CPSC 329 Course Information

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Course Description and Objectives
Prerequisites
Textbook
Software
Time Required


Course Description and Objectives	Catalogue description: This course continues the study of programming by focusing on software design, development, and verification - the skills beyond fluency in a particular language which are necessary for developing large, reliable programs. Topics include object-oriented design, the use of APIs, and testing and verification. Techniques common in modern software development will also be studied. Specific techniques may include GUIs and event-driven programming, multi-threading, client-server networking, fault-tolerant computing, stream programming, and security. This course completes the programming sequence begun by CPSC 124 and 225 - CPSC 124 introduces the basic ideas of programming along with the syntax and semantics of the Java programming language, CPSC 225 focuses on common data structures as the organizational building blocks of programs, and CPSC 329 addresses creating good software. Four key points are at the core of good software: fully understanding what the software is to do, planning and design before coding, proper use of modularity and abstraction in the design, and building in reliability through good coding practices and the integration of testing in the implementation process. This course will address how to achieve those points. In addition, students will gain: an organized approach to software development; an understanding of the core principles of object-oriented design, and the ability to apply those principles to create flexible and maintainable software; a habit of good software, which includes coding standards, documentation, appreciation of the value of good design (and the willpower to refactor as needed to improve the design), and testing; experience with a substantial project, working in teams, and working with someone else's code; skills for life-long learning, specifically learning from examples, tutorials, and APIs; technical skills relevant to software development, including the use of integrated development environments, version control, and unit testing; and a basic technical understanding of some aspects of modern software such as GUIs, event-driven programming, human-computer interaction, client-server networking, and threads.

Prerequisites	CPSC 225 is required. Programming in this course will be done in Java, and students are expected to be comfortable with Java syntax, the concepts of object-oriented programming (including classes, objects, interfaces, inheritance, and abstract classes), and writing programs to solve problems. Also expected is some familiarity with basic data structures (arrays, linked lists), abstract data types (lists, stacks, queues, maps/dictionaries), the realization of those abstract data types in the Java Collections Framework (`List`, `Stack`, `Queue`, `Map` and their concrete implementations), and efficiency; the notion of abstract data types and the separation of interface and implementation; how to use the Java API documentation; and coding standards.

Textbook	There is no textbook to purchase. Material will be handed out or posted on the course webpage.

Software	All of the software needed for this course is available on the Linux machines in Lansing 310 and Rosenberg 009. If you want to set up your own computer so that you can work on projects without going to one of the labs, you will need: Java 11 (JDK, not JRE) JavaFX Eclipse 2019-06 Subclipse PlantUML and graphviz a file transfer program For Java 11 and JavaFX, see Getting JDK and JavaFX for information on obtaining and installing the right packages. The AdoptOpenJDK site is recommended if you aren't running Linux and installing through your distribution's package manager. Integrated development environments (IDEs) such as Eclipse make the development of larger programs easier. You can download Eclipse 2019-06 here - select either the "Eclipse Installer" at the top of the page or the "Eclipse IDE for Java Developers" version partway down the page and choose the appropriate version for your computer (Mac, Windows, or Linux). It is recommended that you switch to this version of Eclipse even if you have an older version already installed. Some Eclipse setup (including installing two plugins, Subclipse and PlantUML) will be done in lab. You will need to carry out the same steps to configure your own installation. In addition, you will likely need to also install graphviz in order for PlantUML to work. If you are running Linux, you may be able to use your package manager to install a graphviz package. For Windows and Mac, download graphviz here. Once graphviz has been installed, go to Window->Preferences in Eclipse, then click on the "PlantUML" category and check the "Graphviz path" information - if the `dot` executable is not found and you don't get an "installation is OK" message, fill in the "Path to the dot executable of Graphviz" to tell Eclipse where it is. Finally, you will need a way to transfer files between your computer and the department filesystem. Version control will be used and that provides the best mechanism for addressing this issue, but if you find that you need a way to transfer files not under version control, the SFTP section of "Using Linux at HWS" provides information on obtaining software to do this.

Time Required	Software development is necessarily practiced by doing, and implementing large software systems takes time. Students should expect to spend the bulk of their time outside of class working on projects. These projects will build on each other, requiring awareness of deadlines, careful time management, and steady effort throughout the course. In addition, most assignments will be group assignments, requiring planning and coordination with your team. In addition to projects, there will be weekly labs and sometimes reading and/or short class preparation exercises. Labs introduce new software and skills, and are intended to be short enough that most, if not all, of the lab can be completed during the lab period with diligent effort. (Anything not completed during lab will need to be finished outside of class.)