CSC 4700 Software Engineering

Spring 2008 Recap

This was a challenging and fun semester, but what did we learn?

• We got a feel for how to engineer a Google Gadget
• We know what Software Engineering means
• We heard about the range of careers in Software Engineering
• We formed opinions about the "No Silver Bullet" article
• We went through the product brainstorming process
• We learned about Agile Development
• We learned about the Waterfall and Evolutionary models
• We learned about the commonalities of software process models
• We heard first hand from software engineers at a large company
• We heard first hand from a software engineer from a small company
• We learned about project planning and management
• We learned how to use project management software, such as Open Workbench
• We learned about UML and how to use UML design tools, such as ArgoUML
• We created a project proposal which included a budget justification and schedule
• We learned the importance of clear communication while crafting a specification of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
• We squeezed a massive amount of software engineering terminology and ideas into our brains for the midterm exam
• We learned about writing a software specification
• We learned about open source and free software, and the distinction between the two
• We know how Richard Stallman is (GNU project, "why open source misses the point")
• We saw a variety of example specifications from simple to extensive
• We learned in detail about the IEEE standard specification template and used it
• We created a typical software project web site and maintained it
• We prepared a first draft specification for a software product
• We prepared a final specification of a software product
• We formally presented the software product in class
• We learned about good and bad user interface design, viewing many examples
• We learned about refactoring
• We learned to install and use Eclipse, and performed refactoring hands-on
• We learned about test driven development
• We learned about using JUNIT and Eclipse for test driven development
• We downloaded, installed and used CVS software (jCVS), and learned about managing source code
• We discussed Guerilla code development
• We learned about installers and configuration management
• We performed peer evaluations of other team projects and our own team members
• We performed a project post mortem of our own team project efforts
• We rickrolled (sometimes to excess)

05/02/2008