19313017

S/PS: Decisions in Software Engineering

Lutz Prechelt, Linus Ververs

Additional information / Pre-requisites

Website

https://www.mi.fu-berlin.de/w/SE/SeminarDMinSE

Target group:

Proseminar: Bachelor students who attend / have attended the module "Scientific Work in Computer Science" and apply the knowledge they have learnt and work scientifically for the first time in this seminar.
Seminar: Advanced Bachelor students who attend the module as part of their specialisation area or Master students

Prerequisites:

It is strongly recommended that you have already attended the software engineering module (if not, please contact the lecturer in advance)

Comments

Software engineering (German: Softwaretechnik) is defined by the IEEE as:

"The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is, the application of engineering to software." ("IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology," in IEEE Std 610.12-1990 , vol., no., pp.1-84, 31 Dec. 1990, doi: 10.1109/IEEESTD.1990.101064.)

Software engineering thus describes the process of how software is developed. This process is characterised by a large number of decisions that affect either the product to be developed (the software to be developed) or the development process itself.

In this seminar, we will take a closer look at different types of decisions and analyse the current state of research. To this end, participants will prepare a presentation and a scientific paper on one of the following topics (other topics relevant to the seminar are also possible):

How do individuals make decisions? Which insights from psychology are important for the software development process?
How do groups of people make decisions? Which insights from sociology and economics can be applied to the software development process?
What software development process models are there and how do organisations decide between them?
Decisions on prioritising requirements in software engineering
Decisions on software design: how is software designed?
What are technical debts and why and when are they included?
Refactorings: Why, when and to what extent do organisations decide to refactor?
Recruiting developers: how do organisations select suitable developers?
Pair programming: What is it? How does knowledge transfer work in pair programming? Do developers make better decisions in pairs?

In this seminar, students are expected to conduct independent research on the topic of their choice. Whether the course is booked as a seminar or a proseminar has an influence on the requirements:

Seminar: Here, several good sources (3-5) are to be found and a summary of the results presented. The aim is primarily to work out recommendations for the SE process.
Proseminar: Here, one good source should be found and presented in detail. Going into further related work is the freestyle.

In the scientific articles presented, the conclusions presented should be critically analysed in terms of credibility and relevance.