Undergraduate Course: Software Design and Modelling (INFR10064)
Course Outline
| School | School of Informatics |
College | College of Science and Engineering |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course introduces the design and modelling of software systems using object-oriented techniques. We start by exploring the use of modelling in software development. Students learn to document designs in the Unified Modeling Language, UML, with emphasis on class, sequence and state diagrams and the Object Constraint Language, OCL. We use modern model-driven development tools and discuss their strengths and weaknesses. We study criteria that make one design better than another in context and introduce design principles and patterns that capture good practice.
This course replaces INFR10056 - Software Engineering with Objects and Components. |
| Course description |
The course begins by placing design and modelling in the context of the various software engineering processes in widespread use today. Via labs, lectures and self-study using readings, videos and formative exercises, it teaches students to produce (initially straightforward) designs and to document them using UML models, both on paper and with an appropriate tool. We discuss the different affordances of these modes and how models may be used (i) purely informally, (ii) as reviewed documentation for designs, and/or (iii) in model-driven development in which models are formal artefacts and code may be generated from them.
The second part of the course focuses on identifying and producing good designs. What principles should a good object-oriented design follow? We learn some common design patterns and their role in development and learning.
Finally we turn to practical model-driven development: how can the cost-benefit ratio of modelling be improved, now and potentially in the future? Students will learn about model transformations, both model-to-model and model-to-text (e.g., code generation) and be introduced to current tools supporting these. We discuss the role of domain specific languages and the integration of model driven development with agile processes. Throughout the course, we identify the deficiencies as well as the benefits of the fast-changing state of the art, aiming to equip students to critically evaluate tools and techniques that become available to them in future.
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Design simple object-oriented systems.
- Create, read and modify UML diagrams documenting designs, both on paper and in an appropriate tool.
- Determine whether a UML model and a body of Java code are consistent; if they are inconsistent, identify the inconsistencies precisely and propose remedies.
- Evaluate and evolve object-oriented software designs, making use of common design patterns if appropriate.
- Discuss the use of modelling and model-driven development tools in software development, e.g. why and how models of software can have varying degrees of formality, capabilities and limitations of the tools.
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Reading List
Recommended reading:
- Timothy Lethbridge and Robert Langaniere. Object oriented software engineering: practical software
development using UML and Java. McGraw Hill, 2002.
- Perdita Stevens with Rob Pooley. Using UML. Pearson (second edition).
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Prof Perdita Stevens
Tel: (0131 6)50 5195
Email: perdita.stevens@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Victoria Swann
Tel: (0131 6)51 7607
Email: Vicky.Swann@ed.ac.uk |
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