CMPUT 301

Software Engineering

Course Outline Fall 2024

University of Alberta
CMPUT 301 - Software Engineering
LEC A1 EA1 A2 EA2
Fall 2024

Web Pages

Lecture

Lab

Contact Information

Please see the getting help section first.

Lecturer

Lecturer: Dr. Hazel Campbell

Teaching Assistants

TA office hours will be added on eClass.

Course Content

Course Description

As an introduction to software engineering, this course is about building software effectively. You will apply good practices, effective design techniques, and development tools within a team project to create an application with a graphical user interface.

The focus is largely practical, with broad coverage in topics such as: object-oriented design, user interfaces, unit testing, design patterns, and refactoring.

Communication skills, team dynamics, working with a "customer", and creativity are also important factors in the course project. The knowledge, skills, and experience you gain will be invaluable in your future software development projects.

Prerequisites

CMPUT 201 or CMPUT 275

Objectives and Learning Outcomes

We will learn about applying software engineering concepts to design and implement interactive applications.

One effective way to build such applications is to apply object-oriented design and use software components. To be useful to end users, the design of these applications must also be guided by usability principles. The course involves a team project in building a well-designed Java/Android application with a sophisticated graphical user interface.

By the end of this course, you will have a strong background in basic software engineering concepts. Also, you will have the skills to implement interactive applications in Android. You will learn to propose and think critically about software and user interface designs.

Students are expected to participate in all classes and labs.

Course Topics

Learning Resources

Course Schedule

The weekly topic schedule is likely to be updated during the term; please see the live version.

Required Textbook and/or Other Major Course Materials

This course does not have a required textbook. There are a number of excellent resources for this course, available as electronic books or through open access on the Web. See the course eClass site for links.

Images reproduced in lecture slides have been included under section 29 of the Copyright Act, as fair dealing for research, private study, criticism, or review. Further distribution or uses may infringe copyright on these images.

In addition to fair dealing, the Copyright Act specifically exempts projected displays by educational institutions for the purposes of education or training on the premises of the education institution.

Copyright regulations, however, prohibit me from distributing complete copies of the lecture slides on the course eClass site.

You may assume that any code examples we provide to you are public domain and free for you to take without attribution, unless they are licensed.

See the resources page.

Course Fees

Students will be required to use the online service Firebase in order to complete the coursework and course project. The expected fees are $0, however, Firebase may assess fees if storage, bandwidth, user, or operation limits are exceeded. In this case it is the responsibility of the student to pay for any Firebase charges. If you are unable to pay these fees, you must contact your TA and instructor immediately.

On-Line Homework Disclaimer

Online homework submission is a component of this course and is provided by a third-party company. Please be aware that this company will be storing assessment information that may be associated with you. As a way to protect your personal information, you will create your own ID or be assigned a random ID to enter into the system. Only the random ID, performance on the online homework and the affiliation to the University of Alberta for this random ID will be conveyed to the company. You are not required to provide any additional personal information to this company. If you have any concerns about this, please contact the instructor of the course.

Academic Success Centre

The Academic Success Centre provides professional academic support to help students strengthen their academic skills and achieve their academic goals. Individual advising, appointments, and group workshops are available year round in the areas of Accessibility, Communication, Learning, and Writing Resources. Modest fees apply for some services.

Faculty of Science Student Services

The Faculty of Science Student Services office is located on the main floor of the Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences (CCIS). This office can assist with the planning of Your Academics, and provide information related to Student Life & Engagement, Internship & Careers, and Study Abroad opportunities. Please visit Advising for more information about what Faculty Academic Advisors in the Student Services Office can assist you with.

Grade Evaluation

Note the Collaboration column, it shows collaboration models for each unit of work. These styles are better described on the CS course policy page.

