Syllabus -- Fall Semester 2009

Basics

Instructor: Eugene Wallingford

• Office: 305 ITTC
• Phone: 273-5919
• E-Mail: wallingf@cs.uni.edu
• WWW: http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/


• Click here for my office hours and schedule

Resources

• Readings will be distributed as links to papers, articles, and chapters on-line. There is no text book for the course.
• Course web page: http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/teaching/172/
• Course mailing list: 810-172-01-fall@uni.edu

To send messages to the course mailing list, you must send from the mailing address at which you are subscribed. By default, that is your uni.edu e-mail address. If you'd like to be subscribed from some other address, just let me know.

Course Goals

Eventually, you want to write programs larger than the ones you usually write in class. Or you want to write programs that will be used for years rather than weeks or days. Or you want to write programs for other people to use. Or you need to work on team of programmers. Or you need to write programs that require a higher degree of reliability than the programs you write for yourself. As code grows in size, lifespan, audience, development process, or external requirements, the practices you use to write programs for yourself may not suffice any more.

This course gives you an opportunity to learn about software engineering, an area of computer science that studies how we can write large, long-lived, complex programs for real users under real-world constraints. You will gain experience with practices and tools that support the development of such software.

Course Policies

• I try to accommodate student needs whenever possible, but I can only do so if I know about them. If you ever have to make alternate arrangements for a class session, a quiz, or an assignment, please contact me in advance. The safest way to make such an arrangement is to notify me by e-mail or phone of your circumstances and of how you can be reached.


• My regularly-scheduled office hours are times when I am committed to provide assistance to you. No matter how busy I may appear when you arrive, the office hours are for you. You are welcome -- and encouraged -- to make use of that time. I am also available by appointment at other times if you cannot make an office hour.


• All assignments are due at their assigned date and time. In order to receive partial credit, always submit your best effort at that time. I do not accept late work.


• I encourage you to discuss ideas from the course, even those involved in homework assignments, with me and your classmates, as a way to help you understand the problems and possible solutions better. However, any work you submit must be your own. Discuss ideas, but write your own answers, including all code. You should acknowledge any collaboration explicitly in the work you submit. Undocumented or unacceptable collaboration is considered a form of academic dishonesty.


• UNI has an established policy of academic integrity. Plagiarism and other forms of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated in this course. See the UNI catalog for details on the university's policy.

Grading

Grades will be determined on the basis of your performance on homework assignments and examinations. Homework assignments include a small team project implemented over the final ten weeks of the term. Examinations may include short quizzes. Some assignments involve critical writing.

Grades will be assigned using an absolute scale:

• 90% or above for an A,
• 80% or above for a B,
• 70% or above for a C,
• 60% or above for a D, and
• below 60% for an F.

This means that there is no curve.