CS601/CS342: Object-Oriented Software Development

Last updated: January 21, 2009

Spring 2009
Tues/Thur: 3:30-5:15pm HRN 235

Instructor: Terence Parr
Office hours: Any time door is open or by appointment
TA: Shaoting Cai, caishaoting at gmail
  hours: Monday from 1pm to 5pm and Friday 10am to 4pm.
Midterm exam: March 19, 2009
Last day of class: Thursday, May 14, 2009
Exam 1: Mar 19
Exam 2: May 7

This course is cross-listed as both CS601 and CS342; undergraduates and graduate students will be evaluated and graded on different scales.

Abstract

There is more to being a professional developer than learning the syntax and libraries of a programming language--that part is easy. You must learn how to use the myriad of programming tools, how to write robust code, how to produce a simple design, how to interact with team members, and how to cope with a constantly moving target. Furthermore, you must learn how the network, computer, operating system, and your software operate as a unit to provide a useful service. To do this, you must acquire skills traditionally associated with system hardware and software administration. This class provides a survey of real-world programming mechanics and introduces you to the latest object-oriented software development strategies.

My primary goal is to prepare you for a productive programming and research life while in graduate school at USF. Furthermore, I intend to give you a taste of the technologies, strategies, and problems you will encounter as a professional programmer. Most importantly, I want to teach you to how to learn new concepts and technologies, solve your own problems, and do your own research. As a programmer, you must constantly struggle to keep up with the latest advances or you and your skills will become obsolete in a few years.

Student Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course, the student will

• have a firm grasp of structured programming, polymorphism, encapsulation, and data-hinding.
• be comfortable developing and deploying software on Linux.
• know how to use perforce to manage software revisions.
• be familiar with sockets, web related protocols, and techniques related to building servers.
• be able to generate web pages with a strict separation of code/data.
• be able to create database tables and write moderately complicated SQL queries.
• understand the issues associated with multithreaded servers.
• have built a large server in Java and be able to use sessions/cookies to interact with server clients
• be able to explain the concepts and benefits of the following software development techniques:
  • Programming "by contract"
  • Aspect-oriented programming
  • Extreme programming
  • Refactoring
  • Design patterns
• know how to use jUnit and know the principles of testing and building robust software.
• be able to recognize poorly structured code

Syllabus

Lectures notes

Labs

Worksheets

Mini-projects

There are no late projects.

I will deduct 10% if your program is not executable exactly in the fashion mentioned in the project; that is, class name and jar must be exactly right. For you PC folks, note that case is significant for class names and file names on linux! All projects will be graded and must run under linux.

Semester Project

Instruction Format

Grading

For the semester project, you must complete the required level to pass the class!

Please note that class participation is part of your grade. You must learn to interact with other developers and come up with solutions.

In general, I will read all papers, projects, quizzes etc... two times. Once to evaluate the average and a second time to assign scores. In the first pass, I also come up with a scoring strategy for each question.

I consider an "A" grade to be above and beyond what most students have achieved. A "B" grade is an average grade or what you could call "competence" in a business setting. A "C" grade means that you either did not or could not put forth the effort to achieve competence. An "F" grade implies you did very little work or had great difficulty with the class compared to other students.

I will be very strict and set a high standard in my grading, but I will work hard to help you if you are having trouble. You some of you may not get the grade you were hoping for in this class, but I will do everything I can to make sure you learn a lot and have a satisfying educational experience!

Unless you are sick or have a family emergency, I will not change deadlines for projects nor exam times. For example, I will not give you a special final exam just because you want to fly home early. Consult the university academic calendar before making travel plans.

Resources

Books

• Mythical Man Month
• Extreme programming explained
• Refactoring by Fowler
• Any Java book
  • Java in a Nutshell
  • Object-Oriented Software Development in Java:
    Principles, Patterns, and Frameworks by Jia
  • or, Book you currently own
• Any Dilbert book

CS601 Mailing List

http://cs.usfca.edu/mailman/listinfo/cs601.

To post, email cs601@cs.usfca.edu.

Semester Project

1. You will have to release and demonstrate your project on a regular basis (every 2 weeks) during the semester. At each release, you must have a working server. "Almost working" does not count. Imagine that you are building a site that users will begin to access immediately--you cannot release anything in a buggy or "almost-working" state. Show the working server from the last release rather than a new one that introduces bugs in the old functionality or that doesn't work. You can decide on partial functionality but not a partially implemented server. Every release must be tested and will optimally have new features even if the features are simplified versions. You will be graded on how many release dates you hit with new features.
2. You will be given more work than can possibly be done in the allocated time period. You will need to prioritize the tasks and then decide which you will do, which you will simplify, and which you will not do. You may suggest alternative features or modified features. You may suggest that the instructor is nuts and a feature cannot be implemented. Your project management skills will be evaluated in this manner and will affect your grade.
3. The project requirements and feature set will change during the semester in ways that will force fundamental changes in your software. You must learn to balance speed of coding with flexibility. Your ability to anticipate change in your code by making it flexible and your ability to refactor existing code will be evaluated.
4. You may discuss the project but you may not share code. The other students are your "competitors" in the sense that your project is graded in comparison with the other students to get beyond the B grade level into the A range.

There are general definitions of C and B level work that must be completed to achieve those grades on the semester project. To get an A, you must impress me with your ability to code and do significant work beyond the B work in comparison to other projects.

The authors of the two best projects in the class will be excused from exam II. :)

Submission
The big project will be graded while you demonstrate your software in front of the instructor.

By definition, there is no late project--your last working release will be considered in lieu of any unfinished project. Missing a release in order to achieve a better result at the next release is acceptable once or twice, but remember missing all releases to turn in a finished project in December will yield a poor score.

Miscellaneous