Real-world software development is a complex and dynamic activity involving people, technology and processes interacting within a complex environment of clients, users and other stakeholders while being observant of technological, physical, social, legal, and ethical constraints.
This course will empower students with the ability and confidence necessary to exercise critical thinking and professional judgment to select and apply appropriate knowledge, practices and tools to the development of non-trivial software systems. This will be achieved by introducing students to important design methodologies. We will build on previous programming courses to deepen and broaden students' knowledge and understanding of the practices and tools used to build large software systems within complex environments. We will use real-world examples such as distributed, high-integrity, web-based systems where rigorous software engineering can demonstrably enhance business value.
Students will learn how practices and tools can be adapted to suit specific project needs and contexts. Knowledge, practices and tools considered in this course will include process models, requirements engineering, design, modelling and user experience.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Apply modern requirements gathering and software design techniques in the context of a realistic software engineering process.
- Evaluate other people's code contributions using modern formal code inspection approaches.
- Apply correctly techniques for ensuring and assessing the quality of software.
- Competently analyse a modern large-scale software project with continuous integration.
- Work co-operatively in a team to solve a software engineering problem.
Indicative Assessment
- Individual Assignment(s) (5) [LO 1,2]
- Group Assignments & Presentation (50) [LO 1,2,3,4,5]
- Final Exam (45) [LO 1,3]
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Workload
130 hours including lectures, video lectures, tutorials and self-study.
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
- Software Engineering @ Google -(O'Reilly) available free via this link
Preliminary Reading
- Engineering Software Products, Ian Sommerville (Pearson) is a recommended text
- Agile! The Good, the Hype, and the Ugly, by Bertrand Meyer (by Springer)
- Clean Architecture—A Craftsman's Guide to Software Structure and Design, by Robert C. Martin (Prentice Hall)
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
Commonwealth Support (CSP) Students
If you have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). More information about your student contribution amount for each course at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 2
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are a domestic graduate coursework student with a Domestic Tuition Fee (DTF) place or international student you will be required to pay course tuition fees (see below). Course tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $5280 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2025 | $6720 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Second Semester
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8860 | 21 Jul 2025 | 28 Jul 2025 | 31 Aug 2025 | 24 Oct 2025 | In Person | N/A |