News: Next instance of this course in spring 2012

This course covers the following specific topics in software engineering:

• software architecture and design
• architectural patterns and styles
• model-driven software development
• aspect-oriented programming
• problem frames
• software processes including agile methods
• software reuse
• further selected topics

Students shall be able to understand and apply advanced methods, techniques and processes in software engineering.

The listed topics are not exclusive and can change during the semester. The slides will be updated on a week by week basis.

To become familiar with object-oriented design heuristics, the students are asked to work in groups of two on the following tasks for 2-3 given design heuristics:

• Discussion: Describe the heuristic above in your own words. Outline why and when one should follow these rule of thumb; and whether there are some exceptions where the heuristic does not apply.
• Conflicting Heuristic(s): In many cases, two heuristics will be at odds with one and another in a particular area of an object-oriented design. Report any heuristics that are in conflict with the one given above and discuss possible trade-offs.
• (Automated) Detection Strategy: Given an object-oriented system, how can a maintainer detect a violation of the heuristic? Is it possible to automatically search for them within a given code base? Provide a textual description of steps that developers/maintainers can follow to detect such violations in their programs.
• Optional: Implement a small Eclipse plug-in that (semi-)automates these steps. For that you can leverage the Eclipse Java development tools or existing plug-ins, such as the Eclipse metrics plug-in.
• Design Violations in the Wild: Try out your detection strategy to find potential violations of the heuristic above in real source code. You can either use your own code from the Software Praktikum (or download Cuba instead) or check-out an open-source application. Examples: ArgoUML, Azureus/Vuze.
• Refactoring by Example: Use one of the candidates found during the previous step to explain how violations of the design heuristic above could be resolved. Provide a general description, as well a concrete refactoring.

The students are asked to submit their solutions to wuersch(at)ifi.uzh.ch until April, 14.  Submissions are taken into account for final grading.

This course offers a mixture of lectures, discussions, and case studies. This allows the students to actively learn during the lecture and in preparation before and after the lecture based on concrete examples.

Topics will be introduced by presentations triggering the essence of the area. The deepening then is done by reading scientific papers and book chapters. A discussion based on examples or case studies completes specific topics.

• Written exam, presumably Wednesday, 16 June 2010 at 10.15 h.
• In case of only few participants, there will be an oral exam (with individual exam dates).
• We agreed on oral exams around mid of June 2010. Please register by email for your preferred exam slot.

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