What Weight Collaboration Due Date
Lecture Participation 5% Solo Effort Most Lectures
Labs 5% Consultation Fridays 4PM
Assignment 0 4% Consultation ~ Week 3
Project Part 0 4% Teamwork ~ Week 3
Assignment 1 8% Consultation ~ Week 4
Project Part 1 4% Teamwork ~ Week 4
Project Part 2 8% Teamwork ~ Week 6
Project Part 3 12% Teamwork ~ Week 9
Project Part 4 20% Teamwork ~ Week 13
Final Exam 30% Solo Effort See BearTracks

Letter Grades

Letter Descriptor CS Department Interpretation
A Excellent Consistently original thinking that extends the material, demonstrated depth and breadth in the material, ability to integrate material with other subjects, ability to analyze and synthesize material at various levels of abstraction.
B Good Like an A, but not consistent over time, or weak in a specific area.
C Satisfactory Understand the core material but not its subtleties, can apply it to simple situations on own and to more complex situations with hints, evidence that the material has changed the way of thinking.
D+ Poor Understands some of the core material but not its subtleties, can apply it to simple situations but often needs assistance, evidence that the material has had some change on the way of thinking.
D Minimal Pass Shows some understanding of parts of the material, cannot apply it without some direction, little evidence that the material has changed the way of thinking.
F Failure Little evidence of understanding of even the surface issues, poor analysis and synthesis, inability to apply the material.
% UA Letter UA Descriptor UA GPA
≥ 96.25% A+ Excellent 4.0
≥ 91.25% A Excellent 4.0
≥ 87.5% A- Excellent 3.7
≥ 83.75% B+ Good 3.3
≥ 78.75% B Good 3.0
≥ 75% B- Good 2.7
≥ 71.25% C+ Satisfactory 2.3
≥ 66.25% C Satisfactory 2.0
≥ 62.5% C- Satisfactory 1.7
≥ 58.75% D+ Poor 1.3
≥ 50% D Minimal Pass 1.0
≥ 0% F Fail 0.0

Statement of Expectations for AI Use

You MUST not submit work by LLMs as your own, that is plagiarism. This also applies to other "AI" and Generative Models: ChatGPT, Lex, Page, DALL-E2, Google BARD/Gemini, Microsoft Bing/Copilot, and others. If you use LLMs you must cite it. This includes the corporation that made the AI, the AI, Subject, and Date. For example:

// The following function from Microsoft, Copilot, "How do I write a merge sort in JavaScript?", 2023-08-31
function mergeSort(array) {

If you use LLMs you must cite it, but it's probably better to Google what it tells you and find a real citation because:

LLMs like ChatGPT are wrong a lot. It does not understand computer science. It understands how to form sentences and paragraphs well enough to be convincing, but it doesn't actually understand what anything it is saying means. When it has the choice between two answers, with opposite meanings, it will pick the answer that looks more like things it has seen before, not the answer that is more correct. This means you need to double-check that what it tells you is actually correct.

StackOverflow is always a better resource than Large Language Models such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Bard/Gemini, etc., but of course if you use code from StackOverflow or any other website, you must cite it. This is because other human programmers will usually check and downvote, remove, or fix bad information on StackOverflow. No one is checking the output of LLMs: if an LLM lies to you, no one will ever know.

ChatGPT and similar services are recording everything you tell it, and tracking you. Using ChatGPT/Bing/Bard etc. they are recording everything you say and how the LLM responds to you. There is no privacy.

Re-Evaluation of Term Work

Re-Evaluation of Term Work follows the Computing Science department course policies. Any questions or concerns about marks on a particular assignment must be brought to the attention of the instructor (not a TA) within 10 calendar days of its return date. After that, we will not consider remarking or re-evaluating the work. So do not expect anyone to re-evaluate all the work you did all term long in the hopes of getting a higher final grade.

However, clerical errors such as incorrectly computing or recording a mark may be raised at any time prior to 2 working days following the final exam. It is the student's responsibility to confirm that their term work has been recorded properly.

Policies for Late and Missed Work

Late Policy

Absolutely no late work will be accepted. No extensions will be granted to individual students for any reason.

Non-medical Protected Grounds

This includes Religious Holidays!

When a term assessment or final exam presents a conflict based on nonmedical protected grounds, students must apply to the Academic Success Centre for accommodations via their Register for Accommodations website. Students can review their eligibility and choose the application process specific for Accommodations Based on Non-medical Protected Grounds.

