Forum for Advancing Software engineering Education (FASE) Volume 11 Number 07 (138th Issue) - July 15, 2001 Note: If you have problems with the format of this document, try ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Table of Contents September 2001 Topic - Software Engineering as a Profession After the Withdrawal: One Year Later Articles An Overview of Web-based teaching in Software Engineering at Murdoch University by Geoffrey G. Roy and Jocelyn Armarego News Items IEEE Software Article: Software Engineering and the Law Calls for Participation Project on Introductory Courses: Promises to Products Advance Programs IEEE International Symposium on Requirements Engineering (RE'01) Position Openings University of Oxford CRP Henri Tudor Contact and General Information about FASE ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ September 2001 Topic - Software Engineering as a Profession After the Withdrawal: One Year Later Topic Editor: Don Bagert Texas Tech University Don.Bagert@ttu.edu On 30 June 2000, ACM voted to withdraw from the Software Engineering Coordinating Committee (SWEcc or SWECC), primarily due to differences with the IEEE Computer Society (its partner in the venture) over the licensing of software engineers. That September, FASE published several articles on the topic "Software Engineering as a Profession After the Withdrawal", which provided for a wide range of articles on the subject. Currently, most of the projects coordinated by SWECC, including SWEBOK (the body of knowledge project) and SWEEP (the education project, which is still a joint IEEE-CS/ACM venture) are still existing and active. It is therefore fitting that FASE revisit the subject a year later, to see how the SWECC projects are doing, to discuss what impact the ACM withdrawal has had, and to look at the progress of other software engineering professional initiatives that may have an impact in this field. Short (generally 2000 words or less) viewpoint and information articles related to this subject are requested. Although ACM and IEEE-CS are both USA-based organizations (albeit with an international membership), submissions from both inside and outside of the US are encouraged. The deadline for submission is on September 8; the submission format is at http://www.cs.ttu.edu/fase/#submissions and at the end of this issue. For more information, please contact the topic editor. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Articles ###################################################################### From: Geoffrey G. Roy An Overview of Web-based teaching in Software Engineering at Murdoch University Geoffrey G. Roy - geoff@eng.murdoch.edu.au Jocelyn Armarego Introduction Within Australia virtually all under-graduate programs in Software Engineering are provided within or in association with a School of Engineering. The Software engineering (SE) degree is thus professionally recognised by the Institution of Engineers, Australia, the accrediting body for all professional engineering programs within Australia. While many Universities provide degrees in Computer/ Information Science (or similar titles) that may include one or two courses in Software Engineering, these would not normally be accredited as a Professional Engineering degree. Currently there are 5/6 fully accredited undergraduate SE degrees, with at least a half dozen more in the pipeline. The first accredited program is offered at Melbourne University; Murdoch was the second to be fully accredited. The Murdoch program was established in 1996. We have been fortunate in being able to design and build a new undergraduate degree in Software Engineering from scratch - with few constraints from existing courses (and staff). From the outset a decision was taken to build our curriculum for web-based delivery, for a number of key reasons: * one of the target audiences is off-campus students * we required a common set of teaching resources that could be used for both on and off-campus students * all courses in the program had to meet our quality standards in terms of content and presentation * the content of the whole program must be permanently documented and independent of which staff is teaching any specific course in any semester. Taken together, and with no staff yet employed, the goal was felt to be achievable. Overview of Program The BE(SE) degree (in common with most undergraduate engineering programs in Australia) requires four years of study after secondary school (year 12), with courses in both mathematics and physics required for entry. For each year of the program the student will undertake 4 courses in each of two 13-week semesters (13 teaching weeks, plus 2/3 weeks study preparation and examinations). Hence a total of 32 courses are required for the complete program. The core SE curriculum is comprised of 8 courses, as follows (in sequence): * Requirements Engineering (year 2) - both classical and O-O approaches * Software Engineering I (year 3) - Software Process * Software Engineering II (year 3) - Quality Assurance * User Interface Design (year 3) - design of user interfaces in a network environment * Advanced Software Design I (year 3) - design strategies, formal methods and introduction to architectures, * Advanced Software Design II (year 3) - software architectures, design patterns and frameworks and O-O formalisms * Software Engineering III (year 4) - Measurement, Improvement and Optimization * Software Engineering IV (year 4) - Environments, Tools and Risk In addition, all students undertake at least six months work experience (which