CSCI 5030 - Principles of Software Development

Fall 2019

1. Course Description
2. Prerequisites
3. Course Schedule
4. SLU Git Repository
5. Textbooks and Other Resources
6. Grading
7. Attendance
8. Academic Integrity
9. Title IX Statement
10. Academic Support
11. Disability Services
12. Writing Center
13. Basic Needs Security

Course Description

Software engineering perhaps stands alone as a technical discipline in which there are no universally accepted techniques (either in academia or industry) that everyone agrees produces good software. Instead, there are a wide variety of practices that have grown up around a diverse set of systems. Rather than cataloguing all these techniques and attempting to prescribe their uses, we will look at succesful case studies, listen to experienced veterans describe their approaches, and try to develop an intuition of how large software projects are run in practice. We will also get hands-on experience with the tools and techniques of a modern software development ecosystem, and put these into practice in a semester-long team project.

The four elements of this course are class meetings, quizzes, exams, and a project. This course will be taught as a graduate style seminar- some meeting times will be used for lecture, but out-of-class readings will also be the basis for in-class discussions. Six quizzes will evaluate the student's understanding of class readings, while the exams will assess your ability to comprehensively integrate class topics.

The course project will be an exercise in agile software development following the scrum process. We will discuss agile/scrum soon, but in short effort on the project will be structured around two week sprints. You will be evaluated at three milestones: an alpha product around midterms, a beta product in early November, and a final release on the last day of classes. You will be evaluated on the quality of your product and your group's adherence to process, as well as your individual contributions. Your individual performance will be evaluated by Git commit logs, your participation in code reviews of others' commits, and peer evaluations at the alpha/beta/final stages.

Definite topical outline:

• Software development processes
• Agile and Scrum
• Version control and branching
• Software testing principles, test-driven development
• Overview of software design and architecture
• Code review process

Tenative topics:

• Design patterns
• Software packaging and publishing (e.g. Docker)
• Change management
• User-interface design
• Internationalization and localization
• Designing and using libraries
• Code standards
• Technical debt and refactoring
• Ethics in software development

Assessment Objectives- at the completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Conduct a software development project as part of a team, using an agile process such as Scrum
• Make effective use of a modern version control system
• Use principles of software design in the implementation of a medium-to-large scale software project
• Design and implement thorough test suites
• Conduct effective code reviews and refactor existing code

Catalog Description:An overview of software development at a graduate level, including software engineering processes, software design and architecture, testing and quality assurance, and selected other topics of interest to software practitioners.

Prerequisites

There are no formal catalog prerequisites for this course, but expectations are commensurate with a graduate computing course:

• Significant prior programming experience, including object-oriented programming
• Prior experience using the Linux terminal
• Some familiarity with software development techniques and strategies

Please see the instructor if you're missing a prerequisite or uncertain about your preparation for this course.

Course Schedule

A tentative course schedule is below. Note that this schedule may change over the course of the semester. When changes occur, students will be given enough advance notice so that readings and other preparation may be accommodated.

The "Readings" field refers to material that will be discussed that day in class, not homework for that day. For example, the readings for August 29th will be discussed in class on August 29th. Readings should be completed prior to coming to class for the day.

SLU Git Repository

Version control software is used to track changes to all artifacts related to this course. Most importantly this means project source code, but you should track absolutely everything using version control: data files, config files, build scripts, test code, documentation, READMEs, licence files, project websites and other resources, and so on.

Some things should not be tracked: generated files such as intermediate compilation products and binary executable files bloat the repository, and can't be used unless the server environment is totally replicated by the user. Dependencies such as libraries should be indicated and not replicated, unless you're willing to take on the challenge of regularly updating and maintaining those libraries as well.

There are many reasons why version control is a universal software development tool:

• Makes collaboration easier. Shared, up-to-date code base.
• Tracks history of every change with log message explaininig the reason for it.
• Backup of all files. A single hard drive crash or backpack theft shouldn't kill your grade or bankrupt your startup.
• Serve as a crude method of effort tracking.
• Essential for debugging and “root cause analysis”. Find exact commit that introduced a given bug. Can "diff" between any two stored versions.
• Attributes every line to a feature or specification: most tools allow “blame view” - look at a file with each line annotated by the person who added that line and a reference to the commit that added.
• Allows you to maintain multiple “branches” of a project. Stable branch, “next” branch for next stable release, “trunk” or bleeding edge branch, etc. We’ll do case studies of how different project handle this.
• Branching allows fearless experimentation. Create a branch, try something and if it doesn’t work, discard the branch. If it does, “merge” in with the main development branch. And if you change your mind after merging, you can still “revert” at any time.

A short guide to using SLU's git resources

Textbook and Class Resources

In lieu of a textbook, we will have online readings throughout the semester.

Grading

The semester schedule for exams and quizzes is known well in advance. Make up quizzes and exams will only be given for severe and documented reasons. Your lowest scoring quiz will be dropped.

Your grade will be determined as follows:

Grading is done on a straight scale (uncurved). The following scores are guaranteed. The grading scale may be curved upwards (in your favor) at the discretion of the instructor.

• 93% guarantees an A
• 90% guarantees an A-
• 87% guarantees a B+
• 83% guarantees a B
• 80% guarantees a B-
• 77% guarantees a C+
• 73% guarantees a C
• 70% guarantees a C-
• 60% guarantees a D

Project work assigned for this course is generally expected to be completed collaboratively. However, the sharing of written work or code between teams is strictly prohibited. Exams and quizzes are individual assignments and collaboration is strictly prohibited. Occasionally, the readings for classes may include non-credit exercises designed to inform or enhance your understanding of the material. These non-credit exercises may be completed collaboratively.