It is imperative that students review the dates of all course assessments upon receipt of the course syllabus, and apply AS SOON AS POSSIBLE to ensure the timely application of the accommodation. Students who apply later in the term may experience unavoidable delays in the processing of the application, which can affect the accommodation.

Missed Labs

Labs are due Friday at 4PM on the same week the lab was presented. Project meetings are due at the time of the meeting, and they are included in the lab mark. Failure to attend and actively participate in project meetings will result in a lab mark of zero.

The 2 lowest marks for Labs (including project meetings) will be dropped when calculating the course mark. No late labs will be accepted. Failure to complete a lab (or to attend project a project meeting) on time for any reason will result in a mark of zero. Please note that you can miss 2 labs (or project meetings) without penalty.

Missed Lecture Participation

Participation exercises will be available most lectures.

The 6 lowest marks for lecture participation will be dropped when calculating the course mark. No late participation will be accepted. Failure to complete a participation exercise on time for any reason will result in a mark of zero. Please note that you can miss 6 lectures without penalty.

Missed Assignments, Project Parts, Quizzes, Midterm Exams

A student who cannot complete an assignment, project part, quiz, or midterm exam, due to incapacitating illness, severe domestic affliction or other compelling reasons must contact the instructor within two working days of missing the assessment, or as soon as possible, to request an excused absence. If an excused absence is granted, then weight will be transferred to the final exam. An excused absence is a privilege and not a right. There is no guarantee that an absence will be excused. Misrepresentation of facts to gain an excused absence is a serious breach of the Student Academic Integrity Policy. In all cases, instructors may request adequate documentation to substantiate the reason for the absence at their discretion.

Failure to complete an assignment or contribute to a project part without an excused absence will result in a raw score of zero or a proportional score reduction.

Deferred Final Examination

A student who cannot write the final examination due to incapacitating illness, severe domestic affliction or other compelling reasons can apply for a deferred final examination. Such an application must be made to the student’s Faculty office within two working days of the missed examination and must be supported by appropriate documentation or a Statutory Declaration (see calendar on Attendance). Deferred examinations are a privilege and not a right; there is no guarantee that a deferred examination will be granted. The Faculty may deny deferral requests in cases where less than 50% of term work has been completed. Misrepresentation of facts to gain a deferred examination is a serious breach of the Student Academic Integrity Policy.

Required Technology

Labs Assignments and Project

This course requires a Mac, Windows, or Linux laptop computer capable of:

  1. Running Android Studio. The current Android Studio minimum system requirements are listed here.
    1. Including the Android Phone Emulator
  2. Running git and other software development tools.
  3. Working for the 3-hour duration of LAB sections.

Please contact the instructor by the add/drop deadline 2024-09-16 if you do not have access to the minimum technology recommended. The instructor will make arrangements for accommodating students who contact the instructor before this date. Failure to do so may result in a zero in any assessment that depends on the minimum technology.

Lecture Participation

A working smartphone, tablet, or laptop computer with an up-to-date web browser and working Wi-Fi.

Remote Delivery Considerations

Hybrid Synchronous Delivery

This course requires live attendance in-person. All labs, all exams, all presentations, and some lectures require in-person attendance.

Technology Requirements

Technology for Remote Learning: To successfully participate in remote learning in this course, it is recommended that students have access to a computer with an internet connection that can support the tools and technologies the University uses to deliver content, engage with instructors, TAs, and fellow students, and facilitate assessment and examinations. Please refer to Technology for Remote Learning - For Students for details. If you encounter difficulty meeting the technology recommendations, please email the Dean of Students Office (dosdean@ualberta.ca) directly to explore options and support.

Please contact the instructor by the add/drop deadline 2024-09-16 if you do not have access to the minimum technology recommended. The instructor will make arrangements for accommodating students who contact the instructor before this date. Failure to do so may result in a zero in any assessment that depends on the minimum technology.

Recordings of Synchronous Activities

Recordings are not a substitute for attending live.

