouraged to use the Internet, literature, and other publicly-available resources, except the homework solutions and test (including quizzes, midterms, finals, and other exams) solutions, from past terms' versions of this course and other academic courses, whether at UMass and at other institutions. To reiterate, the students are not allowed to view and use past homework and test solutions, unless explicitly distributed by the CS 320 staff as study material.

Whenever students use Internet, literature, and other publicly-available resources, they must clearly reference the materials in their write ups, attributing proper credit. This cannot be emphasized enough: attribute proper credit to your sources. Failure to do so will result in a zero grade for the assignment and possibly a failing grade for the class, at the instructor's discretion. Copying directly from resources is not permitted, unless the copying is clearly identified as a quote from a source. Most use of references should be written in the words of the student, placing the related work in proper context and describing the relevant comparison.

The students should familiarize themselves with the UMass Academic Honesty Policy and Guidelines for Classroom Civility and Respect. These policies and guidelines apply to this class.

Students who violate University standards of academic integrity are subject to disciplinary sanctions, including failure in the course and suspension from the university. Since dishonesty in any form harms the individual, other students, and the university, policies on academic integrity have been and will be strictly enforced.


Reading:

There is no required textbook for the course. There may be several reading assignments that will come from publicly available research papers. Students who wish to read established textbooks beyond the assigned reading should consider:


Prerequisites:

This course does not teach students to program. Software engineering is a larger concept than programming and both cannot be taught in a single semester class. Students should already be proficient in at least one programming language (such as Java or C++). A grade of C or higher in CS 220 is required, though you will likely have a difficult time with the material in CS 320 if you got below a B in CS 220.

Acknowledgements:

Various materials used in this course have greatly benefited from materials developed by Gail Alverson, Lori Clarke, Michael Ernst, André van der Hoek, David Notkin, Nenad Medvidovic, Lee Osterweil, and Ian Sommerville. Thank you.