WHAT'S NEW?

[November 25, 2001] The final set of lecture slides are now on-line.

[November 23, 2001] The final assignment is now available. No surprises, as compared to what I described in the lecture on Monday. I have postponed the due date, howver, until next Friday.

[November 16, 2001] The STMP java files are available: SMTPComponent.java and SMTPInterface.java

[November 8, 2001] A solution guide to the midterm is available. See the "midterm" in the schedule for the pointer. The midterms will be returned in the discussion section on Friday, November 9th.

[November 5, 2001] The implementation assignment is now available. The due date for it has been pushed back to Monday, November 19th.

[November 3, 2001] The slides for week 7 are now available (with page numbers this time!). I've also made some changes to the schedule and to the reading assignments. Assignment 2 is now due on 11/7.

[October 31, 2001] The slides on user interface design are now available.

[October 29, 2001 ] Girish has provided some examples of module descriptions, such as should be used in Assignment 2. Check them out. It is a MS Word document.

[October 15, 2001] The slides for week 4 have been modified in a significant way. If you downloaded the slides yesterday evening please be sure to get the current copy!

[October 7, 2001] The slides for week 3 are now available. I've also made available Professor van der Hoek's slides from last spring quarter on software engineering principles and on requirements engineering. They are "hanging off" the week 2 segment of the schedule, below.

[September 28, 2001] Beginning Monday, October 1st, the lecture portion of ICS 52 will meet in ELH 100. Also: the discussion section will meet Monday, October 1, in its normal time and place.

[September 26, 2001] Want to add the class? Here's what you MUST do before Friday at 1:00.

• Send me email requesting that you be added.
• Tell me that you have met the prerequisites. (If you have not me the prerequisites I will not add you. If you tell me that you have met the prereqs and I later discover that this isn't correct, I will drop you from the class.
• Tell me whatever information you believe will help me correctly prioritize your request as compared to other students' requests, SHOULD the need arise. For example, graduating ICS majors get first priority. So: tell me your major, your year, and any extenuating circumstances.

Instructors

• Professor Richard N. Taylor
  • Electronic Mail: taylor@ics.uci.edu
  • Office: ICS2-203
  • Office Phone: (949) 824-6429
  • Hours: Monday and Wednesday: 11-12:20. Please make appointments by email, however, in order to guarantee the meeting.
• Fax: (949) 824-1715
• Mailing Address:
  Department of Information and Computer Science,
  University of California, Irvine
  Irvine, California 92697-3425

Overview and Prerequisite Knowledge

From the UCI Catalog:

Introduction to the concepts, methods, and current practice of software engineering. The study of large-scale software production; software lifecycle models as an organizing structure; principles and techniques appropriate for each stage of production. Laboratory work involves a project illustrating these elements.

Prerequisite: ICS 23 with a grade of C or better.

In addition to the skills and concepts introduced in previous classes, students should have these computing skills when they enter the class (or learn them independently in the first week of the quarter):

• The use of a text editor (Word, etc.) to create documents.
• The use of a drawing package (PowerPoint, Visio, etc.) to create graphics for these documents.

The instructional objectives for the course are as follows:

• introduce you to the discipline of software engineering;
• experientially acquaint you with one version of the software lifecycle;
• provide working knowledge of at least one reasonable technique to be applied in each phase of the lifecycle;
• provide particular insight into software architecture, design by information hiding, and the problems of software analysis and testing.

Software Life Cycle

• Mastery:
  • Knowing different life cycles and their appropriateness in different situations
  • Knowing basic principles of software engineering (such as separation of concerns, modularity, and abstraction) and knowing how they apply throughout the software life cycle
• Proficiency:
  • Understanding tradeoffs and relationships among the various activities in the software life cycle
  • Understand the meaning and use of a set of basic software qualities

Requirements

• Mastery:
  • Interviewing a customer to elicit requirements
  • Writing a textual (non-formal) requirements document
• Proficiency:
  • Understand the structure of a requirements document and know the appropriate kinds of information in such a document

Architectural Design

• Mastery:
  • Know the differences among interaction patterns of a set of basic architectural styles
  • Understand the difference between architecture and module design
• Proficiency:
  • Choosing an appropriate architectural style for a particular problem

Module Design

• Mastery:
  • Using provided/exported and required/imported interfaces to define module boundaries
  • Identifying and defining modules in a design
  • Identifying and defining abstract data types in a design
• Proficiency:
  • Applying coupling, cohesion, fan-in, and fan-out
  • Creating USES and COMPRISES diagrams
• Exposure:
  • Creating a design for a nontrivial, sizable problem

Programming

• Mastery:
  • General rules of programming style and clarity (short rehash from earlier classes)
• Proficiency:
  • Mapping a module design onto an implementation in source code
• Exposure:
  • Using existing modules and libraries in an implementation
  • Coding under a heavy deadline (requiring tradeoffs between code quality and code functionality)

Testing

• Proficiency:
  • Testing a program for failures
  • Applying white-box testing on short pieces of code
  • Applying black-box testing on short pieces of code
• Exposure:
  • Understanding the many dimensions of software quality assurance
  • Understanding the inspection and code walk-through process

Textbooks

• Software Engineering, 6th edition, by Ian Sommerville. 2001. Addison-Wesley. $85.15 new at the bookstore.
• The class notes will be available on the WWW after the class meeting in which they are used.

Schedule (Subject to change)

Assignments and Assessment

Aggregate grade for the project: 45%.
Midterm: 20%.
Final: 35%

The project consists of four assignments. Their relative weighting (as a percentage of your final grade) is as follows:

Assignment	Weight
Requirements	10
Architecture and module interfaces NOTE that this is now a revised document! Use it, not the original!! Note also that the due date is now 11/7.	18
Implementation	7
Testing	10

Specific assignments will be placed on the web, giving the assignment, the required format, and specific grading criteria.

We do not grade on a curve, meaning that we will not assert in advance that half of the class will receive grades at or below a C+, and half above that. Grading is done based on mastery of the material as exhibited in the exams and the project. If everyone masters the material very well, then everyone will get an A. On the other hand, if no one were to master the material at all adequately, then everyone would receive an F.

NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED, unless you have a legible excuse from a physician, an extreme family emergency, or unless you are willing to accept an extreme penalty with respect to your assignment's grade.

Teaching Assistant and Readers

• TA: Girish Sunyanarayana
• Readers:
  • Jin Liang
  • Volkan Aginler
  • Xiao Zhang

Keeping in Touch

Check this website regularly. This is the definitive location for course information. Announcements concerning assignments will be made here. The course mailing list will also be used to make announcements, provide instructions, and so on. The course mailing list will be "read only" from the student's perspective. I.e. the instructor, TA, and readers can post messages to the list,but not students. If you ask one of us a question whose answer is relevant to the rest of the class, we'll post the appropriate material to the list.

An important note about email

Any email that you send in conjunction with this class must be sent from a UCI account. That is, if you want any response or action taken, then you must use your UCI account to send the email. Email from yahoo, hotmail, juno, @home, or any other non-UCI site will be ignored.

Computing

All computing will be done on the department's NT machines.

You may use another computer to produce the documents you turn in. (No handwritten assignments allowed).

All implementation work will be done in Java.

Please use the computing equipment or instructional purposes only. Also watch out on the social subtleties of electronic mail.

Academic Dishonesty