CS451 Software Engineering

Course Trivia

Introduction

Software is:

Software Engineering is the science and art of building significant software systems that are on time, on budget, with acceptable performance, and with correct operation. Significant systems require team effort, many dollars spent over lifetime of software, many lines of code, and continuous modification and maintenance. Software Engineering aims at improving the quality of software, which has a tremendous impact on modern society. The cost of incorrect software is often huge, leading to loss of human life or financial bankruptcy. The software development industry is significant with over $500 billion spent each year on producing software. Before proceeding with the course material, I briefly present one of several software-related ``horror stories'':

``The Bank of America intended to spend $23 million on a 5-year project to develop a new accounting system. It finally spent $60 million trying to make the new system work before abandoning it. The loss of business was estimated in excess of one billion dollars!''

Course Grading Scheme

An "A" grade typically means that a student is in the top 20% of the class. A "B" grade means that the student is in the top 40% of the class (but not in the top 20%). A "C" grade means that the student is in the top 60% of the class (but not in the top 40%). Other grades (i.e., "D", "F") mean that the student is in the bottom 40% of the class. In this case the instructor decides if the student gets a passing grade (i.e., a "D") or a failing grade (i.e., an "F").

Assignments

Since the assignments require knowledge of the Java programming language, students are encouraged to consult the following resources:

Students must work on the assignments individually. Late assignments will receive a 0 grade.

If the TA or instructor finds strong evidence of cheating on assignments and/or any of the examinations, the students involved will receive an "F" in the course and a memo describing the cheating will be added to their student record. So be very careful, it is not worth the risk.

Examinations

The midterm and final examinations are all closed book. Students will be tested only on material covered in the class prior to the test date. Hence, the final examination will be on the entire material of the course.

In order to prepare for the examinations, students should study the appropriate material from the textbook and lecture slides. The examination questions will be a mixture of short answer questions (e.g., definitions, small problems, etc.) and essay questions.

Course Schedule

You may use the above links to obtain an on-line copy of the lecture notes.  The lecture notes are provided in Adobe Acrobat format.  Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free viewer for Adobe PDF files. A copy can be downloaded from here:

getacro.gif (712 bytes)

On the MCS Unix workstations, make sure that you specify acroread as a "Helper" under Netscape's "General Preferences". (e.g., application/pdf acroread %s)

You may print the lecture notes from within Acroread. Note that Acroread enables you to print multiple slides per page.

Academic Honesty

The university's Academic Honesty policy is in effect for this course. Please read Section 10: "Academic Honesty" in the Drexel University Student Handbook to make sure you are familiar with this policy. An electronic version of the Student Handbook appears on the university's student handbook online at: http://www.drexel.edu/studentlife/studenthandbook2002/Judicial/acadhon.ht ml

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