Class attendance is strongly encouraged. You are accountable for all material presented in class. Class is the primary forum for conducting administrative business (changes to assignments, due dates, exam dates, etc.). You are accountable for all administrative information presented in class. If you miss class, you need to find out what announcements were made in your absence.
The class schedule provides information about the lecture topics that are planned for each day. We will follow this schedule as closely as possible, but some changes will probably be necessary.
There are three textbooks for the course, which are sold together as a single package in the BYU Bookstore. These books may also be obtained from most online bookstores.
Most lectures have associated reading assignments from the textbooks and/or supplementary articles. The supplementary articles are provided in electronic form on Blackboard.
Reading assignments should be completed before coming to class. If you don't do the reading before coming to class, you may have difficulty following the lecture. You will be held accountable for all material covered in the reading assignments, including material that is not covered in class. Please refer to the class schedule to see the specific reading assignments for each class period.
There will be one Midterm Exam and a comprehensive Final Exam. The format of the exams is primarily “short answer”.
The Midterm Exam will be given in the
The Final Exam will be given in class at the date and time listed on the class schedule.
In addition to class attendance, readings, and exams, the bulk of the course consists of completing a series of assignments that are designed to provide a pseudo-realistic experience in developing a production-quality software product. The details of the assignments can be found on the assignments page.
Real software is usually developed by teams rather than individuals, so you will be required to work in teams when completing these assignments. You and your teammates will need to work closely outside of class throughout the semester. To minimize scheduling conflicts, teams will consist of only two people. While this is much smaller than a real software development team, it will still require you to work closely with people other than yourself, which is the essential characteristic of a team environment. It is hoped that you will find working on a team to be more fun and productive than working alone.
There are potential risks associated with working in teams in an academic setting. First, a large portion of your final grade will be based on the team-oriented assignments, which means that your grade will be partially dependent on the performance of another person. Second, you may find that your teammate is not pulling his or her weight, requiring you to do more than your share of the work. For this reason, anyone taking CS 428 must be committed to being a productive team member, always doing their share of the work, doing it well, and doing it on time. If you are unable or unwilling to make this commitment, you are encouraged to drop the course.
In the unfortunate (and hopefully unlikely) event that your teammate is failing in this important commitment, talk to me about it, and I will try to rectify the situation. If the problem persists, the problematic teammate will be “fired” from the team and be required to work alone for the remainder of the semester (which usually leads to failure in the course). The remaining team member would have the option of either working alone or joining another team, whichever they prefer. In all such circumstances I will go out of my way to ensure that the “innocent” are not harmed by that which was out of their control.
The upside to working in teams is that it usually works just fine, and there is great value in learning to work productively with others, because that is what you’ll spend most of your career doing. In other words, the rewards far outweigh the risks, so we work in teams anyway.
The assignments for this class require access to the following software packages:
· Microsoft Visio 2002 or 2003, Professional Edition
· Java Development Kit (JDK), 1.4 or later
· CVS client
The Computer Science Dept. provides computers that have these software packages installed. You will need a Computer Science Dept. computer account in order to access these machines. (This account is different than your Route-Y account.) If you do not already have a Computer Science Dept. account, go to the web page at the following link to create or enable your account.
Abuse of BYU computers, networks, or facilities involving either pornography or illegal activity will result in loss of all Computer Science accounts and removal from all CS classes. Please refer to the Computer Science Dept. Lab Rules and Policies for more information regarding appropriate lab, computer, and account use. You will be held accountable for understanding and abiding by these policies.
The grades for this class are kept on Blackboard. Please check your grades on Blackboard often and notify us of any mistakes that have been made in recording your grades.
The following table shows the weight of each assignment and exam.
|
User Manual |
6 % |
|
Domain Model |
6 % |
|
Design |
12 % |
|
User Manual & Design Review |
6 % |
|
Construction |
10 % |
|
System Test |
12 % |
|
Regression Test |
4 % |
|
Final Product Evaluation |
10 % |
|
Midterm Exam |
17 % |
|
Final Exam |
17 % |
Final grades are assigned according to the following scale. If this scale is modified, it will only be in your favor.
|
A |
93-100 |
|
A- |
90-92 |
|
B+ |
87-89 |
|
B |
83-86 |
|
B- |
80-82 |
|
C+ |
77-79 |
|
C |
73-76 |
|
C- |
70-72 |
|
D+ |
67-69 |
|
D |
63-66 |
|
D- |
60-62 |
|
E |
Below 60 |
BYU's policy against sexual harassment extends not only to employees of the university but to students as well. If you encounter sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination, or other inappropriate behavior, please talk to your professor or department chair, or contact the BYU Equal Employment Opportunity Office at 422-5895, or contact the Honor Code Office at 422-2847.
BYU is committed to providing reasonable accommodation to
qualified persons with disabilities. If you have any disability that may
adversely affect your success in this course, please contact the