Deakin University

Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment Unit Guide SIT323 Practical Software Development 2013 Trimester 2
This unit guide is applicable for the year and teaching period specified above only

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 2 UNIT CHAIR WELCOME ................................................................................................................................. Achieving goals ......................................................................................................................................... How to begin ............................................................................................................................................. INFORMATION ABOUT THE UNIT ............................................................................................................... Unit chair .................................................................................................................................................. Prerequisite .............................................................................................................................................. Contact hours ........................................................................................................................................... UNIT CHAIR CONTACT DETAILS ................................................................................................................. UNIT DETAILS ................................................................................................................................................. Content ..................................................................................................................................................... About this unit .......................................................................................................................................... Previously learned knowledge and skills .................................................................................................. Aims .......................................................................................................................................................... Unit Learning outcomes ........................................................................................................................... Deakin graduate learning outcomes ......................................................................................................... Teaching methods ..................................................................................................................................... Student evaluation .................................................................................................................................... ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................................... Assessment overview ................................................................................................................................ Assessment tasks ...................................................................................................................................... Assignment submission ............................................................................................................................. LEARNING RESOURCES ................................................................................................................................. Unit materials ........................................................................................................................................... Prescribed and/or recommended texts ..................................................................................................... Reference books ....................................................................................................................................... 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 6 7 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2 INTRODUCTION This Unit Guide explains the aims of the unit, describes the assessment requirements and gives details about the teaching and learning strategies used in the delivery of SIT323 Practical Software Development. You should always read this Unit Guide first and check it frequently when preparing to study or embarking on assignment work.

UNIT CHAIR WELCOME Welcome to one of the last few units in software development. Before you graduate from Deakin University and embark on a software development career, this unit aims to teach you some industry practices to develop professional and industrial-strength programs. This will be a unit that stresses the practical aspects of software development. Therefore, expect a lot of discussion about code, and expect a lot of hands-on in the workshops and assignments. The aim of this unit is to complete your understanding of coding and to refine your skills in programming. Prior to studying this unit, you would have completed a few programming assignments. However, none of those would prepare you to deal with the situations that you face in the industry where a module under your charge can have more than 10,000 lines of code. So that you can develop real-world programs, this unit will share some best practices experience with you in the lecture while you practice them in the workshops and demonstrate your understanding through the assignments. Since the aim is to enhance your programming skills, this unit is entirely assignment-based, i.e., there wont be exams. It is therefore important that you maintain regular attendance in the lectures and workshops. Likewise, you can expect the assignments to be of a much larger scale and far more complex than what you would have previously encountered. CloudDeakin is the focal point for learning in this unit. You should get yourself familiar with the facilities provided on CloudDeakin and the way materials are organized for SIT323. Not only will I add materials throughout the trimester, announcements and the administration of assignments will be conducted through CloudDeakin. Therefore, check CloudDeakin regularly. In addition to checking these organisers regularly, it is vital that you pay particular attention to any announcements made online. The availability of new materials and any administrative matters of the unit will be made through CloudDeakin. CloudDeakin Discussions is the other tool that you should be familiar with to conduct SIT323 discussions among your peers. I strongly encourage that you use the information provided in this guide and on CloudDeakin to prepare yourself for the expectations of this unit. A little preparation and planning will go a long way in helping you get the most out of this unit. I wish you all the best! Dr Robert Dew Unit Chair

Achieving goals To achieve the goals of this unit you will need to adopt regular work habits and complete the activities associated with each workshop session. You need to commit time and effort for your assignments rather than seeing them as a hurdle to get a credit for this unit.

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2 The activities are tasks that you must complete yourself. They are solitary activities that cannot be completed by someone else on your behalf. After all, you are the developer when you get the job. NOTE: If you lack the proper programming skills, then this unit is not for you. If you have to take this unit, then it is important to be ready by preparing for it before the Trimester starts. You are always welcome to speak to your lecturer about your readiness for this unit before enrolling in the class.

How to begin This unit is will be challenging for many students. If you have a weak programming background or you do not like coding, then this unit can be a major hurdle for you. If you have this issue, I would suggest that you approach this unit with an open mind to learn and try your very best. One other difficulty with this unit is that it is a unit about implementation. In other words, you cannot study implementation. However, you can practise implementation. Studying the recipe will not make you a good chef. Only by practising the recipe can you cook the dish properly. Therefore, please make full use of the workshops and the assignments. The impact that it can have is probably bigger than the lectures in terms of your own learning outcomes. Revise your programming and practise as much as you can. This is the only way to a good start to this unit. Time management is the most critical aspect of university study. It is very easy to be distracted with FaceBook, Twitter, or MSN Messenger. Did you ever count how much time you spend on them? Use your time wisely. Use some for recreation. Use some more for socialisation. However, use some for study and practise. Gaps between classes on campus can too easily disappear. Schedule some for study purposes and write them in on your timetable.

