Teacher(s)
Language
English
> French-friendly
> French-friendly
Main themes
Whereas many software engineering courses focus on building new systems from scratch, in industrial practice software developers are often confronted with already existing software systems that need to be maintained, reused or evolved. This requires specific skills to understand the design and implementation of an existing system and which parts need to be modified, to build software systems that are easier to maintain, and to design systems with reuse and evolution in mind from the very start.
This course will thus study a variety of techniques, tools and methodologies to help building software systems that are easier to understand, maintain, reuse and evolve, such as:
Preliminaries and definitions :
- need for and problems of software maintenance and evolution
- definitions, differences between and types of software maintenance and evolution
- technical debt
- laws of software evolution
Domain modelling :
- software product lines
- domain analysis
- feature modelling
- commonalities and variabilities
- feature diagrams
Software reuse :
- definition of and needs for software reuse
- reuse techniques and design for reuse
- object-oriented techniques for reuse and maintainability
- object-oriented application frameworks
Software maintenance and evolution :
- Best programming practices and coding standards
- Code refactoring and reengineering
- Bad code smells
- Software and design patterns
- Design principles and heuristics
An industrial case study
This course will thus study a variety of techniques, tools and methodologies to help building software systems that are easier to understand, maintain, reuse and evolve, such as:
Preliminaries and definitions :
- need for and problems of software maintenance and evolution
- definitions, differences between and types of software maintenance and evolution
- technical debt
- laws of software evolution
Domain modelling :
- software product lines
- domain analysis
- feature modelling
- commonalities and variabilities
- feature diagrams
Software reuse :
- definition of and needs for software reuse
- reuse techniques and design for reuse
- object-oriented techniques for reuse and maintainability
- object-oriented application frameworks
Software maintenance and evolution :
- Best programming practices and coding standards
- Code refactoring and reengineering
- Bad code smells
- Software and design patterns
- Design principles and heuristics
An industrial case study
Learning outcomes
At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to : | |
1 |
Given the learning outcomes of the "Master in Computer Science and Engineering" program, this course contributes to the development, acquisition and evaluation of the following learning outcomes:
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Content
The course will cover a variety of techniques, tools and methodologies to help building software systems that are easier to understand, maintain, reuse and evolve.
Preliminaries:
Additional research-related sessions (if time remains) on selected topics such as:
Preliminaries:
- Definitions and difference between software maintenance, software evolution and software reuse
- Different types of software maintenance and evolution
- Causes for software maintenance and change
- Technical debt
- Laws of software evolution
- Domain modelling and domain analysis
- Software product lines
- Feature-oriented domain analysis
- Feature modelling, commonalities and variabilities
- Feature relationships, dependencies and cross-tree constraints
- Semantics of feature models and feature model anomalies
- Definitions of reusability, software reuse and reusable components
- How object-oriented programming promotes modularity, maintainability and reuse
- Encapsulation, information hiding, polymorphism and code sharing
- Key object-oriented concepts: object, classes, methods, messages, inheritance
- Polymorphism and dynamic binding
- Method overriding, self and super calls
- Abstract classes and methods
- Different kinds of inheritance: single, multiple, interfaces, mixins
- Bad smells
- Bad smells vs. refactorings
- Bad smell categories and examples
- Coupling and cohesion
- Refactoring (definitions, motivations, when should you refactor)
- Refactoring categories and examples
- Refactoring vs. code quality
- Merge conflicts due to refactoring
- Christopher Alexander’s building architectural patterns
- (Software) design patterns (definitions, motivations, structure)
- Abstract Factory design pattern
- Factory Method design pattern
- Strategy and Decorator design patterns
- Antipattern (definition, purpose, example: The Blob)
- The 7 deadly sins
- Design heuristics (definition, purpose, examples)
- Design heuristics related to inheritance and polymorphism
- Design heuristics related to cohesion
- Design heuristics related to coupling
- Object-oriented application frameworks (definition, purpose, examples)
- How frameworks can achieve software reuse
- Inversion of Control (the “Hollywood” principle)
- Software frameworks vs. libraries
- Hotspots and hook methods
- Commonality and variability
- White vs. grey vs. black box frameworks
- Template method design pattern
- Design patterns vs. frameworks
- Refactoring to a framework
- Using template methods to evolve an application into a framework
- Refactoring to specialise or generalise class hierarchies
Additional research-related sessions (if time remains) on selected topics such as:
- Context-Oriented Software
- Reflection and metaprogramming
Teaching methods
- Theory sessions covering the different course topics
- Practical sessions to apply the concepts in practice
- Missions to experience the problems related to and solutions for developing and evolving a maintainable and reusable software system.
- Invited presentation by a company to illustrate some of the course topics applied in industrial practice.
- Optionally some sessions on a theme related to research in the area of software maintenance, reuse and evolution.
Evaluation methods
For this course, students will be evaluated by:
As for the course istelf, all course assessments will be in English.
- a certifying continuous assessment of the project, which is based on 3 different missions, carried out by pairs, to be delivered during the course semester;
- a presentation by pairs, carried out during the exam session, where the missions completed during the semester are put into perspective with the concepts seen in the course;
- an individual examination on the topics seen in the theory course , carried out during the exam session.
- 10% of the final grade for active participation during the practical sessions
- 50% for the 3 missions carried out in pairs during the course semester
- 20% for the written exam (individual)
- 20% for the presentation (by pairs)
As for the course istelf, all course assessments will be in English.
Other information
Even though good quality software may be easier to maintain and evolve, software quality assurance techniques will not be addressed explicitly in this course as they are the topic of a separate course on Software Quality Assurance [LINFO2251]
Expected background:
Expected background:
- Having a good knowledge of and experience with object-oriented programming concepts, algorithms and data structures.
- Having prior or simultaneous experience with the development of a medium- to large-scale software system.
Online resources
Moodle course website
The course slides as well as other relevant and practical information related to the course will be accessible on Moodle. The same platform will also be the means of communication between the teacher(s) and the students.
The course slides as well as other relevant and practical information related to the course will be accessible on Moodle. The same platform will also be the means of communication between the teacher(s) and the students.
Bibliography
French
Compte tenu de la variété des sujets abordés, ce cours ne suivra pas un seul livre de référence, mais sera basé sur du matériel provenant de nombreuses sources différentes. Les slides de cours seront le matériel de référence principale pour ce cours et des pointeurs vers des lectures supplémentaires seront fournis par la plate-forme de cours en ligne.
Given the variety of topics covered, this course will not follow a single textbook but is based on material from many different sources. As such, the course slides will be the main reference material for this course and pointers to additional reading material will be provided through the online course platform.
Faculty or entity