Offered

Clayton Second semester 2008 (Day)

Synopsis

The subject provides an introduction to the discipline of Software Engineering. The emphasis is upon a broad coverage of the areas, since students will at this early stage not have adequate programming skills to tackle many of the topics in greater depth. The notion of a software system as a model or approximation of a desired system is introduced, and used as a way of describing such things as the software life cycle and its various models, programming by contract, design and testing issues, maintenance, reuse, complexity, divide and conquer strategies, metrics and measurement, project management and software legacy.

Objectives

By the completion of the unit students will:

1. understand the breadth and nature of the discipline of Software Engineering;
2. understand the effect and implications of complexity in large software systems;
3. understand the issues in constructing large software systems from its components, and the nature and design of those components;
4. be aware of the responsibilities placed upon a software engineer;
5. be able to use basic modelling techniques to define and describe the behaviour of software systems;
6. be able to apply some basic measurement techniques to software systems;
7. have an understanding of common software team structures and have developed practical skills in solving small problems in teams.

Assessment

Examination (2 hours): 60%
Laboratory classes/Tutorials/assignments/test: 40%

Contact hours

5 x contact hrs/week

Prerequisites

FIT1002 (or equivalent including CSE1301 and ENG1060)

Prohibitions

CSE1401