INFORMATION ABOUT THE UNIT Unit chair R Dew

Prerequisite One of SIT131, SIT153, SIT232 or SIT251

Contact hours 1 x 1 hour lecture, 1 x 2 hour practical session per week UNIT CHAIR CONTACT DETAILS Unit Chair: Office: Email: Phone: How to contact me: Dr Robert Dew KA5.203 - Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus rad@deakin.edu.au (03) 522 72602 Email (highly preferred), phone, or visit me in my office.

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2 My role as: Consultation hours: Mondays 3:00 to 4:00 Tuesdays 2:00 to 5:00 School of Information Technology Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment Deakin University Locked Bag 20000 GEELONG VIC 3220 Dr Honghua Dai Burwood hdai@deakin.edu.au

Postal address:

Other staff:

UNIT DETAILS Content This unit complements other software design units in the Bachelor of Information Technology programme. Design units focus on techniques of software design for software systems so they can fulfil client requirements. Complementing this set of skills are coding units that implements a given design. This unit will extend students skills in implementation so that a given implementation is carried out to professional standards. Twelve topics on advanced techniques of implementation will be covered in this unit and will be set in the modern context of .NET-like environments, databases and the Internet. On completion of this unit, students will acquire the skills required to write industrial-strength code.

About this unit Once upon a time, a man by the name of Steve Maguire went to work for Microsoft. As someone who had programmed for only small companies, Steve had no idea what to expect. Like everyone else, he thought that the code he would see in the first version of Microsoft Excel would be glamorous or elegant. But to his surprise, what he found was plain everyday code that was not different from what he had seen before. What impressed Steve instead was that the implementation included an extensive debugging system built right into the product. The debugging system coded inside Excel would automatically alert programmers and testers of bugs much in the same way warning lights on the cockpit of A380 alert pilots of failures. The debugging system wasnt really testing the code. It was monitoring itself. None of the concepts found in the debugging system were new. What shocked Steve was the sheer extent to which they were employed and by how effective it was in detecting bugs. The story didnt end there. But the experience Steve had led him to pen a book on developing solid code years later that inspired some staff to pursue a career in software development. Many years ago, one student in Geelong wrote 15,000 lines of bug-free C# code as a project for SIT302. The program has never crashed in any of the demonstrations to the industry. And to this date, there is no single bug found after the release of Mathews software. Those who have seen his code were impressed by its elegance they were easy to read and had an extensive framework put in place to support his development. Like what Steve saw, a good percentage of the 15,000 lines of C# code was part of the diagnostic system. While Steve may be a well-known software developer in the world, this student (our very own) showed that you dont need a high IQ or Ph.D. to be able to do the same. Building software is much an engineering craft like any thing else.

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2

This unit assumes that you are ready (or almost ready) to graduate and apply the skills you have learnt in various software designing and programming units. This can include SIT102, SIT103, SIT104, SIT201, SIT221, SIT302, and your stream specific units, e.g., SIT131 and SIT321 if you are in CS/SD or SIT252/SIT253 if you are in GDD. If you have forgotten the materials that you have covered in those units, I would strongly encourage you to revisit them before we embark into Week 2 of the trimester. It would be good if you can retrieve your previous programming assignments so that you can look at your own work and reflect against good programming techniques.

Previously learned knowledge and skills See 'About this unit' above.

Aims The aim of this unit is to develop your skills to code quality, i.e., bug-free, software. In other words, this unit is about the implementation of software. It is different from the design of software. By design, I refer to modelling tools (e.g., UML, SAD, etc.) that you were taught in units like SIT201 or SIT321. By implementation, I refer to good techniques that will allow you to develop the final product to its highest quality. If I were to give you an analogy, it would be cooking. The design aspects of cooking would be the theoretical understanding about ingredients and the different cooking methods to produce a dish. The implementation of cooking is about the actual mixing of the ingredients and the actual cooking to be done according to the recipe. Hence, the same recipe can result in two dishes with very different tastes. This is because the good chef has polished and refined his implementation skills (the physical act of cooking) to realise the design (the recipe). So this unit will look at various aspects of software implementation that software design units do not cover.

Unit Learning outcomes On completion of this unit, students will: 1. gain an understanding that software bugs are a result of poor quality code 2. appreciate and apply the importance of good implementation through good code structuring and the use of well-known coding templates 3. implement software using known software development kits and appreciate how they are organised 4. enhance and extend their software development portfolio

Deakin graduate learning outcomes Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes describe the knowledge and capabilities graduates have acquired and are able to apply and demonstrate at the completion of their course. They consist of outcomes specific to a particular discipline or profession as well as transferable generic outcomes that all graduates should have acquired irrespective of their discipline area. Learning outcomes are not confined to the knowledge and skills acquired within a course, but also incorporate those that students bring with them upon entry to the course

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2 consistent with the Australian Qualifications Framework pathways policy. Deakins courses are designed to ensure that students develop systematic knowledge and understanding of their discipline or chosen profession appropriate to their level of study. They are specified at the course level, mapped to course components and are assessed. In professionally-accredited courses, discipline-specific learning outcomes may be defined in part by the relevant professional body. The table below indicates which Deakin Graduate Learning Outcomes are taught, practised and/or assessed within this unit. Learning outcomes that have no ticks assigned to them are important but are not a key part of this unit.

