This course is the first part of the two semester capstone class. The purpose of this class is to provide a "close to real world" experience in developing real products, the right way. Students in this course will learn a lot about the development process and discover some interesting things about themselves as a member of a development team along the way! This is the CSE capstone course, where many of the things learned in previous courses are put together before students tackle the real world. The course will study the product development environment used in the computer industry, and practice a phased system/software development process, often called the modified-Waterfall system development life cycle, as applied to computer hardware and software design projects. Throughout this course sequence, students will work on teams of 4-5 students. In this first course in the sequence (CSE 4316) students will identify their team and their project and start the planning process. Within this first semester, students will prepare and present planning and requirements documentation for their design project, and begin architecture/design of their product. The project will be continued and completed, through demonstration of a working prototype, by the same team in CSE 4317, Senior Design II, the following semester.
At the conclusion of the course sequence, the student will have developed the necessary skills to work on a design team by substantially completing a working prototype of a complete product. The skills required to do this include all of the technical skills that should have been accumulated thus far in the student's program of work, as well as soft skills that will be learned and/or honed during the project. The primary objective of this course is the final preparation of the student for entrance into the workplace with the ability to be productive almost immediately. More specifically, the student will have met the following ABET (Accrediting Board for Engineering and Technology) Critical Assessment outcomes:
- (c)
- Ability to design a system, component, or process to meet desired needs This outcome will be evaluated based on your performance on the key deliverables for this course: system requirements document, architectural design specification, detailed design specification, system test plan, and your final product prototype.
- (d)
- Ability to function on multi-disciplinary teams This outcome will be evaluated using peer evaluations and instructor assessments at the end of each semester.
- (f)
- Understanding of professional and ethical responsibility
- (g)
- Ability to communicate effectively
This class is interaction intensive, meaning that students are expected to participate in class discussion and contribute to the learning experience. Each student is responsible for carefully reviewing all specified lecture/discussion material before each class session and being prepared for class discussion. The majority of readings are from the course textbook. Additional reading may be assigned and class handouts may be distributed, typically via the website, to supplement text readings. Presentation materials to be used for discussion of each topic in class are provided on the class website. Students will receive a grade on their participation in classroom discussions as indicated below. Topics for classroom discussions each week are as indicated on the class website, and will be updated as necessary throughout the semester. Please note that the dates indicated for discussion of a topic are for planning purposes only Š the actual discussion dates may vary depending on class learning pace and other factors. Students should come to class prepared to discuss the topic during the week indicated in the reading schedule, or on a later date if deferral is necessary. This is a common occurrence in the work force. Stay flexible!
All students are responsible for mastery of the material taught in ALL prerequisite courses, including both those listed here and their prerequisites.
- CSE 3310 - FUNDAMENTALS OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING. Software engineering principles, processes, and techniques; software development approaches focusing on functional analysis and functional design methods. Configuration management, implementation strategies, and testing (co-requisite)
- CSE 3320 - OPERATING SYSTEMS. Functions and components of an operating system, including process synchronization, job scheduling, memory management, file systems protection, and deadlocks. Related system software, such as loaders, linkers, assemblers, and windowing systems.
- CSE 3442 - EMBEDDED COMPUTER SYSTEMS. Design of microcomputer based systems: microcomputer programming, component and system architectures, memory interfacing, parallel and serial I/O interfacing, A/D and D/A conversion, and typical applications. Required for CpE majors only.
- IE 3312 - ECONOMICS FOR ENGINEERS. Methods used for determining the comparative financial desirability of engineering alternatives.
- SPCH 3302 - PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL COMMUNICATION. Theory and practice in written and oral presentations with an emphasis on business and technical professions.
- Primary Text (Required): Rapid Development, by Steve McConnell. Available in the UTA bookstore or most online book vendors.
- Engineering Notebook (Required): Standard Engineering Notebook as printed by BookFactory of Redwood Shores, CA. This notebook is available in the UTA bookstore or directly from BookFactory.com
Access to all materials and general information for this class is via the instructorÕs class website at:
http://ranger.uta.edu/
huber/cse4316 .
This website is the focal point for class information, notes and lecture materials. You should check this site for announcements, handouts,
assignments, updated presentations, etc.
Office hours for the course will be held by the instructor in ERB 522 or in ERB 128, TTh 11:00 - 12:00, and W 2:00 - 3:00. Times are subject to change and will be posted. If for some reason you can not make it to any of these office hours, please inform the instructor.
e-mail: huber@cse.uta.edu
All course related email should contain the course number "CSE 4316" in the beginning of the Subject. There will be a GTA for this course, both of whom will hold office hours in the Senior Design Lab (ERB 208) during their posted office hours. The GTA will be:
- TBD
UT Arlington has adopted MavMail as its official means to communicate with students about important deadlines and events, as well as to transact university-related business regarding financial aid, tuition, grades, graduation, etc. All students are assigned a MavMail account and are responsible for checking the inbox regularly. There is no additional charge to students for using this account, which remains active even after graduation. Information about activating and using MavMail is available at http://www.uta.edu/oit/cs/email/mavmail.php.