Some specific guidelines for this course:

• Code you submit as part of the project must be written by you or your team. You are not allowed to copy code. Copying code, even small portions, in an industrial setting can lead to serious legal and financial consequences for both you and your employer.
• Copying small pieces of code from man pages, online references or other sources is generally acceptable, but to be safe you should check with me first. Code from such sources must be cited with a comment denoting the start and finish of the copied section.
• Copied code that is not cited will be considered plagiarism and will be treated as cheating. Citing your code protects you from this. However, copying large portions of code is still grounds for a reduction in grade, even if it is not cheating. Please check with the instructor if you are copying more than a few lines of code!

Attendance

Successful students attend all or mostly all class sessions. This is true in my experience and has been demonstrated in large scale studies as well. In that study, even students who attended nine out of ten class periods had measurably lower class performance than those who attended all classes. However, there is no attendance requirement for this class, and you do not need to get permission when you do miss class. You are an adult and have the freedom to manage your time in whatever way you feel is most useful. Job interviews, conferences, tests in other courses, etc. are all reasonable cases for being absent.

Note that in-class assignments such as tests or quizes cannot be made up outside of class without prior approval from the instructor. All such activities will be listed course schedule with ample time to prepare (i.e. there are no "pop quizes").

As previously mentioned, a portion of your project grade is adherence to the scrum methodology. Sprint planning and review meetings are integral to the scrum method and therefore your attendance at these class periods will influence your grade.

If you do miss class you should refer to the course schedule to see what was missed and arrange to get course notes from another student. I am always happy to answer questions but I do not repeat full class periods in office hours.

Academic Integrity

Academic integrity is honest, truthful and responsible conduct in all academic endeavors. The mission of Saint Louis University is "the pursuit of truth for the greater glory of God and for the service of humanity." Accordingly, all acts of falsehood demean and compromise the corporate endeavors of teaching, research, health care, and community service via which SLU embodies its mission. The University strives to prepare students for lives of personal and professional integrity, and therefore regards all breaches of academic integrity as matters of serious concern.

The governing University-level Academic Integrity Policy was adopted in Spring 2015, and can be accessed on the Provost's Office website at: https://www.slu.edu/provost/policies/academic-and-course/policy_academic-integrity_6-26-2015.pdf.

Additionally, each SLU College, School, and Center has adopted its own academic integrity policies, available on their respective websites. All SLU students are expected to know and abide by these policies, which detail definitions of violations, processes for reporting violations, sanctions, and appeals. Please direct questions about any facet of academic integrity to your faculty, the chair of the department of your academic program, or the Dean/Director of the College, School or Center in which your program is housed. Specific College of Arts and Sciences Academic Honesty Policies and Procedures may be found here.

Title IX Statement

Saint Louis University and its faculty are committed to supporting our students and seeking an environment that is free of bias, discrimination, and harassment. If you have encountered any form of sexual misconduct (e.g. sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, domestic or dating violence), we encourage you to report this to the University. If you speak with a faculty member about an incident of misconduct, that faculty member must notify SLU's Title IX coordinator, Anna R. Kratky (DuBourg Hall, room 36; akratky@slu.edu; 314-977-3886) and share the basic fact of your experience with her. The Title IX coordinator will then be available to assist you in understanding all of your options and in connecting you with all possible resources on and off campus.

If you wish to speak with a confidential source, you may contact the counselors at the University Counseling Center at 314-977-TALK. To view SLU’s sexual misconduct policy and for resources, please visit the following web addresses: www.slu.edu/here4you and https://www.slu.edu/general-counsel.

Supporting Student Success

In recognition that people learn in a variety of ways and that learning is influenced by multiple factors (e.g., prior experience, study skills, learning disability), resources to support student success are available on campus. The Student Success Center, a one-stop shop, which assists students with academic and career related services, is located in the Busch Student Center (Suite 331). Students can visit https://www.slu.edu/life-at-slu/student-success-center/ to learn more about tutoring services, university writing services, disability services, and academic coaching.

Disability Services

Students with a documented disability who wish to request academic accommodations must contact Disability Services to discuss accommodation requests and eligibility requirements. Once successfully registered, the student also must notify the course instructor that they wish to access accommodations in the course.

Please contact Disability Services, located within the Student Success Center, at Disability_services@slu.edu or 314-977-3484 to schedule an appointment. Confidentiality will be observed in all inquiries. Once approved, information about academic accommodations will be shared with course instructors via email from Disability Services and viewed within Banner via the instructor’s course roster.

Note: Students who do not have a documented disability but who think they may have one are encouraged to contact Disability Services.

University Writing Services

Students are encouraged to take advantage of University Writing Services in the Student Success Center; getting feedback benefits writers at all skill levels. Trained writing consultants can help with writing projects, multimedia projects, and oral presentations. University Writing Services offers one-on-one consultations that address everything from brainstorming and developing ideas to crafting strong sentences and documenting sources. For more information, visit https://www.slu.edu/life-at-slu/student-success-center/ or call the Student Success Center at 314-977-3484.

Basic Needs Security

Students in personal or academic distress and/or who may be specifically experiencing challenges such as securing food or difficulty navigating campus resources, and who believe this may affect their performance in the course, are encouraged to contact the Dean of Students Office (deanofstudents@slu.edu or 314-977-9378) for support. Furthermore, please notify the instructor if you are comfortable in doing so, as this will enable them to assist you with finding the resources you may need.