SYLLABUS
CMPS 5443 Software Quality Assurance
Catalog Description: A study of the process of creating large software systems.
Encompasses system design, development, maintainability, testing, and documentation.
Emphasis is on concepts and practices that reduce software cost and increase reliability
and modifiability.
The course will also focus on concepts and practices that assure and measure software
quality.
Instructor: Dr. Catherine V. Stringfellow
Office:
Bolin Science Hall, Room 128C
Office
phone:
E-mail:
397- 4578
Office
Hours:
MWF 10-11:30am, TR 9:30-11:30am, MW 2:00-3:30pm , R 3:30-4:30pm
& by appt
catherine.stringfellow@mwsu.edu Web: cs.mwsu.edu/~stringfe
Prerequisites: Twelve hours of graduate computer science or CMPS 5153: Advanced
Software Engineering.
Required Text: Software Quality Engineering by Jeff Tian. Papers from the literature in
the field as well as sections from other texts will also be distributed, as well as a list of
other useful books available in the library.
General Course Objectives: This course is a study of the following topics:
1. Quality Assurance,
2. Defect Prevention and Removal,
3. Testing techniques,
4. Inspections,
5. Formal specification and verification methods,
6. Quality Improvement
Specific Course Objectives: Upon completion of this course, students should be able to:
1. Understand how to detect, classify, prevent and remove defects
2. Understand how to conduct formal inspections, record and evaluate results of
inspections
3. Know how to choose which metrics to collect and use them to make predictions
4. Choose appropriate testing strategies and develop test cases
5. Be able to use Z to formally specify a system and write proofs for algorithms.
Instructional Method: This course will involve a mixture of formal lectures; class
meetings for group work; and student presentations of the work in progress, as well as
from readings from the literature.
Course Assignments and Evaluation:
Students will be asked to perform software quality assurance activities on different pieces
of software. There will also be a few short assignments involving formal specifications,
proof of correctness, developing test cases, applying prediction models, and other course
topics. There will also be a midterm and final.
Final grades will be based on the following criteria.
Activity
Percentage of Grade
Midterm
20%
Final
30%
Assignments (Homework, Quizzes, Group Work)
50%
Grading Scale is as follows: 90-100% is an A, 80-89% is a B, 70-79% is a C, 60-69% is a
D, and 0-59% is an F. Late assignments will result in a lower grade.
Makeup Exams and Quizzes: There are two exams. The only acceptable reason for missing an
exam is with a valid university excuse (e.g., excuse from the doctor, death in the immediate family, etc.) A
makeup exam will only be to those students who have a valid excuse. If you know ahead of time that you
will miss an exam, please see me to take it early.
Academic Dishonesty: It is dishonest to ask for, give, or receive help in examinations or quizzes,
to use any unauthorized material in examinations, or to present, as one’s own, work or ideas
which are not entirely one’s own. The instructor has the right to expect that all student work is
honest, original work. As students of Midwestern State University you must accept and
acknowledge that responsibility for lying, cheating, stealing, plagiarism, and other forms of
academic dishonesty fundamentally rests within each individual student. Academic dishonesty
procedures and sanctions that may be imposed are spelled out in Section 4 of the Student
Handbook. Each student is responsible for understanding all the material in the Student
Handbook, which may be obtained at www. students.mwsu.edu/dean.
Tentative Sequence of Topics
week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Software Quality
Quality Assurance
Testing Concepts and Issues
Testing Activities
Testing Techniques
Testing Techniques. Other Techniques
Defect Prevention/Process Improvement
In-class group assg; Midterm
Inspection
10
CRC
SuppMaterial
11
Refactoring
Quality Models and Measurements;
Software Reliability Engineering
Defect Classification and Analysis
Formal Methods
Formal Specification
FINAL Tuesday, May 8, 8-10pm
SuppMaterial
12
13
14
15
16
topics
chapter
1-3
3-5
6
7
8,
9, 11a
13
Some project activities
In class questions/paper
Musa’s OP
Black Box Testing
CFG and CFT Testing
14
19; 22
20
15
Handout
Inspection MtMLs;
CAPJKE
SRGMs; Presentations;
SRGM Video; NTASC
Z