Objectives of Programme's Learning Outcomes

• Have acquired highly specialised and integrated knowledge and broad skills in the various disciplines of computer science, which come after those within the Bachelor's in computer science.
• Manage large-scale software development projects.
• Apply, mobilise, articulate and promote the knowledge and skills acquired in order to help lead and complete a project.
• Demonstrate independence and their ability to work alone or in teams.
• Manage research, development and innovation.
• Organise and lead a research, development or innovation project to completion.
• Methodically research valid scientific information, lead a critical analysis, propose and argue potentially innovative solutions to targeted problems.
• Master communication techniques.
• Communicate, both orally and in writing, their findings, original proposals, knowledge and underlying principles, in a clear, structured and justified manner.
• Adapt their communication to a variety of audiences.
• Where possible, communicate in a foreign language.
• Develop and integrate a high degree of autonomy.
• Aquire new knowledge independently.

Learning Outcomes of UE

This course is taught in English. At the end of this course, the students should know what software evolution is, why it is inevitable, how it fits in the domain of software engineering, and how one might reasonably and reliably go about performing it. All essential technical and managerial aspects of software maintenance and evolution will be covered. The students will have gained practical experience with tools, techniques, principles and best practices for software evolution and software quality improvement. They will also have learned about  the open problems in the research domain of software evolution.

Content of UE

The course will be a mix of lectures, student presentations, practical exercices, and a small student project related to the activities of software evolution. Software evolution (also known as software maintenance) is the collection of all activities, methods, tools and processes for supporting the life cycle of software after the first release of a software product. Throughout the course we will explore how to analyse, visualise and assess the quality of software. We will learn how to maintain or improve this quality using techniques such as bad smell detection, technical debt reduction, software testing, refactoring, restructuring and reengineering. Finally, we will become acquainted with a variety of techniques such as software versioning, software product line engineering, continuous integration, software configuration management, (open source) software ecosystems, and software repository mining.

Prior Experience

Good knowledge of software project management and principles of software engineering.
Being able to program in an object-oriented programming language.

Type of Assessment for UE in Q2

• Presentation and/or works
• Written examination

Q2 UE Assessment Comments

Term 2 will be assessed on the basis of the following weighted evaluation:
- Evaluation of a work assignment carried out by the students (in groups of 1 to 3 persons): 40% of the final note
- Oral presentation (on the basis of slides produced by the student) of the summary of a scientific article or book chapter: 30% of the final note
- Written examination : 30% of the final note

Type of Assessment for UE in Q3

• Presentation and/or works
• Written examination

Q3 UE Assessment Comments

Term 3 will be assessed using the same weighted evaluation as Term 2,
but there will only be a written examination and the evaluation of the work assignment carried out by the student.
The note obtained during Term 2 for the oral presentation will be taken into account for the evaluation in Term 3.