DEAKIN GRADUATE LEARNING OUTCOMES 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Taught Practised Assessed

Discipline-specific knowledge and capabilities: appropriate to the level of study related to a discipline or profession Communication: using oral, written and interpersonal communication to inform, motivate and effect change Digital literacy : using technologies to find, use and disseminate information Critical thinking: evaluating information using critical and analytical thinking and judgment Problem solving: creating solutions to authentic (real world and ill-defined) problems Self-management: working and learning independently, and taking responsibility for personal actions Teamwork: working and learning with others from different disciplines and backgrounds Global citizenship : engaging ethically and productively in the professional context and with diverse communities and cultures in a global context

Teaching methods On Campus Students Lecture Attendance The unit is offered to on-campus students through a 1 hour lecture and 2 hour practical session. The lectures and practicals are tightly bound together. On and off campus students will also be taught through online contact. The evidence is that the average student who attends lectures does better than those who do not. For Australians and PR Visa holders, lecture attendance at Deakin University is not compulsory; however, regular attendance is vital for your performance in this unit. For overseas students with student visas, lecture attendance is a condition of granting the visa and is compulsory. Very frequently, material available on CloudDeakin and texts is supplemented with additional examples given in lectures. Assignment and test questions will often be based on these examples. In addition, some topics may not be covered in the reference material at all. Students who miss a lecture are responsible for acquiring the missed material. It is your responsibility to properly familiarise yourself with the material covered and to find out from other students about any announcements or other administrative matters that were dealt with in class. Much of this information will be found on the unit pages in CloudDeakin but do not assume it is all there! Students who are absent from two or more consecutive lectures should discuss the matter with the unit

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2 coordinator. On Campus Students Workshops All on campus students are strongly encouraged to attend their allocated workshop sessions each week. Attendance at workshops is vital to doing well in this unit as the exercises provide foundation to the successful completion of the assignments. Class allocations will be discussed in the first lecture of the trimester. Students MUST attend the sessions to which they have been allocated. Students are expected to complete the exercises in the allotted time. If you are unable to complete the exercises within the class, you will need to make arrangements with your tutor to complete the work in your own time, before your next weekly session. Off Campus Students Study Planning Off campus students are welcome to attend lectures at Waurn Ponds or Burwood, or use the lecture recording facility on CloudDeakin. Otherwise, you are expected to work through the sessions at a self-paced rate but, to gain maximum benefit, this should be at a steady rate of progress as described and allocated in the study guide. As a rule of thumb, the average time required for an average student, seeking an average mark is about 10 hours per week. Note that this is an average. The actual time required may be greater or less at different times of the trimester. For example, when preparing an assignment submission, more time may be required. Some students, seeking better results, devote more time. Other students, finding unexpected difficulties, spend more time than expected.

Student evaluation This unit has been running for a number of years but under a recent curriculum change to improve graduate outcomes, i.e., to make our students more employable, this unit has been revamped in its contents. While the name of this unit remains the same, the materials have been redeveloped altogether. Since 2009, this unit has constantly received very good SETU scores despite a revised set of material and assessment each year. We look forward to delivering an excellent learning experience again.

ASSESSMENT Assessment overview 2 assignments (40%, 60%)

Assessment tasks

Assessment Name

Weight Due date

Brief Description

Linked Unit Learning Outcome(s) (ULOs)

Linked Deakin Graduate Learning Outcome(s) (DGLOs)

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Deakin University, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment SIT323 - Practical Software Development 2013 / Trimester 2 The overall theme is to generate simple and complex word-search puzzles. The first assessment task focuses on the development of a GUI interface for a client/server system, including a dummy server to ensure client functionality. Development of a the back end for this client/server word-search system.

Assignment 1

40%

End of Week 6

1,2,3,4

1,2,5,6

Assignment 2

60%

End of Week 12

1,2,3,4

1,2,5,6

Assignment submission Check CloudDeakin regarding submission instructions for each assignment.

LEARNING RESOURCES Unit materials See CloudDeakin.

Prescribed and/or recommended texts There is no prescribed textbook for this unit. Relevant materials will be progressively uploaded to CloudDeakin for students. Students may choose to purchase general reference books suited to their needs, borrow from the library or use the Internet. Textbooks, reference books, general books and software may be ordered from the bookshop:
q q q

phone 1800 686 681 (freecall); email to DUSA-Bookshop@deakin.edu.au; or order online from the University bookshop web site at http://www.dusabookshop.com.au/

Reference books Suitable references will be provided in the slides of each lecture.

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