Recordings are provided for review and for students with an excused absence only. You must attend this class live, while the lectures are happening unless you have an acceptable excuse (incapacitating illness, severe domestic affliction). You must be in Edmonton and available to attend in-person. If you are not available to attend in person do not take this course. Following University policy, we absolutely do not provide any accommodations for travel. https://calendar.ualberta.ca/content.php?catoid=44&navoid=13550#attendance "Unacceptable reasons include, but are not limited to personal events such as vacations, weddings, or travel arrangements. When a student is absent without acceptable excuse, a final grade will be computed using a raw score of zero for the work missed."

Home-Based Lab Activities

As part of the learning experience in this course, you will be required to undertake certain activities in or around your place of residence. To ensure that you undertake the activity safely and fully informed of the risks, please review the University of Alberta’s Remote Learning Lab-Based Assignment Information Advisory. If you have questions or concerns, contact your instructor.

Student Resources for Remote Learning

Online learning may be new to you. Check out tips for success and find out more about online learning on the Campus Life page, and specifically on the Academic Skills Online & Remote Delivery Resources page.

Student Responsibilities

Academic Integrity and Student Conduct

The University of Alberta is committed to the highest standards of academic integrity and honesty, as well as maintaining a learning environment that fosters the safety, security, and the inherent dignity of each member of the community, ensuring students conduct themselves accordingly. Students are expected to be familiar with the standards of academic honesty and appropriate student conduct, and to uphold the policies of the University in this respect.

Students are particularly urged to familiarize themselves with the provisions of the Student Academic Integrity Policy and the Student Conduct Policy, and avoid any behaviour that could potentially result in suspicions of academic misconduct (e.g., cheating, plagiarism, misrepresentation of facts, participation in an offence) and non-academic misconduct (e.g., discrimination, harassment, physical assault). Academic and non-academic misconduct are taken very seriously and can result in suspension or expulsion from the University.

All students are expected to consult the Academic Integrity website for clarification on the various academic offences. All forms of academic dishonesty are unacceptable at the University. Unfamiliarity of the rules, procrastination or personal pressures are not acceptable excuses for committing an offence. Listen to your instructor, be a good person, ask for help when you need it, and do your own work -- this will lead you toward a path to success. Any academic integrity concern in this course will be reported to the College of Natural and Applied Sciences. Suspected cases of non-academic misconduct will be reported to the Dean of Students. The College, the Faculty, and the Dean of Students are committed to student rights and responsibilities, and adhere to due process and administrative fairness, as outlined in the Student Academic Integrity Policy and the Student Conduct Policy. Please refer to the policy websites for details on inappropriate behaviours and possible sanctions.

The College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS) has created an Academic Integrity for CNAS Students eClass site. Students can self enrol and review the various resources provided, including the importance of academic integrity, examples of academic misconduct & possible sanctions, and the academic misconduct & appeal process. They can also complete assessments to test their knowledge and earn a completion certificate.

"Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching." — C.S. Lewis

Contract Cheating and Misuse of University Academic Materials or Other Assets

Contract cheating describes the form of academic dishonesty where students get academic work completed on their behalf, which they then submit for academic credit as if they had created it themselves.

Contract cheating may or may not involve the payment of a fee to a third party, who then creates the work for the student.

Examples include:

  1. Getting someone to write an essay or research paper for you.
  2. Getting someone to complete your assignment or exam for you.
  3. Posting an essay, assignment or exam question to a tutorial or study website; the question is answered by a “content expert”, then you copy it and submit it as your own answer.
  4. Posting your solutions to a tutorial/study website, public server or group chat and/or copying solutions that were posted to a tutorial/study website public server or group chat.
  5. Sharing your login credentials to the course management system (e.g. eClass) and allowing someone else to complete your assignment or exam remotely.
  6. Using an artificial intelligence bot or text generator tool to help with assignments is allowed in this course but may not be allowed in other courses. (It is not allowed on exams.)
  7. Using an online grammar checker is allowed in this course but may not be allowed in other courses.

Contract cheating companies thrive on making students believe that they cannot succeed without their help; they attempt to convince students that cheating is the only way to succeed.

Uploading the instructor’s teaching materials (e.g. course outlines, lecture slides, assignment or exam questions, etc.) to tutorial, study or note-sharing websites or public servers is a copyright infringement and constitutes the misuse of University academic materials or other assets.

