Over that last five years or so, the software industry has begun to explore lightweight development methodologies as alternative approaches for building software. These so-called "agile" methodologies emphasize the value of people -- programmers and clients -- over rigid processes.
In 810:188 Agile Software Development, we will have the chance to study several of these agile methodologies. We will read about them and evaluate them. But most importantly we will try them out on real programming projects. An important part of trying them out will be to use some of the of the interesting new tools that support agile methods, such as:
We will use these tools to write some programs.
I hope for 810:188 Agile Software Development to be a course in pragmatic software engineering for programmers. This course will give you practical experience designing and writing larger programs. It aims to make you a better, more confident programmer. This topic has many facets and thus gives us a lot of freedom in what we can do. I plan to let the students in the class determine much of the direction of the course.
I ask you to buy only one text:
There are a number of other texts you may find helpful:
Your grade will derive from four activities this semester:
| Activity | Number | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Quizzes | 2-3 | 20% |
| Short papers | 2-3 | 20% |
| Programming assignments | ~ 6 | 40% |
| Class participation | . | 10% |
| Final exam | 1 | 10% |
I grade on a straight 90%, 80%, 70%, 60% scale. Frankly, I don't expect that this course will generate many surprises when it comes to grades. You will get pretty much what you put into the course, with no hidden strings.
Our final exam period is Thursday, December 16, from 10:00 AM-11:50 AM.