Class Details

Monday, Wednesday, 12:00 -1:20 PM, 202 Chapman
CRN: 12475 (for 422), 12483 (for 522), 4 Credits

Mandatory Attendance! Attendance is required for CIS 422 students. Missing the first week of class will result in an automatic drop.

Textbook
No textbook. Rather, we will read topical and seminal articles from the the web and from Software Engineering literature. CIS 522 students will have some additional readings for depth.

Instructor:
Stuart Faulk
Office: 354 Deschutes
Office hours: 1:30 - 2:30 after class, by appointment, or any time my office door is open.

News

10/2: Team assignments today

CIS 422/522 Introduction

This is a project-oriented course on software engineering. You will work as teams to construct software systems, including not only programs but also specifications, design documents, end-user documentation, maintenance guides, etc. You will also be expected to think about principles and issues in software engineering, to read and respond to papers, and to participate in class discussions.

Software Engineering is an applied discipline for which years of experience are required to develop real expertise, this course is only a start. The objective is to prepare you to learn more effectively from real-world experiences based on an understanding of the broad principles that pervade software engineering. Because these principles and issues are fundamental, they appear again and again even as popular methods and tools evolve. Yesterday we had structured development, today we have object-oriented development, tomorrow we can expect something else ... but the fundamental challenges of teamwork, complexity, and managing change, have been with us from the beginning and will be with us for the foreseeable future.

The Project

You will learn the principles of Software Engineering, teamwork, and management though hands-on software development. You will work in teams on one or two sofware projects. A detailed description is provided on the Projects page. You can see examples of of project work products from past 422 and 423 classes: Example1, Example2 and Example3. While these are overall good examples, they each have strengths and weaknesses. You should not emulate what they have done without giving some thought to how it might be improved.