Receiving assignment solutions or answers to exam questions from an unauthorized source puts you at risk of receiving inaccurate information.

Contract Cheating: CS Courses

These are also contract cheating:

  • Logging in as someone else
  • Sharing your login credentials
  • Sharing your anonymous ID
  • Using someone else's anonymous ID
  • Allowing someone else to log in as you
  • Representing yourself as someone else
  • Having someone else represent themselves as you
  • On other UAlberta services and linked services:
    • Zoom
    • gmail
    • Google Chat, Drive, ...
    • Lab computers
    • Wi-Fi
    • ...
  • On an external service, website, or app:
    • repository hosting services: GitHub, GitHub Classroom, Bitbucket, GitLab, ...
    • live quiz services: Mentimeter, ...
    • Textbook websites/apps
    • KnowledgeTree/MasteryGrids
    • online tutorials
    • online practice systems
    • online homework systems

In order to reduce the burden of discipline cases on the Faculty of Science Decision Makers, and to provide feedback to students in a more timely fashion, the following Faculty of Science policy may be followed:

The instructor may assign a full or partial deduction along with a standardized letter notifying the student of a first offence on a minor assessment (e.g. assignment or lab) worth no more than 5% where a substantial portion of the work is found to be not unique.

Subsequent offences on minor assessments, and ALL suspected academic misconduct on formative assessments (e.g. quizzes, exams, assessments worth more than 5%), will be reported to the Faculty of Science as a possible breach of the Student Academic Integrity Policy following the usual process.

Appropriate Collaboration

Appropriate collaboration follows the CS course policy.

Students need to be able to recognize when they’ve crossed the line between appropriate collaboration and inappropriate collaboration. If students are unsure, they need to ask the instructors to clarify what’s allowed and what’s not allowed.

Students are not permitted to copy solutions on homework assignments. Here are some tips to avoid copying on assessments:

  1. Do not write down something that you cannot explain to your instructor.
  2. When you are helping other students, avoid showing them your work directly. Instead, explain your solution verbally. Allowing your work to be copied is also considered inappropriate collaboration.
  3. It is possible that verbally discussing the solution in too much detail may result in written responses that are too similar. Try to keep discussions at a general or high level.
  4. If you find yourself reading another student's solution, do not write anything down. Once you understand how to solve the problem, remove the other person's work from your sight and then write up the solution to the question yourself. Looking back and forth between someone else's paper and your own paper is almost certainly copying and considered inappropriate collaboration.
  5. If the instructor or TA writes down part of a solution in order to help explain it to you or the class, you cannot copy it and hand it in for credit. Treat it the same way you would treat another student's work with respect to copying, that is, remove the explanation from your sight and then write up the solution yourself.
  6. There is often more than one way to solve a problem. Choose the method that makes the most sense to you rather than the method that other students happen to use. If none of the ideas in your solution are your own, there is a good chance it will be flagged as copying.

An additional link that may be useful is "How to Avoid Inappropriate Collaboration": https://www.ualberta.ca/campus-life/academic-success/academic-integrity/collaboration.html

For programming assignments, powerful software tools are used to detect plagiarism. When the software tools indicate that there is similarity between two submissions, the submissions are reviewed by the instructor or teaching assistant. If the possibility that the standards for academic honesty were violated is confirmed, an investigation is started. Eventually the submitted solutions may be forwarded to the Faculty of Science Associate Dean of Students for further investigation and eventual sanctions.

All suspected cases of plagiarism and other forms of cheating are immediately referred to the College of Natural and Applied Sciences (CNAS). CNAS, not your instructor, will determine what course of action is appropriate. We do not hesitate to send ALL cases of cheating to CNAS. Please do not put yourself or us into such an unpleasant situation. Please read the Student Conduct Policy carefully.

Citation

If you include code or ideas from someone who isn't you (including from a Generative AI or LLM) you must cite it. Here is an example of an appropriate citation:

# The following function from Django Software Foundation and contributors, "Writing your first Django app, part 2", 2024-01-05
class Choice(models.Model):
    question = models.ForeignKey(Question, on_delete=models.CASCADE)
    choice_text = models.CharField(max_length=200)
    votes = models.IntegerField(default=0)

Example:

# From https://stackoverflow.com/a/952952 by Boris Verkhovskiy, Downloaded 2023-05-04
flat_list = [item for sublist in l for item in sublist]
Solo Effort: Participation Exercises, Quizzes, Exams

Participation exercises fall under the departments Solo Effort model unless announced by the instructor. Solo Effort must be completed by the student registered in the course without external assistance from any individual or organization.

