Software Engineering:Analysis and Design

This page contains links to a number of useful documents and resources for students in the unit.

Documents

• Unit Outline (doc)      Unit Outline (PDF)
• C++ LOC Standard (doc)      C++ LOC Standard (PDF)
• McCall's Software Quality Checklist (doc)      McCall's Software Quality Checklist (PDF)
• Compilation of Past Exams (1998-2001) (doc)    Compilation of Past Exams (1998-2001) (PDF)
• Suggested answers for 2000 exam (doc)    Suggested answers for 2000 exam (PDF)
        - these are suggested answers only; other solutions are possible.
• Suggested answers for 2001 exam (doc)    Suggested answers for 2001 exam (PDF)
        - these are suggested answers only; other solutions are possible.

Interesting Articles

• Less is More: Jump-Start Productivity with Small Teams, Steve McConnell, Software Development, October 1997, pp. 28-34. Includes U.S. Department of Defense Project Formality Worksheet.
• Report on the Therac-25 Accidents and their software causes.
• The Lost Arts of Programming, Gene Callahan, Dr. Dobb's Journal, January 1999. "A couple of months ago, as I reached for a book I needed from a large pile of others, a second book accidentally tumbled to the floor. Picking it up, I found that it was Meilir Page-Jones' 1980 classic, The Practical Guide to Structured Systems Design ... Reading the book, I was amazed at how much knowledge has been lost in a rush to embrace OOP, RAD, visual programming, and other modern technologies."

User Interface Design Articles and Links

• The Theory Behind User Interface Design, Part One, Mauro Marinilli, On-line article at http://www.developer.com, 20 November, 2002.
• The Theory Behind User Interface Design, Part Two, Mauro Marinilli, On-line article at http://www.developer.com, 6 January, 2003.
• Mastering Interaction Modes, Mauro Marinilli, On-line article at http://www.developer.com, 3 February, 2003.
• IBM's Ease of Use Web Site. See especially the "Design" section.
• Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) Index
• ACM Interactions Magazine
• Alertbox: Jakob Nielsen's column on web usability. Lots of good articles - the "top tens" of web design mistakes are well worth reading.
• Bad Human Factors Designs: A collection of examples of poor design. Not necessarily computer interfaces, but interesting all the same.

Structured Analysis and Design Resources

• Just Enough Structured Analysis On-line, updated and condensed version of Ed Yourdon's Modern Structured Analysis of 1989. Why are we still doing this? There's still a large base of systems designed this way. A 1995 NASA analysis revealed that "Structured analysis continues to be the highest rated development methodology in terms of awareness, training, and actual use. Object-oriented design in well known throughout NASA but used only moderately". Amusing, given that Yourdon says "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to appreciate that a lot has changed since the late 1980s..."
• Cohesion, Meilir Page-Jones, Ch. 6 of The Practical Guide to Structured Systems Design, © 1998

OO and UML Resources

• Object Management Group UML specification
• v.1.3, June 1999. (pdf 3.5Mb) (ps.gz 1.5Mb) (the one your texts are most likely to have used)
• v.1.4, September 2001. (pdf 4.7Mb) (ps.gz 1.6Mb)
• Rational Rose UML Quick Reference
• Robert Martin's C++ Report articles on principles of good OO design, from articles available at Object Mentor.
• 1. The Open-Closed Principle
• 2. The Liskov Substitution Principle
• 3. The Dependency Inversion Principle
• 4. The Interface Segregation Principle
• 5. Granularity (Reuse/Release Equivalency Principle, The Common Closure Principle, The Common Reuse Principle, Acylclic Dependencies Principle)
• 6. Stability (Stable Dependencies Principle, Stable Abstractions Principle)

Design and Analysis Patterns

• Patterns Home Page - resource for patterns and pattern languages. Has links to many other resources, including pattern catalogues
• Patterns and Software: Essential Concepts and Terminology - article summarizing important information about patterns. Has lots of links.
• Organizational Structures (Accountability), Martin Fowler, new version of Ch.2 of Analysis Patterns: Reusable Object Models, © 1996

CASE and drawing tools

• (Old) Student Edition of Rational Rose CASE Tool (9.2Mb ZIP file), Rational Software is the home of the developers of UML, and Rational Rose.
• SmartDraw drawing tool for PCs. Very useful for structured analysis and design.
• Dia - GTK-based diagram drawing program. An open-source drawing tool that is included in many Linux installations. A variety of modelling languages is supported. There is also a Windows version.
• Glade - an open-source visual interface builder for GTK+ and GNOME.
• Personal Assistant for Software Engineers (PASE)