IT 821 / CS 795 / SWE 699
Software Architecture Research Issues

Spring Semester, 2010
Location: Innovation Hall 206
Time: Tuesday 4:30-7:10pm

Instructor    Overview    Textbook and Readings    Grading    Schedule    Academic Integrity

Instructor

Professor                    Sam Malek                Electronic Mail: smalek@gmu.edu
                                                                     Office: 4431, Engineering Building
                                                                     Office Phone: +1-703-993-1677
                                                                     Office Hours: Mon 3-4pm or by appointment

Overview
 

Software architecture has become increasingly important in the last 15 years in the software engineering community. At the heart of every well-engineered software system is its software architecture. Software architecture deals with the high level building blocks that represent an underlying software system. These building blocks are the components (units of computation in a system), the connectors (models of the interactions between software components), and the configurations (arrangements of software components and connectors, and the rules that guide their composition). Software architectures that are found particularly useful for families of systems are often codified into architectural styles.

This course will afford the student a complete treatment of software architecture, its foundation, principles, and elements, including those described above. In addition to foundations, and practical experience with software architectures, the class will also introduce the student to the state-of-the-art in software architecture research, future trends and state-of-the-practice. The course is geared towards MS and PhD students that are interested in gaining an in-depth knowledge of software architecture as a field of study. The course will be conducted in seminar fashion. There will be 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 or project of interest and report on their progress throughout the semester.

Textbook and Readings

• "Software Architecture: Foundations, Theory, and Practice." Richard N. Taylor, Nenad Medvidovic, and Eric M. Dashofy. John Wiley & Sons, January 2009, ISBN-10: 0470167742 and ISBN-13: 978-0470167748. (recommended)
• 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 (15%) - 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 and assignments (20%) - A few short quizzes and assignments may be given for the readings assigned for each week. Each student will be allowed to drop the lowest quiz or assignment 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 potentially a 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.