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The Open University

An introduction to software development

The Open University via OpenLearn

Overview

Software development is the practice of organising the design and construction of software, the beating heart of much technology fundamental to our personal and professional life.This free introductory course, An introduction to software development, discusses the engineering nature of software development, its challenges and some fundamental practices which have developed to meet them.Software development is a fast-moving discipline and as a software development professional you must be able to track its leading edge. The course also teaches you some fundamental skills to help you interact with the growing published academic and professional literature on the subject.

Syllabus

  • Introduction
  • Learning outcomes
  • 1 Software development as engineering
  • 1 Software development as engineering
  • 2 Software development processes
  • 2 Software development processes
  • 3 Why is software development difficult?
  • 3 Why is software development difficult?
  • 3.1 A philosophical perspective
  • 3.2 A historical perspective
  • 4 Risk
  • 4 Risk
  • 5 Software quality
  • 5 Software quality
  • 6 Modelling and the UML
  • 6 Modelling and the UML
  • 7 Object orientation
  • 7 Object orientation
  • 7.1 Modelling with objects
  • 7.2 Programming with objects
  • 8 Finding and reading academic articles
  • 8 Finding and reading academic articles
  • 8.1 A workflow for reading the academic literature
  • 8.1.1 Preparation
  • 8.1.2 Discovery
  • 8.1.3 Assimilating an academic article
  • 8.1.4 Keshav’s first pass
  • 8.1.5 Keshav’s second pass
  • 8.1.6 Keshav’s third pass
  • 8.1.7 Recording
  • 8.1.8 Relating
  • Conclusion
  • References
  • Acknowledgements

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