CS 6V81: Topics in Software Quality

http://www.utdallas.edu/~mark.gabel/teaching/cs6v81s12
5:30 - 6:45 PM, Tuesdays and Thursdays
McDermott Library (MC) 2.410
Coursebook Entry
Course eLearning Site

Note: this page is static.  Notes, reading assignments, and project information can be found on eLearning.

Professor

Mark Gabel (contact information and office)
Office Hours: Thursdays, 1:00 - 3:00 PM

Textbook

No required textbook.
All reading materials will be made available online.

Course Description

This course will be a seminar-style course on recent research in Software Engineering.  We will be reading and discussing several academic research papers.  These papers will contain research results relevant to both computer scientists and software engineers.

Each student, individually or in small groups, will work on a semester-long research project of his or her choosing.  I will advise each project throughout the semester, and it will culminate in a final academic-style term paper and a short oral presentation to the class.

Preliminary list of topics:

• Program analysis (static and dynamic)
• Automated bug finding tools
• Development environments (IDEs) and tools
• Automated testing tools
• Automated debugging
• Empirical studies of software engineering processes
• Empirical studies of software itself
• Software design and its effect on quality
• Analysis for software security
• Issues related to concurrent and parallel software quality
• Automated mining of specifications from software

The high level learning goals are:

1. To gain familiarity with the latest advances in Software Engineering research.
2. To learn how these advances impact both industry (software engineers) and academia (researchers).
3. To learn to propose and design a research project.
4. To experience conducting Ph.D.-level research (even if you are an M.S. student!).
5. To learn how to critically read and discuss academic research papers and articles.

Course Syllabus

CS 6V81 Course Outline [pdf]

An extended syllabus is available on eLearning.

Grading

• 30%: Reading reviews and class participation
• 70%: Research project
• No exams.

Homework: Reading

I will post reading assignments for most meetings.  The readings will largely be research papers drawn from the proceedings of flagship academic publication venues — generally academic conferences like ICSE.  A (very brief) reading review will be due before the start of each class.  Student reviews may include:

• A brief summary of the paper.
• Constructive criticism of the work.
• Identification of the key insights of the paper.
• (Most importantly) Any questions or clarifications about the work, which I will discuss in class.

While I have a preliminary list of papers to read in mind, students will have the opportunity to nominate topics or specific papers they would like the class to read.

Research Project

Each student will work on a research project of his or her choosing, either by him/herself or in a small group.

I will assist all students in the selection of a suitable research project, and I will advise and assist students with their research throughout the semester.

The project will be roughly divided into the following milestones:

1. Group selection and project proposal. (Approximate due date: early/mid Februrary)
2. Project progress report. (Approximate due date: late March)
3. Final project paper and class presentation. (Main graded component, due at the end of the semester)

Any student currently working on research with other professors or in other classes is encouraged to talk with me about the possibility of using his or her existing work as a class project.