ENGINEERING TRIPOS PART IIA – 2012/2013

Module 3F6 – Software Engineering and Design

AIMS

Software forms an important part of many modern engineering products, from telecommunications to automotive to internet-based systems. This course will provide an understanding of the technical and management processes involved in the design of software systems. Software engineering concepts are considered at a range of scales, from the manipulation of object-orientated concepts, through architectural design components, to the building of large software systems.

SYLLABUS

Object-Oriented Software Design. (8L)

• The Concepts Behind Software Design: abstraction, problem partitioning, how to identify components.
• Object-Orientated Programming Design and Analysis: classes and objects, encapsulation and data hiding, abstraction and inheritance, polymorphism.
• Formal Tools: introduction to UML.
• Design Patterns: frequently occurring design techniques and their role in building systems.
• User Interface Design: use cases, designing for the user, UI design patterns.

Software Systems and Engineering (8L)

• Concurrent and Distributed Systems: basic concepts, architecture, maintenance.
• Database Systems: database management systems, transaction processing, concurrency control, check-pointing and recovery.
• Software Development Methodologies: from waterfall to agile programming.
• Software Management: project lifecycle, source code control, code reviews, testing, the nightly build, release management, maintenance and refactoring, organising teams.

OBJECTIVES

On completion of the course students should:

Object-Orientated Software Design

• Understand the benefits of object-oriented analysis and design, its concepts and processes.
• Be familiar with formal design tools for object orientated design and analysis.
• Recognise and understand some frequently used design patterns.
• Be aware of the process involved in user interface design.

Software Systems and Engineering

• Appreciate the basic design issues and concepts in distributed, real time and concurrent systems.
• Understand software development methodologies.
• Understand the main issues and processes necessary to achieve effective software product development.

REFERENCES

Please see the Booklist for Part IIA Courses for references for this module.