Lori Pollock
436 Smith Hall
Office Hours: by appointment.
pollock@cis.udel.edu

Course Prerequisites

CISC 220: Data Structures or permission of instructor

Course Description

This course is the study of software tools and environments commonly used throughout the software life cycle. The course will focus on the kinds of tools used in the software life cycle, the goals of each kind of tool, how the tools are used in practice, and the technology behind the tools. Students will learn about how to choose from among a variety of different tools for a given software engineering task. Tools to be examined will include integrated development environments, version control, software testing, performance profiling, and debugging.

The course is a study abroad course, located in Geneva, Switzerland.Much of the course will be taught at CERN, with field trips to various computing companies and research institutions. The classes will be very collaborative and hands-on with demos, lab time to work with the software tools, and discussion.

Course Objectives

At the end of this course, the student should have:

• a solid knowledge and hands-on experience of using state-of-the-art software tools for developing and maintaining large software systems
• knowledge of when best to use different tools, the limitations of the tools, and what th ey have to offer
• an awareness of the challenges and strategies in building software tools
• improved oral and written communication skills, particularly in regard to technical cont ent
• a first-hand experience at a set of research institutions and industry labs, with an awareness of the tools and environments used in today's labs
• exposure to computing in an international setting

Course Requirements

Each student is expected to complete the following:

• (20%) Readings/exercises to explore how to use the software tools. There will be short readings of relevant articles and short exercises to be performed with the goal of familiarizing each student with the numerous features and limitations of the softare tools to be learned. We will use large, open-source Java programs written by others as the subjects of these exercises.
• (15%) Demo of a software tool. Each student will work with a partner to prepare and present a demo of a specific software tool to the class, complete with some powerpoint slides and an interactive demo.
• (35%) Group CERN interview/poster project. Each student will work with a partner to interview the major leaders of an active project at CERN, work with the project leaders to develop technical content that characterizes their project, and prepare a poster that describes the project to other technically skilled scientists.
• (20%) Journal summaries of interviews at company/lab visits. Each student will write 1-2 page journal summaries of the experience at each company/research visit.
• (10%) Active participation in class discussions. Each student is expected to attend all class sessions and companry/research lab visits, and actively participate in the class discussions, actively ask questions on the visits, and provide student feedback on demos and posters.

To be successful in this course, a student should use their problem-solving skills, be inquisitive about independently exploring the features of the software tools, work to refine their communication skills, be proactive about asking questions on company and research lab visits, and use their conflict resolution skills in collaborative projects.

Additional Requirements for Honors Credit

Course Policies

Students are expected to

• attend all class sessions and company and research lab visits
• complete all assignments on time
• contribute equally in group work
• be proactive in asking questions on company/research lab visits
• actively participate in class discussions
• strive to improve their communication skills, both orally and written
• be on time for leaving for CERN and company/research lab visits

Grading, Evaluation Policies and Procedures

Each student's course grade will be computed based on the following:

• (20%) Readings/exercises to explore how to use the software tools.
• (15%) Demo of a software tool.
• (35%) Group CERN interview/poster project.
• (20%) Journal summaries of interviews at company/lab visits.
• (10%) Active participation in class discussions.

Group Work Grading: Group work will be graded, and then each individual's grade on the group project weighed based on student feedback on each student's participation in the project workload. If the student participated fairly equally in the workload, then each will receive the full earned grade. If the workload was very uneven, then a proportion of the earned grade may be assigned accordingly to the individuals. Each assignment will have a grading criteria provided when the assignment is given. Students will receive peer feedback on some of their work, but the assigned grade will be by the instructor, not based on student feedback.

Assignment Submission: Work to be graded must be given to the instructor by the start of class on the due date, in order to have no points deducted for lateness. The due dates are to be taken seriously and you should not expect them to be extended. The pace of work is implicit in the due dates and necessary if you expect to finish by the end of the semester. NO late work will be accepted FOR FULL CREDIT without discussion with me prior to the due date. If you can not reach me, leave a message on my voicemail or email. All other assignments not delivered by the due date are considered late.

Lateness: My philosophy on late assignments is: (1) Everyone should try their best to complete all assignments by the specified due date. (2) People who work conscientiously to make the deadlines should be rewarded for their promptness and sacrifice of sleep. Thus, allowing others to hand in late assignments without some penalty is not fair to these people. However, there are various circumstances that may prevent you from completing an assignment by the due date. Allowing no late assignments would not give you much incentive to continue to work on the assignment, which is a major source of learning in this course. Thus, I believe late assignments are better than no assignment.

Late assignments will be penalized 10% off the total possible points if turned in within the first 24-hour period after the specified due date and time, and 5% per 24-hour period (or fraction of a day) (including weekends) after that time, up to a week after the due date. Late assignments will be accepted with penalty up to one week after the due date. Assignments submitted at any later time without an approved excuse will not be accepted. It is up to you to determine the version of your assignment to be graded. You must weigh the late penalty against the completeness of your assignment.

Regrading Policy: If you are dissatisfied with a grade on any work handed in, you should consult the instructor directly within a week of the day the graded assignment was returned to you. No regrade requests will be considered after this week period.

