Forum for Advancing Software engineering EducationForum for Advancing Software engineering Education
Volume 6 Number 12 May 28, 1996
Contents:
Training Requirements Engineers
ISWorld Net Faculty Directory
Engineering of Embedded Computing Systems Course
Re: Engineering of Embedded Computing Systems Course
Web Site for Social Issues of Computing
Personal Software Process
CONCUR96 - CALL FOR DEMOS
Ada courseware available
Subject: Training Requirements Engineers
REQUIREMENTS ENGINEERS ARE NOT TEMPORARY WORKERS: How do you train
people to determine the requirements of a complex system that needs
to be designed? By making them go through the complete life cycles
of system projects. "A requirements engineer must embrace end-to-end
responsibility for a product's requirements. This support begins
with the initial customer discussions, continues through
development, and is sustained into maintenance." So the best way to
let requirements engineers gain the needed skills is to have them
experience the system life cycle from beginning to end. A project is
over when the system is (eventually) replaced... and not a moment
sooner. (IEEE Software Mar 96 p12)
Subject: ISWorld Net Faculty Directory
ISWorld Net is an on-line resource for
the global IS community. ISWorld Net can be found at:
USA: http://www.isworld.org/isworld.html
Australia: http://www.dis.unimelb.edu.au/isworld.html
Ireland: http://http://smagal.ucd.ie/isworld.html
We are very pleased to announce that we now have available on the
World Wide Web a complete revision of the ISWorld Net Faculty
Directory. The directory now features:
- --complete, current contents of the US-Canada directory maintained
at Minnesota by Jan DeGross
- --complete, newly updated contents of the Asia Pacific directory
compiled by Guy Gable at Queensland University of Technology
- --complete, newly updated European directory courtesy of Niels
Bjorn-Andersen at Copenhagen
- --new southern Africa directory compiled by Derek Smith at Cape Town
- --all the directories combined in one single searchable database
- --built-in update capability so that you can submit changes to your
own record
- --a new entry feature for IS faculty and researchers who are not
listed in a directory
- --a new section for doctoral students only
- --more features and contents being developed
The ISWorld Net Faculty Directory can be found through ISWorld Net
(see URLs above) or directly at:
http://webfoot.csom.umn.edu/isworld/facdir/home.html
Subject: Engineering of Embedded Computing Systems Course
We're trying to develop a course with an interdisciplinary focus on
engineering embedded computing systems. The interdisciplinary aspect
of the course comes from integrating both mechanical engineering students
as well as CS students in a collaborative effort to build
an embedded system. The idea is to both enhance the CS students' ability
to deal with engineers and engineering projects and to expose the
engineers to CS concepts and Software Engineers.
From the CS aspect, we want to choose a software engineering
paradigm which will (1) aid in the development of the embedded system
software and hardware and (2) be understandable and usable both both
the CS and mechanical engineering undergrads; the latter
of the two may have limited CS experience.
I'm interested in hearing other experiences with such a project, either
from a curriculum basis or from an industrial perspective, and, of course,
from a formal methods aspect.
Bruce
Bruce McMillin Associate Professor
Department of Computer Science University of Missouri-Rolla
325 Math-Computer Science Rolla, MO 65409 USA
ff@cs.umr.edu (573)-341-6435
(573)-341-6434: Lab (573)-341-4501: FAX
http://www.cs.umr.edu:/~ff/
Subject: Re: Engineering of Embedded Computing Systems Course
You might look into the CORE method for expressing requirements.
I don't go much for the diagrams, but the tables seem to be
a pragmatic solution to the problem of expressing complex
logical conditions. They also have a clear philosophy about
distinguishing what is true because of the physical world
(like: the robot arm does not bend much except at the joints)
from what is needed
(like: to put the nut on the bolt...)
and what is real
(like: the angle of the elbow)
from what is sensed
(like: the voltage on anlog input channel 21 that is read
from the potentiometer in the elbow joint).
Here is a ref:
Faulk et al 92, Stuart Faulk & John Brackett & Paul ward & James Kirby Jr,
The CORE Method for Real-Time Requirements, IEEE Software magazine
V9n6(Sep 92)pp22-33
SPC 93, Software Procutivity Consortium Services Corporation, Consortium
Requirments Engineering(CoRE) Gudebook(SPC-92060-CMC), Version
01.00.09(Dec 93)
However.... this would just be for the requirements part of
the embedded system.... for program design perhaps Shaler-Mellor
might be a basis (but less formal), or perhaps a Prolog spec/prototype?
dick botting http://www.csci.csusb.edu/dick/signature.html
Disclaimer: CSUSB may or may not agree with this message.
I have no reason to reccommend the above except
a hunch based on 25 years experience.
