| CODE | CIS1225 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Introduction to Structured Development | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 5 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Computer Information Systems | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | This study-unit will provide knowledge pertaining to development of software solutions of demonstrable quality. Student will be exposed to structured reasoning in three directions – functional, Data and Control. The study-unit will acquaint students with fundamental development concepts based on concepts of abstraction, the appreciation of data-driven reasoning and solution innovation, data accessibility and Big Data properties, fundamentals of testing, and, most importantly, the power of system modelling. The study-unit will equip students with an understanding of algorithmic representation in its main forms – diagrammatic, textual and formal. Practical model underpinnings and usage will also be offered. Students will also be taught the basic notions of software solution structural complexity from a control graph relationship perspective. The underlying emphasis will be that of professional software development. This study-unit will also impart insight into practical knowledge of, and insight into, the root Software Development Life-Cycles, including Rapid Application Development – Agile in particular, their fundamental properties, and their applicative potential. Students will be introduced to the notion of a system, its parts and usage as a concept. Solution quality categorisation, including a clear appreciation of modern solution maintenance and longevity, from the perspective of various stakeholders will also be explained accompanied by techniques to understand and control quality. Study-Unit Aims: This study-unit aims to provide students with necessary fundamental understanding and tools that they can leverage in their software development careers and the production of software solutions of demonstrable quality. It is envisaged that the study-unit will instill a sense of appreciation that modern software solution development can only attain the expected quality through semi-formal and formal modelling, process measurement and understanding – both quantitatively and qualitatively. The study-unit will also acquaint students with the fundamental development characteristics underpinning modern professional software development. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Explain the usefulness and help that structured reasoning and supporting techniques can offer a software developer in the creation of relevant and innovative software solutions. - Reason about software solutions in a structured way through the appropriate use of modularisation (divide and conquer), level of abstraction, and information hiding. - Identify the right positioning of such techniques in the overall software development process. - Demonstrate understanding and compare the quality of software solutions represented in various forms and along various level of abstraction. - Reason about solution quality in terms of all its inherent aspects and understand and design basic test cases to address specific solution requirements. - Given the right professional environment and conditions, set up appropriate software development structures and define effective life-cycles, and populate these life-cycles with appropriate models to describe system behaviour various forms. - Rationalise about software solution structure, as well as measure and reason about its construction, and verify its correctness through formal specification. - Propose quality frameworks based on applicable quality criteria linked to software solutions. - Explain the pivotal need of software maintenance in terms of solution longevity and relate this to software quality. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Correctly select, customise and apply various development concepts and tools to software development to increase the overall quality of their professional effort. - Participate in professional software development on a medium to large-scale level and of non-trivial sophistication. - Plan and undertake software solution development at various level of abstraction to help manage complexity and produce non-trivial software products. - Actively and effectively participate in software development teams contributing to software solutions of demonstrable quality and real-world relevance. - Compare the validity of various software solutions. - Apply various modelling techniques effectively to describe various aspects of system behaviour based on the stakeholder requirements, functional context, and real-world constraints. - Interact correctly and professionally with software solution development stakeholders. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Main Texts: - "Systems Analysis and Design", 3rd or latest edition, A. Dennis, B. Haley Wixom, et al., Wiley publishing. - “Software Engineering - A Practical Approach”, latest European edition, Pressman, R., McGraw Hill. Supplementary Readings: - "An introduction to Systems Analysis Techniques", 2nd edition or later, by M. Lejk & D. Deeks, Addison Wesley. - “Software Engineering - Theory and Practice”, (latest edition, Pfleeger, S. L., & Atlee, J. M., Pearson Education. |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||||||
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| LECTURER/S | Joseph Bonello Ernest A. Cachia (Co-ord.) Mark Micallef |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2024/5. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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