Instructor: David Yang (Science South 450, david.yang@csueastbay.edu)
Time: Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays 1:00PM-2:30PM
Location: North Science 108 

Blackboard -- notes, submitting work and grades: Lecture notes will be posted on Blackboard after each class. You will be submitting your work on Blackboard and will be able to check your grades there. If you have never used Blackboard before, note that you are automatically given an account. To get started, go to the Support Page . If you are new to Blackboard, the support page has links for useful FAQ's and tutorials. Note that I do sometimes send information to your Horizon email address. While you can edit your email address through the Edit Personal Information page, you want to make sure that the email address you use can hold the email you get. I have unfortunately had the experience of trying to email a student and getting a message back that the student's mailbox is full.

Text:
Kaner, Falk and Nguyen. Testing Computer Software, 2nd ed., Wiley, ISBN 0-471-35846-0.

There will also be various readings from the Internet.

Goals:

• to develop an understanding of the concepts and techniques of software testing and quality analysis
• learn how to design effective tests
• to further develop habits and methods appropriate to the discipline and to scholarly inquiry in general
• to further your ability to work with others

More specifically, we will be studying how testing fits into the software process in theory and in practice. While software engineering (CS 4310) is not a prerequisite for this course, experiences from that course can definitely increase your appreciation of the difficulties faced by testers.

We will examine not only how to test for correctness, but start to explore how to test other criteria like performance and localization. While correct behavior is a must, there are many other aspects of a product that can affect whether users accept the product.

The most important lessons you learn in this course will probably be in abstract concepts that support more efficient testing. However, to assist in the experience, we will introduce a few of the components of the Rational Enterprise system. We will also look at JUnit, a popular freeware product for unit testing.

Once you deal with the real world, there are also legal and ethical issues to be considered. We will take some time to discuss these as well.

Calculation of your grade: 
Individual assignments (4 or 5, including one or two programming assignments): 20%.
Group assignments (2 assignments): 30%
The midterm : 20%.
The comprehensive final exam : 30%.

[grading note: Your exams must average (using the relative weights above) out to a C- or better in order to get at least a C- in the course.]

Final grades will be given according to the following scale:

93-100 A, 90-92 A-, 87-89 B+, 83-86 B, 80-82 B-, 77-79 C+, 73-76 C, 70-72 C-,67-69 D+, 60-66 D, 0-59 F 

Attendance:
Remember that standard policy dictates that students who do not attend can be removed in favor of students on the waiting list who do show up. Also, not being prepared for an exam is not an excuse to not show up -- if you do not have a verified excuse, you will be given a zero for the exam. If you find out in advance that you will not be able to be present on the day of the exam, you should (as in all your courses) let me know as soon as possible.

Academic Honesty: This course will follow the University's standard policy on academic dishonesty. In particular, note that regardless of whether you copy work from another student or allow another student to copy your work on an exam, you are both equally guilty and equally penalized. Copying text/files off the internet without properly giving credit is also cheating. Any cheating on an exam results in an F for the course. Cheating twice also results in an automatic F. All instances of cheating will be reported to the Dean's office.

Remember that the University may inflict further penalties than listed here under the provisions of the published Academic Dishonesty Policy. 

Office Hours: My office is in room 450 of the South Science Building. My schedule for office hours this quarter

I will also be available at other times -- if I'm free, you should feel free to stop by with any questions you have. You can make an appointment to make sure I'm available and free at that time, but it's not a big deal. This is the only source of individualized attention you get, so use it.

Click here for the schedule