Violation of the above will be considered a breach of the Student Academic Integrity Policy.

Confidential: Exams

Midterm and Final Exams are also Confidential in addition to Solo Effort as listed above.

Consultation: Assignments, Labs

Individual assignments and labs are under the department's Consultation model. That means you may discuss the labs with others, but you must create and submit a solution that is entirely your own work. If you consult with other students, you must list their names in a comment at the top of your submission or in your repository README, along with a brief description of the part(s) of the assignment you discussed.

How to consult with other students without plagiarizing:

Examples of consultation:

Teamwork: Group Projects

Intellectual Violence

In this course, Intellectual Violence is considered bullying. Intellectual violence is when one teammate uses their skill, knowledge, or experience, to intimidate or control the other teammate(s) rather than sharing and helping them learn. Examples of Intellectual Violence

Instances of Intellectual Violence may result in reduced marks and/or be referred to the Dean of Students under the Student Conduct Policy.

Exam Conduct

Students must conduct themselves according to the University of Alberta Calendar Regulations for Exam Conduct.

Cell phones

Cell phones may be used to complete participation exercises. Otherwise, cell phones are to be turned off.

In accordance with the University of Alberta’s Discrimination, Harassment, and Duty to Accommodate policy, accommodation support is available to eligible students who encounter limitations or restrictions to their ability to perform the daily activities necessary to pursue studies at a post-secondary level due to medical conditions and/or nonmedical protected grounds. Accommodations are coordinated through the Academic Success Centre, and students can learn more about eligibility on the Register for Accommodations website.

It is recommended that students apply AS SOON AS POSSIBLE in order to ensure sufficient time to complete accommodation registration and coordination. Students are advised to review and adhere to published deadlines for accommodation approval and for specific accommodation requests (e.g., exam registration submission deadlines). Students who request accommodations less than a month in advance of the academic term for which they require accommodations may experience unavoidable delays or consequences in their academic programs, and may need to consider alternative academic schedules.

Recording and/or Distribution of Course Materials

Audio or video recording, digital or otherwise, of lectures, labs, seminars or any other teaching environment by students is allowed only with the prior written consent of the instructor or as a part of an approved accommodation plan. Student or instructor content, digital or otherwise, created and/or used within the context of the course is to be used solely for personal study, and is not to be used or distributed for any other purpose without prior written consent from the content author(s).

On-Campus Computer Labs

See the Undergraduate Conditions of Use and Lab Policies for information about undergraduate labs.

Learning and Working Environment

The Faculty of Science is committed to ensuring that all students, faculty and staff are able to work and study in an environment that is safe and free from discrimination, harassment, and violence of any kind. It does not tolerate behaviour that undermines that environment. This includes virtual environments and platforms.

If you are experiencing harassment, discrimination, fraud, theft or any other issue and would like to get confidential advice, please contact any of these campus services:

Feeling Stressed, Anxious, or Upset?

It's normal for us to have different mental health experiences throughout the year. Know that there are people who want to help. You can reach out to your friends and access a variety of supports available on and off campus at the Need Help Now webpage or by calling the 24-hour Distress Line: 780-482-4357 (HELP).

Student Self-Care Guide

This Self-Care Guide, originally designed by the Faculty of Native Studies, has broader application for use during students’ learning. It provides some ideas and strategies to consider that can help navigate emotionally challenging or triggering material.

Land Acknowledgement

The University of Alberta respectfully acknowledges that we are situated on Treaty 6 territory, traditional lands of First Nations and Métis people.

To learn more about the significance of this land acknowledgement, please read this useful article and associated links to more information.

Administrative

Policy about Course Outlines

Policy about course outlines can be found in Course Requirements, Evaluations Procedures and Grading of the University Calendar.

Disclaimer

Update History