COMP 253 SPRING

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COMP 253 SPRING 08

• Logistics and Introduction
• 15 January

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Contact information

• AIM dianepozefsky
• Not for links or information that I need to save
• If I appear to be on at 3 a.m., Im probably not
• I do sometimes forget to do away messages
• email pozefsky_at_cs.unc.edu
• phone (cell) 824-9073
• Dropping in Sitterson 141
• If we have a meeting scheduled and someone is in
  my office, interrupt

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Teams
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The right software, delivered defect
free, on time and
on cost, every time.
Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering
Institute
Software Engineering Objective

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Course Objectives

• Overview of the practice of software engineering
  why software development is more than coding
• Hands on experience of the full process and
  working on a team
• Awareness of software engineering failures in the
  real world
• Awareness of new technologies

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About the Projects

• Service Learning APPLES course
• Does not require that all projects be service
  learning (though this year all are)
• No additional work. Appears on your transcript.
• Last year had the opportunity to present our work

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About the Course

• Communications Intensive (new curriculum)
• Implies Documentation revision
• Past years optional
• This year required
• Applies to all documentation
• Some dates will change

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Logistics

• All meetings are in my office (Sitterson 141)
• I would like to attend your first meeting with
  your client
• If not the first, shortly thereafter
• Im flexible about rescheduling meetings
• But I get grumpy when Im stood up
• Agree on contact procedure for missing or late
• Feel free to contact me at any time by email,
  phone, or IM
• Class attendance is expected
• Essays will cover class material

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Inclement weather policy

• Generally follows university
• If not having class on a day the university is
  open, I will email class before 9 am
• Possible exceptions
• University open and busses not running
• University re-opens at 1230 and sidewalks arent
  cleared until then
• We win another national championship

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Class Material

• All content available on web site
• Slides
• Templates
• http//www.cs.unc.edu/pozefsky/COMP523_S08
• Sections for each project
• Should be repository of all material
• Public site
• Will give access as soon as I have your cs id
• Can be pointer to any site you want

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Web Site

• Contact information
• Overview of project
• Related links
• Repository for all documents
• Team rules
• Contract
• Schedule
• Code
• Journal or log of decisions made and reasoning
  or youll keep revisiting the same decisions

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Web Site Options

• Build Your Own Web Site
• Google code, doc, calendar,
• Caveat Google doc good for working
  documentsnot for final formatting
• TRAC option
• Sourceforge
• Wiki
• Combinations thereof

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Readings

• No class text
• Light assigned readings
• Lots of references
• However, if you are going to go into the software
  engineering field, consider reading
• Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month

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How the Course Will Run

• Classes are planned for the full semester
• Conflict week of February 18 work sessions
• Working on guest speakers
• Meetings
• Weekly team meetings with me organizational and
  technical
• Meetings with the client as appropriate (probably
  weekly)
• Weekly team meetings
• Regular deliverables
• Description posted on web
• Broad dates are class-wide details are
  team-defined
• Multiple executable deliverables to client

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Beyond the Project

• Essays
• In lieu of exams
• Probably 4
• Two pages
• Must be done electronically
• One week to write
• Presentations
• Midterm what the project is about!
• Week before spring break
• Final show and tell

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End of the Semester

• Project completed
• Exchange of documentation
• Additional documents
• Evaluation of team performance
• Final presentation
• Show and tell
• In lieu of final exam
• Clients invited

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General Structure

• Spec first, then contract, and initial design doc
• Each week, Ill ask each team member to fill in a
  form with hours for
• Meetings
• Documentation
• Code
• Design
• Final project will be due 2 weeks before the end
  of class
• Last two weeks for testing
• Final grade is on the FIXED code

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Deliverables

• Functional specification
• Project schedule
• Contract
• User interface sketches
• Design
• Implementation manual
• User guide
• Code
• Running system
• Presentations

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First Deliverables

• Team rules 17 January
• First meeting with client ASAP
• Web site as soon as I get you access

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Documentation

• All electronic documentation will be linked from
  the web site
• Commonly used software packages only
• Spelling matters
• as does grammar
• Deadlines are expected to be met
• Adapting the schedule is different than missing
  deadlines

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Professionalism

• You are representing the university, the
  department, this class and yourself
• Your web site is publicly available and may be
  accessed by outside people
• You are expected to
• show common courtesy
• make it to meetings promptly or notify people
• meet your commitments
• It is part of your grade

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Team Rules

• Establish them now before problems arise
• Team behavior
• Notifying team members if youre going to be late
• Ways to contact and communicate
• Responses to emails
• Expected times
• Meaning of no response
• Coding practices
• Style
• Prologue
• How to maintain current state
• Strongly recommend using a formal mechanism
• CVS, Subversion,
• More than one project has accidentally regressed
  in the last two days

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Grading

• 80 project
• individual contribution multiplier (.8 1.1)
• 40 code
• 30 documentation
• 5 on time delivery
• 5 professionalism (includes doc exchange)
• 10 team presentations
• 10 essays

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Individual Contribution

• Rare that it will go over 1.0
• Basically, you cant do better than the project
• But there are always exceptional circumstances
• Inputs
• Weekly record of hours
• Peer evaluations
• My evaluation
• Client evaluation
• Consultant evaluations

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All software projects are different

• but
• Requirements will change.
• Surprises will happen.
• Schedules will slip.
• Life will happen.

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Common Mistakes

• Over committing (big eyes)
• Unrealistic schedules
• Training
• Access to people or materials
• Hours in the day
• Level of detail
• Vague descriptions
• Over specification
• Not knowing your user
• Assuming that youll get it right the first time

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Clients vs. Users

• The client is the person paying the bill
• The users are the ones that will
• Use your system
• Maintain your system
• Administer your system
• Know their
• Skill level
• Time constraints
• Tolerances
• Expectations