Copyright(1996): Copy freely but say where it came from.
Subject: Web Site for Social Issues of Computing
Check out this web site for information on the social issues of computing.
http://www.engr.csulb.edu/~jewett/social/
This page is designed to serve as a single entry point into a set of
resources dealing with social issues of computing, connecting some of
the work of Rob Kling, at U.C. Irvine, Tom Jewett, at C.S.U. Long
Beach, and many other sources listed below:
Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social
Choices, 2nd Edition, written and edited by Rob Kling, published by
Academic Press (due Jan 96).
Teaching Social Issues of Computing: Challenges, Ideas and
Resources, by Tom Jewett and Rob Kling, published by Academic
Press (due Jan 96).
Sources of Information about courses in social issues of
computing, organizations and on-line information, and more.
The Information Society, an international quarterly journal,
edited by Rob Kling
Our "meeting place", where we provide links back to pages
with links to this site
Date: 28 May 1996 07:58:24 -0600
Subject: Personal Software Process
Tom Hilburn and I are trying to assess the extent of interest in
Personal Software Process in the academic community. Accordingly, Tom has
drafted a note and questionnaire to the attendees of the CSEE BOF on PSP.
FASE subscribers are also invited to participate.
From: Tom Hilburn, ERAU and Nancy Mead, SEI
Subject: Personal Software Process
Dear Colleagues:
This mail was addressed initially to those that attended the 'bird of a
feather" meeting on PSP held on 4/23/96 at the 9th CSEE in Daytona Beach.
Discussions at this meeting and other conversations at the Conference
indicated that there is some interest in continuing a dialogue about PSP
concepts and its use in the academic community. This note is meant to start
a forum for such a discussion and solicit discussion, suggestions
and opinion about how we might proceed, if there is sufficient interest.
First, let me summarize what went on in the Birds of a Feather:
1. Most of the group were from academic institutions and most were either
teaching some aspect of PSP in a course or were planning on doing so
2. Soheil Kahjenoori (from Embry-Riddle) gave on overview of PSP and
discussed how it is being taught at Embry-Riddle
3. Soheil and Susan Macke (from Motorola) discussed how PSP was implemented
in the Motorola Paging Products Group
4. Most of the discussion centered around how to integrate PSP into existing
undergraduate courses/curricula - there were questions/comments about
student motivation, need for resources, pedagogy and faculty training.
5. A few expressed reservations and some skepticism about the value of PSP -
there seems to be a need for furnishing experiential and evaluative
results related to the teaching of PSP.
In order to get things started, I would like to suggest that we begin with a
questionnaire to collect information about our experience and interest in PSP
and related matters.
This will give us a feeling for whether this effort should continue and what
sort of things might be helpful and productive. So, I would like to ask each
of you to fill out and return the enclosed questionnaire. I will be glad to
collect the forms and provide a summary of results to all participants. Please
return the form by June 13, 1996.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PSP Questionnaire
Name: _____________________________________________
Position: _____________________________________________
Institution/Company: _____________________________________________
Telephone: ___________________ e-mail: ____________________
e-mail:
Mail Address: _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________
<< please return to hilburn@db.erau.edu by June 13, 1996. >>
------------------
<< please pass copies of this to others that you think might be interested >>
1. Indicate your level of interest in establishing a group for exploring
the use of PSP in an academic setting by checking one of the following:
a. _____ I am not interested in participating in the establishment of
such a group.
(If you checked here, you do not need to complete the rest of the
questionnaire. Thank you for your response.)
b. _____ I am not interested in participating in the establishment of
such a group; but, I would like to be kept apprised of the group's
activities?
c. _____ I am interested in participating in the establishment of such a
group.
2. Describe your current or anticipated experience/interest in PSP
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
3. What sort of activities do you think we need in order to support the
effective use of PSP in undergraduate/graduate curricula? Please check
those you think should be pursued at this point. Add any special comments.
a. ____ tutorials/ short courses
Comments: _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
b. ____ Web page (resources, news, shared experiences, etc.)
Comments: _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
c. ___ panel discussions (e.g., SIGCSE, CSEE)
Comments: _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
d. ____ newsletter
Comments: _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
e. ____ coordinating committee
(Would you be willing to serve on such a committee?)
Comments: _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
f. ____ other ____________________________
Comments: _____________________________________________
_______________________________________________________
3. Please use the below space to make any additional comments - ideas,
suggestions, or special insights.
Comments: ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Thanks you for your response.
Tom Hilburn
Department of Computer Science
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
Daytona Beach FL 32114
e-mail: hilburn@db.erau.edu
(Keith Pierce))
Subject: CONCUR96 - CALL FOR DEMOS
CONCUR96 - CALL FOR DEMOS
August 26 - 29
Pisa - ITALY
In connection with the international conference CONCUR'96, some
sessions devoted to demonstrations of (semi-)automatic academic tools for the
analysis and verification of concurrent systems are organized.
