CST438 - Week 1

This week, we began a new course, CST438: Software Engineering with Professor David Wisneski. We started learning about user stories and how they can be used in the agile process. The process involves breaking down large projects by defining specific user needs and writing them on notecards. The stories foster improved communication and replace the focus on dense documentation with conversations about user needs. We also read to chapters in Software Engineering at Google about the difference between programming and software engineering and the code review process.

Next, we began our project that we will be working on throughout the course. I will be in charge of the gradebook component, while my partner, Jose, will tackle course scheduling. We started by creating user stories on Pivotal Tracker, drawing lo-fidelity sketches, and prioritizing the tasks according to a schedule. Next, I created an ER diagram (see left) with MySQL workbench to show the relationships between all of the entities that will be part of the underlying database of the application. We then completed a peer review of each other's work. LGTM!

What did you think Software Engineering was about before you started this course? After the first week, in what way has your concept of Software Engineering changed?

Before the course, I had thought that programming and software engineering were the same things. However, now after reading Chapter 1 of Software Engineering at Google, I have learned their differences. Software engineering isn't just writing code but involves the whole process of development, modification, and maintenance. I am looking forward to the rest of this course in which I'm sure we will learn a lot more about software engineering, in theory and practice.