[Edu-sig] SEI's Guidelines for Software Eng. Education

[Dinu C. Gherman]

Hello,

I found this two days ago while surfing the SEI web site
and think it might be of interest to some people in this
group. Although definitely aiming at higher academic edu-
cation the SEI (Software Engineering Institute at CMU)
addresses many concerns in the introduction below (as well
as in other parts of the document) that match very  well 
with the motivation behind CP4E as I understand it.

Recognizing this I wonder if there would be any reason to 
get in touch with SEI, or maybe not, given the fact (well,
rather my own estimate) that they are better known for a 
solid, systematic, academic, engineering-like approach to 
software development than for one more based on soft qua-
lities like playing, exploration, self-discovery?

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if SEI would discourage
people from using script languages for 'serious program-
ming'. Anybody having experience/evidence backing this 
opinion, or the contrary of it?

Regards,

Dinu

-- 
Dinu C. Gherman
................................................................
"The thing about Linux or open software in general is that 
it actually tries to move software from being witchcraft to 
being a science," [...] "A lot of the programs you see today 
are actually put together by shamans, and you just take it and 
if the computer crashes you walk around it three times... and 
maybe it's OK." (Linus Thorvalds, LinuxWorld 2000, NYC)



Guidelines for Software Engineering Education Version 1.0

http://www.sei.cmu.edu/publications/documents/99.reports/99tr032/99tr032abstract.html


Introduction

Into the foreseeable future, software will play an in-
creasingly important and central role in all aspects 
of daily life. The number, size, complexity, and app-
lication domains of programs being developed will grow 
dramatically. Unfortunately, there are serious problems 
in the cost, timeliness, and quality of development of 
many software products. The code in consumer products 
is doubling every two years; it is almost the norm for 
software projects to overrun their planned cost and 
schedule. Many large-scale development projects are 
never completed, and many of those completed do not 
meet the user requirements and are of poor quality [...]. 
These issues have placed an increasing demand for soft-
ware developers who are equipped not only to deal with 
the scientific and technical aspects of computing, but
for those who have professional education and prepara-
tion for the practice of software engineering [...]. 
This includes practice related to use of software pro-
cesses, measurement and analysis, front-end development 
methods, quality engineering, software maintenance, 
testing, and working as part of a team. Unfortunately,
too few academic programs offer curricula that focus on 
this type of education. The solution to this problem 
depends heavily on the ability of faculty to redesign 
and implement curricula that not only emphasize computer 
science, information science, and technology, but also
focus on the "practice" of software engineering (SE) and 
include the equally critical people and process issues. 
The main purpose of these Guidelines is to provide 
assistance to faculty in the design and development of 
programs in software engineering and related curricula.