SE 3S03			Course Outline				Jan.2012

Instructor: Dr. Ivan Bruha, ITC-219, bruha@mcmaster.ca
Office hours: Mon, Th 13:20-14:20

Course title:
   "Software Testing nad Management"
Schedule:  Mon, Th 12:30-13:20
		   Tu      13:30-14:20

Course outline:

1. Introduction
2. Measurements
   - Measurement in everyday life, and software engineering
   - Scope of software metrics
   - Representation theory of measurement
   - Measurement, models, scales, and scale types
   - Meaningfulness
   - Classifying software measures
   - Determining what to measure
   - Software measurement validation
3. Program and system testing
   - Defective software
   - Unit testing
   - Integration testing
   - Automated testing
   - Test life cycle, estimating software quality
   - System testing, function testing, performance testing, acceptance testing
   - Test tools, test team, test documentation
4. Finite-state Automata and State-based testing
5. Management and decision-supporting systems
   - Principle of management and decision-making/supporting systems, their
     internal structure; production systems
   - General knowledge representation tools
   - Knowledge engineering: fundaments
   - Inference engine: search trees/graphs and the corresponding searching
     techniques

Required book:
   Textbook for SE3S03 (available at Bookstore)

Some sections will be covered by pdf files on our web site. Our web site
contains also Alternative lecture notes (from year 2008-09).

Marking scheme:
	2 tests			30% (each 15%)
	2 assignments		10% (each 5%)
	1 essay			10%
	1 final exam		50%
Students will be informed about tests and assignments at least two weeks in
advance.

Any student picking up back her/his marked test is to display her/his student
ID card to the TA of this course. Similarly, when contacting the instructor in
his office.

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The Essay:: is related to the topics of this course.

Discussion of the title with the instructor and his approval: by end.Jan.
If a student does not comply with this deadline then her/his mark for the essay
will be lowered by 2 points.

Due date for submitting the essay: Last-but-one week of the lectures

Format of the essay:
Regular fonts, single spacing, max. 12 pages including figures, tables, and
references.
Figures and Tables should be properly documented.  References should be properly
introduced.

Split the essay to several chapters; the following ones should always occur in
you writeup:
- Introduction (a brief but a complete summary of the entire topics)
- Methodology (you can split this part to several sections)
- Conclusion (include comparison if possible)

Marking scheme of the essay:
- Figures + Tables:     1 point
- References:           1 point
- Actual topic:         8 points
If your essay exceeds 12 pages then 1 point will be reduced.
If your essay is just a plain copy of other source(s) 4 points will be reduced.

Penalty for 1 to 3 days late submission of an assignment or essay: 10% off per
day. The assignment/essay more than 3 days late will not be accepted.

~~~~~~

Academic dishonesty consists of misrepresentation by deception or by other
fraudulent means and can result in serious consequences, e.g. the grade of
zero on an assignment, loss of credit with a notation on the transcript
(notation reads: "Grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty"), and/or
suspension or expulsion from the university.
It is your responsibility to understand what constitutes academic dishonesty.
For information on the various kinds of a academic dishonesty please refer to
the Academic Integrity Policy, specifically Appendix 3, located at
http://www.mcmaster.ca/senate/academic/ac_integrity.htm

The instructor and university reserve the right to modify elements of the
course during the term. The university may change the dates and deadlines
for any or all courses in extreme circumstances. If either type of
modification becomes necessary, reasonable notice and communication with the
students will be given with explanation and the opportunity to comment on
changes. It is the responsibility of the student to check their McMaster
email and course websites weekly during the term and to note any changes.

~~~~~~

Some of the questions in the tests and final exam will be of the form of
'generalized multiple-choice' questions, i.e. given a few answers for a
question, zero or one or more questions could be correct.  If you do not mark
ALL correct answers you'll get  0 (=zero) for that question. E.g.

Q: How much is 1+1 ?
a/ 3
b/ 2
c/ always 2
d/ sometimes 2, sometimes 3
e/ a number from the interval <2; 3>
f/ one of these results: 2, 3
g/ any number from the interval <2; 3>
Correct answer(s): .............