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Teaching technical reviews in a one-semester software engineering course

Author:

James S. CollofelloAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 19, Issue 1

Pages 222 - 227

https://doi.org/10.1145/31726.31762

Published: 01 February 1987 Publication History

Abstract

Software technical reviews are essential to the development and maintenance of high quality software. These review processes are complex group activities for which there exist an abundance of basic concepts evolved over years of practical experience. In a typical one-semester software engineering course very little of this information is adequately conveyed to students. Texts supporting this course are also very weak in this area. This paper provides a practical approach for teaching about software technical reviews in a one-semester software engineering course. The contents for two to three lectures on this topic are described as well as suggested exercises and an approach for integrating technical reviews with the usual team project. An extensive annotated bibliography is also provided to assist instructors and students.

References

[1]

Ackerman, A. Frank; Flower, Priscilla J.; Ebenau, Robert G. Software Inspections and the Industrial Production of Software. In Hans-Ludwig Hausen, Editor, Software Validation, Inspection-testingverification-alternatives: Proceedings of the Symposium on Software Validation, Pages 13-40. Darmstadt, FRG, September, 1983. The inspection processes at Bell Laboratories is presented. Sample reports are included along with estimates for reviewing lines of code.

Digital Library

[2]

Boehm. B. W. Software Engineering. IEEE Transactions on Computers:1226-1241, December 1976. Provides data on increasing error costs the later errors are detected and repaired in the software life cycle.

[3]

Buck, Robert D.; Dobbins, James H. Applications of Software Inspection Methodology in Design and Code. In Hans- Ludwig Hausen, Editor, Software Validation, inspectlon-testing-veriflcatlon-alternatives: Proceedings of the Symposium on Software Validation, Pages 41-63. Darmstadt, FRG, September 1983. Another IBM variation of the inspection process for design and code is detailed. Samples reports are included. A discussion of how to interpret data as the result of review processes is also included.

Digital Library

[4]

Fagan, M. E. Design and Code inspections to Reduce Errors in Program Development.IBM System Journal, vol. 15(3), 1976. A must read classic paper which introduces the whole concept of software inspections. Sample forms, checklists and experimental data from IBM are also presented.

[5]

Fisher, A. Decision Emergency: Phases in Group Decision Making. Se_p~ M_onographs37, 1970. This article describes a theory of group development in which a group passes through four phases before becoming effective. This understanding of small group interaction is valuable in better dealing with the problems associated with review groups.

[6]

Forsyth9 Donelson R. An Introduction to Group Dynamics. Brooks/Col-e Publishing Company, 1983. This text presents many of the important behavioral factors that must be dealt with during review processes. In particular group conflict, the effective environment on review processes and organizational group behavior are described.

[7]

Freedman, Daniel P.; Weinberg, Gerald M. Handbook of Walkthroughs, I nspectlons, and Technical Reviews: Evaluating Programs~ Pr0~ects and Products. Little, Brown and Company, 1982. This text is written as a series of questions and answers. It describes the Fagan methodology and many aspects of review processes. It provides a discussion of how to review many typical documents. It is weak in its discussion of sociological factors, review reports, planning issues and assessment of reviews.

Digital Library

[8]

Hart, Jolene J. Code Inspections at First Union Corporation. In Proceedings of COMPSAC '82. IEEE Computer Society's Sixth International Computer Software and Applications Conference, Pages 515-522. Chicago9 IL, USA~ November, 1982. Many benefits of performing design and code walkthroughs are cited. Variation of reviews~ including "round robin reviews", and their relative effectiveness are also noted. Actual sociological problems encountered at Sperry are also briefly mentioned.

[9]

IEEE Standard 730-1984 for Software Assurance Plans 1984. The IEEE standard for Software Quality Assurance puts review processes into perspective with the entire software quality assurance process. Specific reviews are mandated by this standard.

[10]

Fisher, I. Victims of Groupthink. Houghton Mifflin, 1972. This book describes the phenomenon of groupthink, its impact on groups and ways of dealing with the problem

[11]

McConnell, Peter R. H.; Strigel, Wolfgang B. Results of modern software engineering principles applied to small and large projects. In AFIPS Conference Proceedings of the 1984 National Computer Conference, Pages 273-281. Las Vegas, NV, USA, July, 1984. The Impact of review processes and their cost to implement on two medium to large real-time software projects are documented. The utilization of review processes to track a project is also described.

Digital Library

[12]

McKissick, John Jr.: Somers, Mark J.; Marsh, Wilhelmina. Software Design Inspection for Preliminary Design. In Proceedings COMPSAC '84. The IEEE Computer Society's Eighth International Computer Software and Applications Conference, Pages 518-519. November, 1984. An inspection process at General Electric company for preliminary designs is outlined including the roles of the review participants. The benefits of this process, including improved education, are also cited.

[13]

Military Standard for Technical Reviews and Audits for Systems, Equipments, and Computer Software MIL-STD-1521B Edition, 1985. This standard defines the required reviews for military contracts. The appendices contain details about exactly what is to be covered for each of the mandated reviews as well as the role of the contractor and the contracting agency.

