CPSC 680-010 Software Engineering Methodologies (SEM) Fall 2025

Archive

• Week 2 Class 4 Thu Sep 04 Posted: Sep 04

  Agenda

  • Notes: Lehman's Laws
  • Notes: Software Lifespan Model
  • Notes: Code Analysis

  • Exercise 3: Lehman's Laws

    Write at least a one-page document answering the following questions about Lehman's Laws. You can refer to my notes, and the original Lehman's papers.

    1. The Essence of Evolution Discuss the significance of Lehman's first law, "Continuing Change." How does the law relate to the dynamic environment of modern software? Provide any real-world examples that you can.

    2. Complexity and Decline Evaluate the long-term implications of Lehman's second law, "Increasing Complexity", on the maintenance and sustainability of large software systems. How does this law correlate with the principle of technical debt in software development?

    3. The Inherent Limitations of Software Evolution How can organizations address the issues caused by Lehman's "Law of Declining Quality"? Include any with the help of real-life case studies that you can where ignoring this law led to significant setbacks.

    4. Feedback and Adaptation How does the "Feedback System" law underline the importance of feedback in agile methodologies and DevOps practices? Analyze its implications for modern software development teams that prioritize continuous integration and continuous delivery.

    The exercise is due at 3:00 pm on Monday, Sep 8

• Week 2 Class 3 Tue Sep 02 Posted: Sep 02

  Announcements

  Agenda

  • "Changing the Paradigm of Software Engineering" by Václav Rajlich
  • Notes: Evolution
  • Notes: Lehman's Laws

• Week 1 Class 2 Thu Aug 28 Posted: Aug 28

  Agenda

  • Notes: Process

  • Exercise 2: Write a 1-page paper discussing which definition of software engineering that appears on the Wikipedia page is the most appropriate and why. You may also discuss the other definitions, and how similar they are to your preferred one.

    Update to Brightspaces as a 1-page PDF

    This exercise is due by 3 pm on Mon, Sep 1.

  • "Changing the Paradigm of Software Engineering" by Václav Rajlich

• Week 1 Class 1 Tue Aug 26 Posted: Aug 26

  Announcements

  • Syllabus

  Agenda

  • Exercise 1: Write up to a one-page paper introducing yourself to me and the rest of the students:

    • Previous courses related to Software Engineering
    • Previous exposure to the term/practice of "Software Evolution"
    • Any previous experience related to software development or software engineering
    • SE skills: languages, toolkits, version control, CI/CD tools (e.g., Docker), build tools, e.g., Makefile, CMake

    Submit a PDF through Brightspace.

  • Notes: Introduction

  • For next class: Read the article "Changing the Paradigm of Software Engineering" by Václav Rajlich

  All exercises are due by 3 pm on Wed Aug 27

• Welcome Posted: Aug 20

  Greetings and welcome to CPSC 680 Software Engineering Methodologies (SEM) for Fall 2025.

  • Syllabus The draft syllabus for the course is on the main course page. I will finalize the syllabus before our first class meeting.
  • Textbook The listed textbook is for background only and is not required.

  See you on Tuesday, Aug 26 at 2:00 - 3:15 in Arts & Sciences (CAS) room 134