CS 795 / IT 821 / SWE 699
Service-Oriented Architecture Research Issues

Spring Semester, 2009
Location: Robinson Hall B203
Time: Thursday 4:30-7:10pm

Instructor    Overview    Textbook and Readings    Grading    Schedule    Academic Integrity

Instructor

Professor                    Sam Malek                Electronic Mail: smalek@gmu.edu
                                                                     Office: 357, Science & Technology II
                                                                     Office Phone: +1-703-993-1677
                                                                     Office Hours: Mon 3-4pm or by appointment

Teaching Assistant    Shuang Wang             Electronic Mail: swangb@gmu.edu
                                                                    Office: 348, Science & Technology II
                                                                    Office Hours: Thurs 1-3pm or by appointment

Overview
 

This course covers the state-of-the-art approaches to building adaptive and dependable Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) software systems. Additionally, the shortcomings of the current approaches are identified, and open research topics and avenues for future advancement are discussed. The course is geared towards MS or PhD students that are interested in gaining an in-depth knowledge of SOA systems. A variety of topics will be covered in the context of SOA systems, including: Software Architecture, Software Modeling, Quality of Service, Analysis, Autonomic Computing, Monitoring, and Coordination. The course will be conducted in seminar fashion. In other words, there will be very few formal lectures in the course, instead the class will be relatively interactive, and the students are expected to energetically participate in the discussions. The students are also expected to work on a research topic/project of interest and report on their progress throughout the semester.  

Textbook and Readings

• Supplemental papers (see the Schedule)

• Paper presentation (15%) - Each student leads the discussion of one paper in the class. The students can choose which papers they would like to present by sending an email to the instructor.
• Class participation (10%) - All students are expected to participate in the class discussions. Students who do not participate in the discussions, and students who miss (or sleep through) classes will not receive credit for this portion of the grade. Shyness or lack of English proficiency are not excuses.
• Short Quizzes (25%) - A few short quizzes may be given for the readings assigned for each week. Each student will be allowed to drop the lowest quiz score during the semester.
• Project (50%) - Students can select from several proposed research project topics, or alternatively choose a research project/topic of interest to them that is approved by the instructor. The project grade is based on the final paper, mid-term/final presentation, and demo.

Tentative Schedule (subject to change; check regularly)

Academic Integrity

George Mason's policy concerning student conduct applies.  Although students are encouraged to discuss the topics covered in class, all homework assignments, exams, and projects are to be completed individually, unless joint work is explicitly authorized by the instructor. If joint work is authorized, all contributing students must be listed on the submission. Any deviation from this is considered an Honor Code violation, and, as a minimum, will result in failure of the submission and, as a maximum, failure of the class.