Course Syllabus
Description
Software Lifecycle Models describe many ways in which software development teams can be organized, how artifacts (documents, reports, and software) are generated and utilized, how communication between team members occurs, and how progress is tracked.
Why Do I Care?
When you graduate, you will most likely be put into a group working on a large project. How will this group function? What procedures are you to follow? What is the purpose of the meetings and various documents the team uses? What role will you fulfill, and what other roles are at work?
The purpose of CSE 272 is to help you answer these and other related questions. The hope is that, on the first day of the job, you will find a familiar structure and know how you fit in.
Course Outcomes
Successful graduates of CSE 272 will be able to do the following:
- Critique the quality of a given article and identify the assumptions on which an author's conclusions were made.
- Enumerate, define, explain, compare, and contrast the software development lifecycle models.
- Choose an appropriate lifecycle model (or adapt a lifecycle model) for a given software development situation.
- Accept the principles of software engineering and commit to applying them in the workplace.
Course Materials
There are three sources of materials for this course. Each of them is provided at no cost to the student.
- The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition by F. Brooks. Addison-Wesley, 1995. (ISBN 0-201-83595-9)
- Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tim Lister and Tom DeMarco, 2013. Addison-Wesley, 1995. (ISBN 0-321-93411-3)
- A collection of articles (links will be provided in the course)
The Mythical Man-Month is available in the university bookstore. Compare Prices for your textbooks through the University Store Comparison Site. They will show you all of the options from the University Store plus several online options to help you find the best price.
Additional material available through I-Learn:
- Schedule
- Assignments
- Additional material pertaining to a given week
Organization
The class will be divided into seven two-week blocks. Each block will consist of two weeks. The first week (odd number weeks) will consist of reading and class debate. The second week (odd number weeks) will be used to apply the development methodology to a hypothetical team.
First Week
About a third of our time in the first week (about two hours) will be spent reading research articles and chapters from our textbooks. This will be accompanied by a reading quiz to be completed early in the week.
The rest of our time in the first week (about four hours) will be spent engaging in a class debate. For online seconds, this will take place on a discussion board. For campus classes, this will occur in class. In both cases, points will be awarded according to the quality of your comments and how well it is supported with quality sources.
Second Week
The second week will be spent on an application exercise. Here, you will organize a hypothetical software engineering team in accordance with the development methodology of the block. You and your partner (a partnership will be assigned at the end of Week 02) will work together to decide how best to utilize your team's resources. For both campus and online sections, this will constitute 100% of your class effort for the second week.
Assessment
The grading breakdown for the class will be the following:
| Prepare | 20% |
|---|---|
| Teach One Another | 30% |
| Ponder and Prove | 50% |
Grades are as follows:
| 100%—90% | A: | Demonstrated mastery of the class. |
|---|---|---|
| 89.9%—80% | B: | All of the key concepts and skills have been learned. |
| 79.9%—70% | C: | Acceptable, but might not be ready to graduate. |
| 69.9%—60% | D: | Developing; the class has yet to be mastered. |
| 59.9%—0% | F: | Failed to understand or complete the course. |
There will also be the usual pluses and minuses. All grades are reported on I-Learn. If you feel that I-Learn does not accurately reflect your earned grade, please discuss this with your instructor.
Most of the learning activities have a time estimate associated with them. These signify how long it takes the average student to complete the activity for the average grade. Some students will complete the assignment significantly faster or slower than the average, and getting an "above average" grade may take much more time and effort. Please use the estimates as guidelines; they are not guarantees.
Policies
You may work with your classmates, but all submitted work must be original. The penalty for the copying or plagiarizing of assignments might be one or more of the following: a zero on an assignment, being asked to withdraw from the class, a failing grade in the class, or disciplinary action by the university.
Homework assignments are to be completed as scheduled. Late work is generally not accepted. However, assignments may be rescheduled for a limited number of emergency situations if you discuss your situation with your instructor before (not on, and especially not after) the scheduled due date. There will be no routine extensions of due dates; be prepared to justify any requests for extensions.
Communication
There will be two main ways to communicate with the instructor in CSE 272: BYU-Idaho email and the announcements.
- Email: All students are required to use their BYU-Idaho email when communicating with the instructor. Please do not count on using the phone (unless explicitly arranged by the instructor), Facebook, or any other form of communication. The instructor will answer all your emails in less than 24 hours. Please contact your instructor directly for questions about your grade.
- Announcements: Please check the announcements every single day. The instructor will periodically post important and time-sensitive items in the announcements.
Accessibility
BYU-Idaho is committed to providing a working and learning atmosphere that reasonably accommodates qualified persons with disabilities. Reasonable academic accommodations are reviewed for all students who have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the student and instructor by BYU-Idaho Disability Services. If you need assistance or feel you have been unlawfully discriminated against on the basis of disability, you may seek resolution through established policy and procedures.
If you have any disability that may impair your ability to complete this course successfully, please contact Disability Services as soon as possible, preferably before the beginning of the semester, in order to ensure that you receive appropriate accommodations.
Disability Services Contact Information:
- Phone: (208) 496-9210
- Email: disabilityservices@byui.edu
- Fax: (208) 496-5210
- Website: BYUI Disability Services page
Discrimination
BYU-Idaho prohibits sex discrimination against any participant in its education programs or activities. Prohibited sex discrimination includes incidents of sexual harassment (including sexual violence), dating violence, domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking (collectively “sexual misconduct”).
As an instructor, one of my responsibilities is to help create a safe learning environment for my students and for the campus as a whole. University policy requires that I report all incidents of sexual misconduct that come to my attention. If you encounter sexual misconduct, please contact the Title IX Coordinator at titleix@byui.edu or 208-496-9209. Additional information about sexual misconduct and available resources can be found on the Addressing Sexual Harassment at BYU-Idaho page of the BYU-Idaho website.
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|