incorporates a capstone project) at the end of the third year, or an "in-house" project where an industry placement cannot be found. Each of these options is equivalent to 4 courses. All of the above courses are now available on-line. Design Concepts At the outset it was understood that the design and implementation of a comprehensive set of on-line courses was more than "putting lecture notes on the web". It is clear that we can do much better than this - and we will need to if the outcomes are to be realized. Some of the key principles we have used are: * The complete set of teaching resources could be classified into Units, Sections and Topics. A Unit is the University's means of classifying curriculum content for assessment purposes (and is the term used to define a course). Sections relate to a clustering of related content derived from the discipline of SE and are comprised of several Topics. Topics are the delivery modules, where a student is required to complete a package of readings, activities and exercises in about 3 to 5 hours of study * We recognise that there are distinct advantages in adopting a spiral approach to teaching so that students can be exposed to similar concepts, perhaps two or three times during their studies, with increasing depth or breadth on each occasion. * While the preparation of teaching resources builds from Topics, the delivery may require a more flexible approach, with teaching required across Sections, using different packages of Topics to meet the teaching needs at each stage in the program. * We required a means of guiding and monitoring the progress of students through the curriculum so that appropriate goals could be achieved at each level of study. In addition, as one would expect, there is a need to effectively use the medium of delivery. This includes the use of interactive tasks within the web-based resources and the use of a wide range of Internet resources to enrich the content we write ourselves. Infrastructure Developments To enable us to achieve these goals we have had to undertake a number of developments and use a variety of delivery tools, including: * the use of a web-connected database that enables us to maintain records of student activity and progress. After some evolutions in development we now use a Java Servlet server to handle the server-side functions with an MS Access database. * A Java applet-based environment is downloaded when the student first logs on. This provides high level authorization and navigation capabilities for the user. It also provides a range of configuration capabilities to set up complete Units of study from packages of topics without having to modify the structure of the web site. These environments work quite well in more recent versions of both Netscape and Internet Explorer. These environments can be previewed from the Online Teaching Resources button at http://eng.murdoch.edu.au. Follow the instructions from the link to the Teaching Demonstration site. Interested readers are encouraged to explore this web site, as the full capabilities are best seen by trying it out for yourself. Feedback and comments are welcome and invited. A more detailed description of the online learning environments is provided in Armarego et al (2001). Reference Armarego, J, Fowler, L and Roy, GG (2001) 'Constructing Engineering Knowledge: development of an online learning environment' in In search of a software engineering profession. Proceedings of the 14th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, Charlotte (NC) pp 258-267 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ News Items ###################################################################### By: Don Bagert (Professional Issues Editor) IEEE Software Article: Software Engineering and the Law The May/June 2001 issue of IEEE Software (Vol. 18, No. 3) contains the article "Software Engineering and the Law" by John Cosgrove on pages 14-16. (Mr. Cosgrove's bio states that he is a licensed Professional Engineer in Electrical Engineering in the state of California, and that he was worked in software engineering for 40 years, most of it as a self-employed consultant.) Mr. Cosgrove discusses the reasons for the rising costs of litigation in the software development industry. In a section titled "Why Software is Different", he states that "Most engineered systems start with comprehensive plans and specifications. Few software- intensive systems do! This simple fact sets the stage for most of the issues leading to litigation. In fact, it is usually impossible to completely define most practical software systems...Thus, there is no clear answer to the inevitable legal difficulties..." The author goes on to discuss what software developers can do to avoid and survive litigation, and ends with a warning: "Litigation... involving computers and software is clearly going to become an increasing part of the computer professional's life. Consequently, we need to change the way we conduct the business of computers... Actually, much of this change is good...[and] will benefit everyone in the long run." ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Calls for Participation ###################################################################### From: Rick Duley Project on Introductory Courses: Relationship of Promises to Products Working with a group devising a new Introductory Programming Course at Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, has led me to wonder about what it is that we actually present in this critical, formative stage in a programmer's career. It appears to me to be to be so easy to list the things we want to get across and yet equally easy to re-constitute the old stuff we have been used to and to end up missing our targets. To this end, I am trying to collect actual lecture notes for the first three lectures in Introductory Courses as a means to clarify the relationship of promises to products. Why just the first three lectures? Partly because I am not seeking to copy the hard work of other people in developing the full set of notes but mainly because I have a feeling that these initial lectures lay the basis for what will come and constitute the first impressions a student has of the course and of the discipline in general. Yes, I do have publication in mind (and to that end those who are interested in collaborating in the study will be welcomed with open arms), but I am not running a contest between universities or lecturers, merely trying to find out what we do deliver. If you can help by sending .txt, HTML, W4W or .pdf files (or an appropriate URL) of your university's first three introductory programming lectures they would be much appreciated. Please address replies and attachments to p.halfpenny@cowan.edu.au Thanks for your help --------------------------------------------------------- Rick Duley Perth, Western Australia tel: +61 040 910 6049 /-_|\ / \ perth *_.-._/ "For every complex question there's a simple answer v - and it's wrong!" (H L Mencken, 1880-1956) ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Advance Programs ###################################################################### From: Nancy R. Mead 5th IEEE International Symposium on REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERING (RE'01) August 27-31, 2001 Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Canada http://www.re01.org/ Requirements Engineering (RE) lies at the heart of software development. RE is concerned with identifying the purpose of a software system, and the context in which it will be used. Hence, RE acts as the bridge between the real world needs of users, customers, and other constituencies affected by a software system, and the capabilities and opportunities afforded by software-intensive technologies. RE'01 is the fifth in a biennial series of international symposia on Requirements Engineering. The symposium will provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to share ideas and experiences. If you are working in the area of RE, or are just interested in finding out more about the field, we would like to welcome you to join us in Toronto in August 2001. Program highlights ------------------ Keynote addresses by recognized leaders of the field: * Dr. Pamela Zave, Technology Advisor, AT&T Laboratories, USA "Requirements for Evolving Systems: A Telecommunications Perspective" * Prof. Gene Spafford, Director, CERIAS, Purdue University, USA "The Hidden Meta-Requirements of Security and Privacy" * Prof. Lucy Suchman, Dept of Sociology, Lancaster University, UK "Practice-Based Design" * Dr. Mike Lowry, PI, Automated Software Engineering Group, NASA Ames, USA "Requirements Engineering and Program Synthesis: Mutually Exclusive or Synergistic?" A technical paper track, with 26 refereed papers selected from 127 submissions representing 25 countries. The papers describe novel research and experience in Requirements Engineering. A State-of-the-practice track running throughout the conference, with talks by industrial leaders in RE, including: Ian Alexander Merlin Dorfman Don Gause Anthony Hall Ivy Hooks Michael Jackson Hermann Kaindl Ron Kohl Ben Kovitz Brian Lawrence Brian Miller Linda Rosenburg Richard Stevens Jeff Voas Six tutorials given by academic and industrial researchers and consultants, covering key areas of RE: * Karen Breitman and Julio Leite, "Requirements Elicitation through Scenarios" * Daniel Amyot & Gunter Mussbacher, "Use Case Maps-Bridging the Gap between Requirements & Design" * Michael Jackson, "Problem Frames" * Anthony Hall & Rosamund Rawlings, "Bridging the Gap: from User Needs to Solution Definition" * Don Gause, "A Requirements Architecture for Assessing Design Risk" * Mike Mannion and Hermann Kaindl, "Requirements-Based Product Line Engineering" Two state-of-the-art mini-tutorials: * Prof. David Parnas, McMaster University, Canada. "Systematic Documentation of Requirements" * Prof. Axel van Lamsweerde, Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. "Goal-Oriented Requirements Engineering" An exhibition with companies offering RE tools, services, and publications. Three panel sessions covering hot issues in Requirements Engineering: * "Extreme RE: What if there is no time for Requirements Engineering?" * "Systems or Software: What should the 'S' in SRE stand for?" * "Designing for the User: Which method would you choose?" Plus: 14 posters highlighting recent developments and novel ideas in the area of Requirement Engineering; Research demos of new requirements tools and prototypes; A doctoral workshop for Ph.D. students working in the area of RE. For information and registration details, see www.re01.org or contact us at info@re01.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sponsored by: IEEE Computer Society In cooperation with: ACM SIGSOFT, IFIP WG 2.9, INCOSE RWG Symposium Patrons: NASA, CITO, IBM, Cigital, Mitel, Springer, BCS RESG, GI 2.1.6, and the University of Toronto's Knowledge Media Design Institute. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Position Openings ###################################################################### From: Jeremy Gibbons UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD Oxford University Computing Laboratory (with the Department for Continuing Education) Two University Lecturerships in Software Engineering and Continuing Education The Computing Laboratory and the Department for Continuing Education propose to appoint two fixed-term University Lecturers in Software Engineering and Continuing Education for a period of 5 years with effect from 1 October 2001 or as soon as possible thereafter. Salary will be on the age-related scale for University Lecturers without tutorial Fellowships of 18,731-36,740 pounds per annum. A strong background in Software Engineering is essential; experience of professional education or industrial practice would be an advantage. The successful candidates will be expected to develop and deliver courses, engage in advanced study and research, and supervise graduate students. Further particulars of the post are available from Mrs Maureen York, Software Engineering Programme, Oxford University Computing Laboratory, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3QD and at http://www.softeng.ox.ac.uk/jobs. Applicants should submit nine copies (one in the case of applicants based overseas) of a letter of application supported by a curriculum vitae and statement of research interests, together with the names of three referees (not more than two from the same institution). These should be sent to Mrs York at the above address to arrive no later than Thursday 16 August 2001. The University is an Equal Opportunities Employer. ###################################################################### From: Eric Dubois CRP Henri Tudor (Luxembourg) Research Positions in e-business The CRP Henri Tudor is a non-profit organization performing applied research, technology transfer and innovation. The CITI (Centre of IT Innovation) is one of its departments active in the information systems and software engineering fields. Within the framework of a new starting national research programme in e-business, the CITI actively seeks four new researchers in the following areas of expertise: Business Analysis and Requirements Engineering The first position deals with the modelling and the simulation of business processes as well as the identification and formalization of requirements for new added-value business transactions models. The second position deals with the elicitation and the modelling of security goals and requirements for e-business applications. The objective is the identification of reusable requirements taxonomies applicable in the SME's context. Advanced architectures Two positions are in the domains of the identification of new architecture styles responding to e-business requirements expressed for - EAI and cross-organizations cooperation and interoperability. - Security solutions in e-business (with a specific interest for open-source solutions). Research will include the formalization of these architectures as well as reusability issues. Suitable candidates - have a Ph.D. and are willing to take the lead of the associated projects, - are MS/graduate students looking for research positions with a Ph.D perspective. Positions are starting Fall/Winter 2001. Salaries are competitive with other research positions in Europe. English or French language is mandatory, German language is an asset. Luxembourg is centrally located at the heart of Europe. Today, many initiatives are launched in favour of I.T. fields in the country. For further information and applications contact Dr. Eric Dubois CITI 6, rue Coudenhove Kalergi L-1359 Luxembourg-Kirchberg Email : eric.dubois@tudor.lu ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Contact and General Information about FASE FASE is published on the 15th of each month by the FASE staff. Article and Faculty Ad Submission Guidelines Send newsletter articles to one of the editors, preferably by category: Articles pertinent to academic education to Tom Hilburn ; corporate and government training to David Carter ; professional issues, faculty ads, and all other categories, to Don Bagert . If the article is for a FASE topic where there is a guest editor, the submission should instead be to that person, according to the schedule provided. 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From there, click on "TTU Faculty Mailing Lists", and then either "fase" or "fase-talk", depending on which list you desire.) _____ Back issues (dating from the very first issue) can be found on the web (with each Table of Contents) at in chronological order, or in reverse order. _____ The FASE Staff: Tom Hilburn -- Academic Editor Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Department of Computing and Mathematics Daytona Beach FL 32114 USA Phone: 904-226-6889 Fax: 904-226-6678 Email: hilburn@db.erau.edu URL: http://faculty.erau.edu/hilburn/ David Carter -- Corporate/Government Editor 807 Hwy 1204 #B-2 Pineville LA 71360 Phone: 318-641-0824 Email: dacarter@bayou.com Don Bagert, P.E. -- Professional Issues/Misc Editor and Web/Listmaster Department of Computer Science 8th and Boston Texas Tech University Lubbock TX 79409-3104 USA Phone: 806-742-1189 Fax: 806-742-3519 Email: Don.Bagert@ttu.edu URL: http://www.cs.ttu.edu/faculty/bagert.html Laurie Werth -- Advisory Committee Taylor Hall 2.124 University of Texas at Austin Austin TX 78712 USA Phone: 512-471-9535 Fax: 512-471-8885 Email: lwerth@cs.utexas.edu Nancy Mead -- Advisory Committee Software Engineering Institute 5000 Forbes Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA Phone: 412-268-5756 Fax: 412-268-5758 Email: nrm@sei.cmu.edu