Posting Grades: With your permission, grades will be posted periodically (by your secret code) on the course website. Questions about accuracy of recorded grades should be addressed to me.

Academic Dishonesty: You are permitted to consult with other students and professors on any conceptual problems and projects designated as group work. Any evidence of collaboration other than this kind will be handled as stated in the Official Student Handbook of the University of Delaware. If you are in doubt regarding the requirements, please consult with me before you complete any requirement of this course.

Course Calendar

Date	Topic	Readings	Assignment
7/13	Leave for Geneva
7/14	Arrive in Geneva! Get Settled Group Trip to ATM, downtown bus station, grocery store, mall
7/15	Group Siteseeing in Geneva
7/16	Access at CERN, CERN Orientation Software Installations	Eclipse Website Eclipse Overview article  Eclipse Plugin Central
7/17	Overview and the Software Life Cycle More Software Installations First interviews with CERN project groups 3:30 PM CERN OpenLab Seminar	Eclipse Website Eclipse Overview article  Eclipse Plugin Central	Sign up for demos Course Introduction/Eclipse plugin how to Slides
7/18	IDE's, Eclipse, Java Development with Eclipse First interviews with CERN project groups		Browsing sourceforge.net, Using "Eclipse for the life cycle" exercise Class Set of Interview Questions for Visits
7/19	Train to Zurich; afternoon ETHZ Visit; Fondue Dinner Overnight in Zurich	Review Interview Questions; ETHZ webpages	Journal summary of ETHZ visit
7/20	Morning IBM Zurich Visit; siteseeing in Zurich; Return to Geneva or stay on own	IBM Zurich webpages	Journal summary for IBM Zurich visit
7/21-7/22	On Your Own
7/23	Version Control: CVS Demo	CVS	"Using CVS " exercise
7/24	Comparison of CVS and Subversion; Overview on Software Testing	Subversion web sites Excerpt on Software Testing Introduction
7/25	JUnit Demo 3:30PM CERN OpenLab Seminar	JUnit website JUnit Tutorial JUnit Tour How to Use JUnit	"Using JUnit" exercise
7/25	Emma Coverage Tool Demo	Emma web site	"Using Emma coverage tool" exercise
7/26	Train through the Alps to Lugano siteseeing in Lugano Italian dinner Overnight in Lugano	Review interview questions; SCSC web site	Journal summary of SCSC visit
7/27	Swiss Center for Scientific Computing visit Return to Geneva, or travel on your own
7/28-7/29	On Your Own
7/30	Profiling and Debugging Tools Eclipse TPTP Demo  Refactoring with Eclipse	Eclipse TPTP web site	"Refactoring" exercise
7/31	Findbugs 3:30PM CERN OpenLab Seminar	Findbugs web site Findbugs Plugin	Using "Findbugs" exercise
8/1	Holiday - Switzerland's birthday!
8/2	Source Code Analyzers: Metrics Demo Poster and Journal Summaries Feedback/Discussion	Metrics Plugin web site	Using "Metrics" exercise
8/3	Excursion to Zermatt Siteseeing in Zermatt Dinner and Overnight in Zermatt
8/4	Seeing the Matterhorn
8/5	On your own
8/6	Train to Lausanne; Swiss Technological Institute (EPFL) Visit Siteseeing in Lausanne;	Review interview questions; EPFL web site	Journal summary of EPFL visit
8/7	(starting at 1 pm) Presentation of Suade Article (Rosh, Zak) 3:30 CERN OpenLab Seminar	Suade Article
8/8	Documentation Generation Doxygen demo	Doxygen web site eclox doxygen plugin for Eclipse	"Doxygen/Javadoc" exercise
8/9	CERN Poster presentations to class 3:30 CERN OpenLab Seminar
8/10-8/12	8/11:Farewell Event: 10PM Fetes de Geneve Fireworks over Lake Geneve On your own
8/13	Depart from Geneva for home

Tool Demo Signup - Sign up for one. Each demo is by 2 people unless otherwise specified.

1. CVS Version Contol System
2. Comparison of Subversion with CVS (non-demo presentation by those getting honors credit)
3. JUnit Testing Tool
4. Emma Coverage Tool
5. Eclipse TPTP for Profiling and Tracing - 3 people
6. Findbugs Debugging Tool
7. Metrics Source Code Analyzer
8. Doxygen (eclox) Documentation Generation Tool

Resources

• CERN Project Specification
• Instructions for Preparing Demo Presentations
• Peer Feedback of Demos
• Peer Feedback of Posters
• Peer Evaluation Form for Group Projects

Learning Resources

How will the student be most successful in the course? What resources are available? Study guides, lecture notes online, on reserve in library? TA? Peer tutors? Study groups? Academic Services Center? Writing Center? Evaluation of online resources? Citation of web resources?

Provide link to Academic Services Center, Writing Center

Student feedback on instruction

Anonymous suggestion box on the web? E-mail? Student feedback at midterm for improvement purposes? End-of-term student feedback? Supplement to departmental student feedback form?

University of Delaware