[14]

Peele, Ronald. Code Inspections at First Union Corporation. In Proceedings of COMPSAC '82. IEEE Computer Society's Sixth International Computer Software and Applications Conference, Pages 445-446. Chicago,IL, USA, November, 1982. This paper presents a variation of the Fagan inspection methodology defining the process in depth along with the roles of the review participants. The benefits of utilizing their process are also documented.

[15]

editor: Quirk, ~. J. Verification and Validation of Real-Time Software. Springer- Veriag, 1985. This text concentrates on testing techniques for real-time software. The utilization of review processes is also described.The emphasis of these review processes is, however, not unique to real-time software and very little insight into reviewing real-time systems as opposed to other types of systems can be obtained from this text.

Digital Library

[16]

Remus, Horst Integrated Software Validation in the View of Inspections/Reviews. In Hans-Ludwig Hausen, Editor, Software Validation, inspectiontestlng-veriflcation-alternatives: Proceedings of the Symposium on Software Validation, Pages 57-63. Darmstadt, FRG, September, 1983. The relationship of review processes to testing in an IBM environment are explored. A variation of the roles of the review participants is presented as well. The utilization of defect data to the discovery of wrong design directions and implementations is also described.

Digital Library

[17]

Walker, Michael G. Auditing Software Development Projects: A Control Mechanism for the Digital Systems Development Methodology. In Proceedings, COMPCON Spring, Pages 310-314. IEEE, 1979. Software audits and their functions in a development organization are defined. Auditing techniques are presented as well as experiences from the Computer Science Corporation.

[18]

Weinberg, Gerald M.~ Freedman, Daniel P. Reviews, Walkthroughs, and Inspections. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, vol. SE-10(1): 68-72, January, 1984. An overview paper describing the distinction between walkthroughs and inspections. The difference between formal and informal reviews is also clarified. The paper also contains sample review reports and how these reports can be utilized.

Digital Library

[19]

Yourdon, E. Structured Walkthroughs. Yourdon, Inc., 1978. A detailed discussion of the walkthrough process. The benefits of walkthroughs as well as the mechanics of the process are presented. Psychological issues for walkthroughs are also noted.

Digital Library

Cited By

Clark N(2004)Peer testing in Software Engineering ProjectsProceedings of the Sixth Australasian Conference on Computing Education - Volume 3010.5555/979968.979974(41-48)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2004
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/979968.979974
Brykczynski BWheeler D(1993)An annotated bibliography on software inspectionsACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/157397.15741118:1(81-88)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1993
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/157397.157411
Clifton J(1991)An industry approach to the software engineering courseACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/107005.10706923:1(296-299)Online publication date: 1-Mar-1991
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/107005.107069
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Teaching technical reviews in a one-semester software engineering course
1. Social and professional topics
  1. Professional topics
    1. Computing education
      1. Model curricula
2. Software and its engineering

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Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 19, Issue 1

Feb. 1987

529 pages

ISSN:0097-8418

DOI:10.1145/31726

Editors:
A. K. Rigler
Univ. of Missouri, Rolla
,
D. C. St. Clair
Univ. of Missouri, Rolla

Issue’s Table of Contents

SIGCSE '87: Proceedings of the eighteenth SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education
February 1987
541 pages
ISBN:0897912179
DOI:10.1145/31820
Editors:
A. K. Rigler,
D. C. St. Clair

Copyright © 1987 ACM.

Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 February 1987

Published in SIGCSE Volume 19, Issue 1

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Citations

Cited By

Clark N(2004)Peer testing in Software Engineering ProjectsProceedings of the Sixth Australasian Conference on Computing Education - Volume 3010.5555/979968.979974(41-48)Online publication date: 1-Jan-2004
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/979968.979974
Brykczynski BWheeler D(1993)An annotated bibliography on software inspectionsACM SIGSOFT Software Engineering Notes10.1145/157397.15741118:1(81-88)Online publication date: 1-Jan-1993
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/157397.157411
Clifton J(1991)An industry approach to the software engineering courseACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/107005.10706923:1(296-299)Online publication date: 1-Mar-1991
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/107005.107069
Clifton JDale N(1991)An industry approach to the software engineering courseProceedings of the twenty-second SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/107004.107069(296-299)Online publication date: 1-Mar-1991
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/107004.107069
Schilling W(2012)Teaching software inspection effectivenessProceedings of the 2012 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2012.6462206(1-6)Online publication date: 3-Oct-2012
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1109/FIE.2012.6462206
Humayun ABasit WFarrukh GLodhi FAden RKramer JBishop JDevanbu PUchitel S(2010)An empirical analysis of team review approaches for teaching quality software developmentProceedings of the 32nd ACM/IEEE International Conference on Software Engineering - Volume 110.1145/1806799.1806882(567-575)Online publication date: 1-May-2010
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1806799.1806882
Reily KFinnerty PTerveen LTeasley SHavn EPrinz WLutters W(2009)Two peers are better than oneProceedings of the 2009 ACM International Conference on Supporting Group Work10.1145/1531674.1531692(115-124)Online publication date: 13-May-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1531674.1531692
Anewalt K(2005)Using peer review as a vehicle for communication skill development and active learningJournal of Computing Sciences in Colleges10.5555/1089053.108907421:2(148-155)Online publication date: 1-Dec-2005
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.5555/1089053.1089074

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