What's New
Updated D2L Website
I made an update to the D2L website that should make the “dropbox” for Homework 1 more visible. If you look in the Upcoming Events section of the Calendar, you will see a due date for homework 1. Clicking on the link in that announcement, will take you to the page for Homework 1 which then has a dropbox that you can use to upload your file. You can also get to this page by clicking “Dropbox” in the Assessments menu and then clicking the item for Homework 1.
I also modified Quiz 1 (which goes active tomorrow) to remove a few questions on material that I was not able to cover during Lecture 2. I will cover the remainder of Lecture 2’s material next week during Lecture 3.
Source Code for the Scattered Application
At the end of Lecture 1, I used an application called Scattered to demonstrate that software engineering is not just about programming and that a software engineer will make use of multiple tools (an IDE and a profiler) when tracking down a problem and may have to re-design a program (in this case converting a single-threaded application to a multi-threaded application) in order to solve that problem.
The Scattered application comes from the excellent book Cocoa Programming for Mac OS X, 4th Edition by the Big Nerd Ranch.
You can examine the source code for this application on Github. The file of interest (the one I featured briefly during the lecture) is called ScatteredAppDelegate.m:
Note: I will NOT be asking questions about this code in homework assignments and/or quizzes. But, if you would like to study these examples in more detail, by all means, please do!
Quiz 1
I have created a quiz in D2L that will “go live” on Friday morning at 8 AM. Please take the quiz before it closes next week (the exact time that it closes is posted on the 5828 D2L website calendar). When you take the quiz, make sure that you are in a quiet environment and have access to your class notes, lecture slides, the No Silver Bullet essay, and you’ve viewed both Lecture 1 and 2 (either by attending class or watching the lectures on-line). Furthermore, make sure that you have about 30 minutes of uninterrupted time. The quiz is not hard, but you don’t want to rush, and you are only allowed to submit your answers once.
Class Websites
A student contacted me today to let me know that the CAETE website had an incorrect link to the video for Lecture 1. I’m sure this problem will be fixed but in the future, students should make use of this website and the 5828 D2L website for this class that is available via MyCUInfo. I will use this website to make announcements and to distribute problem statements. I will use D2L to distribute some course materials, to post grades, to conduct quizzes, and to have students upload assignments for review.
The video for Lecture 1 is available by going to the D2L website for 5828 and then clicking on the “Lecture Access” link that appears near the top left of that page.
Homework 2 Google Doc URL
Homework 2 references a Google Doc that we’ll use for signing up to interview a professional software engineer. To protect the privacy of our ~50 volunteers, I am not going to share that URL on this public website and I’m asking you to not share the URL with people outside of our class. Please respect our volunteers, so they will be willing to help our class both this semester and in the future!
With that as context, I just posted the URL on D2L. So, login to MyCUInfo, head to the D2L website for this class, and look at the News section to find the link to the Google Doc that you will need to work on Homework 2.
Relationship between this website and D2L
I will be using D2L as a way to deliver documents to you (if needed) and as a way for you to upload homework assignments to me. This class website will remain the primary way to get information about this course. So, you will use this website to keep up-to-date with the class and D2L to upload homework assignments and view your grades in the class.
Course Lectures
The course lectures will be available to all students (both in-class students and CAETE students) via the Desire 2 Learn website for this course. Just log-in to MyCUInfo, then select Desire2Learn, and then select the D2L site for this class. At that point, you should be presented with a link that will take you to the video recordings of the lecture.
The First Reading
The first reading of the semester will be No Silver Bullet by Fred Brooks. We will discuss this essay in detail at the second lecture of class and it will form the basis of Homework 1. You can access this essay on the course’s Desire 2 Learn website which you can access via MyCUInfo.
Textbooks
A page with pointers to the textbooks for this semester is now available. We'll be using three books to learn about agile techniques, designing and implementing concurrent software systems, and software design. I'll also be supplementing the information in these books with slides from previous instances of this class as well as material from other software engineering textbooks.
Welcome!
I'm working on the class website for CSCI 5828 for the Fall 2014 semester. Pardon my dust and stay tuned!
Syllabus Statements
Each semester, the University asks that students be reminded of information and policies concerning Disability Accommodations, Religious Observances, Classroom Behavior, Discrimination and Harassment, and the Honor Code. That information is located on the Syllabus Statements page. Please scan this information at the start of the semester and let me know if you have any questions.