We have a limited number of slots available, thus we will make a selection
of the demonstrations on the basis of proposals prepared as specified below.
CONCUR'96 and Demonstrations will take place at Pisa, Italy, on
August 26-29, 1996.
Authors are invited to submit proposals according to the following format
- - names, affiliations and addresses of the authors
- - an abstract of one page describing goals and functionalities of the tool
- - a precise description of the hardware and the software needed
Proposals that are not prepared according to the above guidelines will not be
considered for selection.
Proposals for academic tool demonstrations must be sent to
(electronic submissions are solicited)
Corrado Priami
Dipartimento di Informatica
Universita' di Pisa
Corso Italia, 40
56100 PISA - Italy
Tel. (+39) 50 887 268
Fax (+39) 50 887 226
Email: priami@di.unipi.it
Important dates:
Deadline for submission: June 10 1996
Notification of acceptance: July 1 1996
For any information, please send requests to priami@di.unipi.it
Corrado Priami
Universita' di Pisa Tel.: +39 (0)50 887268
Dipartimento di Informatica Tlx.: 590291 DIPISA I
Corso Italia, 40 Fax: +39 (0)50 887226
I-56125 PISA, Italia
Further details on the conference and on the
demonstrations are available by WWW at the location
http://www.di.unipi.it/~ugo/CONCUR96/
Subject: Ada courseware available
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING APPRENTICE PROJECT
Courseware Availability Announcement
The Software Engineering Apprentice project is a curriculum
development effort funded by a grant from DISA. We have developed
a set of innovative programming exercises in Ada that can be used
in a Fundamentals of Computer Science course sequence.
Instead of the typical small "throwaway" programs often assigned in
a first course, the exercises we developed require students to
test, maintain, and enhance already working Ada programs that are
several hundred to several thousand lines long.
The courseware includes the source code, specifications, test
plans, and design documents for eight "case studies" as well as the
student exercises and instructor notes and solutions.
Here is a brief description of the eight case studies:
Pizza - Calculates unit price of a pizza.
Moon Lander - A simulation of landing a rocket on the moon.
Hurkle - A simple guessing game in which the user tries to guess
where the computer has hidden a "hurkle" on a square grid.
Jotto - A more sophisticated guessing game in which the user
tries to guess a five letter word chosen by the computer.
Inventory - Display, search, and update a simple flat database
stored in a text file.
Mahjongg - A very sophisticated solitaire game based on the popular
PC game.
Prospero - A simulation of a priority queue in the context of
guests waiting to visit the king.
Animals - A "20 questions" style game in which the computer tries
to guess an animal that the user has chosen.
The instructional materials and computer software are very portable
across hardware and software platforms. The laboratory materials
can easily be adopted to augment any existing introductory course
in Ada programming. The materials are not dependent upon a
specific textbook or lecture format and can easily be customized,
modified, or enhanced.
These course materials are available free of charge from the
Software Engineering Apprentice Project.
A three page summary can be read by pointing your WWW browser to:
http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~jdalbey/swebrief.html
The complete courseware package (in ZIP format) is available via
anonymous ftp from:
ftp://statler.calpoly.edu/pub/disa/cs1_labs/cs1_labs.zip
Dr. John Dalbey jdalbey@calpoly.edu
Computer Science Department (805) 756-2921
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
FASE Volume 6 Number 12
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Keith Pierce -- Academic/Misc Editor and ListMaster
University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN 55812-2496 USA
Phone: 218- 726-7194
Fax: 218-726-6360
Email: kpierce@d.umn.edu
Kathy Beckman -- Corporate/Government Editor
Computer Data Systems
One Curie Ct., Rockville MD 20850 USA
Phone: 301-921-7027
Fax: 301-921-1004
Email: sdmce@access.digex.net
David Eichmann -- FASE Archivist
University of Houston - Clear Lake
Box 113, 2700 Bay Area Blvd., Houston, TX 77058 USA
Web: http://ricis.cl.uh.edu/eichmann/
Phone: 713-283-3875
Fax: 713-283-3810
Email: eichmann@rbse.jsc.nasa.gov or eichmann@cl.uh.edu
Laurie Werth -- Advisory Committee
Taylor Hall 2.124
University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712 USA
Phone: 512-471-9535
Fax: 512-471-8885
Email: lwerth@cs.utexas.edu
Nancy Mead -- Advisory Committee
Software Engineering Institute
5000 Forbes Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA
Phone: 412-268-5756
Fax: 412-268-5758
Email: nrm@sei.cmu.edu