P. Brazier

Bio: P. Brazier is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Application software & Software system. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 3 citations.

Using high-level tools to implement software engineering projects

Abstract: Describes a one-semester software engineering course that takes advantage of the high-level programming tools that are becoming increasingly available. It has always been difficult to include necessary theoretical material as well as a complete software project in a one-semester course. In most traditional computer science degree programs, many students do not have room to take more than one semester of software engineering. A solution to this problem is to concentrate on the analysis and design phases of a project and to use high-level programming tools to develop a rapid prototype or to implement only part of the design. This paper describes student projects that used tools such as Visual Basic and ColdFusion in developing their projects. Projects involving Internet applications were particularly adaptable to this approach. Students were also encouraged to interface high-level languages such as Java and C++ with application software such as Microsoft Access and Excel, supporting the concepts of reuse and object-oriented design while providing a valuable experience in integration. This approach further introduces students to important software development planning and management issues, such as the proper choice of platform for the project, risk assessment, and assessment and utilization of team members' expertise and talents.

Software engineering industry experience: the key to success

Abstract: Computer science graduates of most university programs are knowledgeable of computer science concepts and theories. Most graduates experience a variety of languages and associated programming techniques. Few graduates are exposed to software engineering industrial strength analysis and design tools. The growth of outsourcing is primarily prompted by financial criteria, but there are some indicators that U.S. software professionals don't have sufficient experience with tools that support the first half of the software engineering life cycle. In order to counteract this situation, universities need access to software engineering tools that can be incorporated into the computer science curriculum. This is necessary to ensure the successful employment of computer science graduates.

A software engineering senior design project inherited from a partially implemented software engineering class project

Abstract: For a computer science program in which students are required to complete one course in Software Engineering, it is impossible to create a polished finished product for a project of any significant size that can demonstrate all the phases of the project. This can be solved by requiring students to complete a full set of requirements and specifications. Develop design documents for only a subset of the requirements and an even more limited implementation of the design documents. The artifacts from such a class can then be used as the foundation for a senior capstone design course. This allows for the development of skills that are directly needed in the real world, in which a team is given a set of requirements to implement, or is assigned to an existing project to continue its development, or is assigned to a project team that maintains existing code. Anticipated skills developed by the student by such a capstone project are: the ability to read and understand requirements and specifications, the ability to understand preexisting designs and the design decisions that contributed to the design, the ability to understand existing code, the ability to enhance the code to complete a project based on the requirements, and the ability to evaluate preexisting documentation. This paper will describe such a software engineering class project that involved a client from another academic department to develop a non-trivial internet based software application, which supported the department's scheduling of faculty to classes, using an internet based web service to solve the linear programming problem that resulted from the constraints of the problem. The paper will then discuss the subsequent senior design project and implementation that followed.