CPEN 321: Software Engineering (Spring 2025)

1. Overview

The course explores engineering principles for building non-trivial software-intensive systems: requirement specification, design, implementation, verification, and maintenance. The course uses a development project as the basic learning vehicle, providing students with an environment for applying the learned principles in practice while coping with constraints encountered when working on a real team: uncertain requirements, tight deadlines, etc. Students are evaluated based on their understanding of software engineering principles and their ability to apply these principles in practice.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will learn several fundamental skills in modern software development:

• software engineering principles: requirements specification, design, implementation, verification, and maintenance of software;
• client-server application development paradigms, including mobile and cloud-based development;
• teamwork, inter- and intra-team communication;
• management of uncertainty in customer demands;
• ability to adapt quickly to new toolsets;
• strengths and weaknesses of modern generative AI technologies in assisting with software engineering tasks;
• efficient technical communication and presentation.

Course Format

• The class meets two times a week for lectures (2x1.5h) and once a week for a lab section (2h). All sessions are held in person and are not recorded.
• The grading is based on the development project, midterms, in-class quizzes, and participation marks. There is no final exam.
• Lectures focus on fundamentals of software engineering and interactive in-class activities and assignments.
• Labs focus on the course project and are facilitated by TAs. They provide:
• the opportunity to present the current milestone to the TAs and to receive their feedback and assessment
• the opportunity to ask clarification questions/get help with the next milestones
• time for each team to meet and work on the milestone
• Team work and active participation in the course work is part of the grade.
• Two midterm exams will be held during two of the lectures.

Course Prerequisites

CPEN 221, CPSC 210, or equivalent.

Course Corequisites

CPEN 332 / CPEN 320 (Software Construction II).

2. Staff

Instructor	Prof. Julia Rubin Lectures: Mon. and Wed. 3:30-5pm, CHBE 102 Office hours: Mon. 5-6pm, KAIS 4053 (or by appointment)
TAs	Masih Beigi Fatemeh Khashei Theo Siemens-Rhodes Yingying Wang Labs: Wed. 1-3pm, MacLeod 4002, 4006, 4018

3. Communication and Important Links

• Canvas is the main info hub. Full syllabus, assignments, lecture slides, tutorials, grades, etc. are available there: https://canvas.ubc.ca/
• Grades for the assignments will be posted throughout the term. Students are encouraged to check it frequently and let the staff know of any mistakes and inconsistencies.
• Discussions, Q/A, private messages to the course staff are on Piazza: https://piazza.com/ubc.ca/winterterm22025/cpen321
• Emails to course staff will not be answered.
• To encourage early engagement and ensure that last-minute answers do not unfairly disadvantage students who planned ahead, the teaching staff will not respond to questions about an assignment posted 24 hours prior to the assignment due date.
  • If you have questions about an assignment, plan to ask them as early as possible to avoid running into this 24-hour window.
  • Students are welcome to answer each other's questions within this (and other) time windows.
• Like most online services, Piazza is hosted outside Canada. If you have issues using Piazza, please email the instructor immediately and before the end of the first week of classes.

4. Project

A major part of the course is the development project. The project simulates real development settings, where development teams communicate with customers to implement software that satisfies the customers’ requirements. The intent of this project is to give you the opportunity to apply the course concepts to a real system.

Scope: You are required to develop a client-server software system with the client (front-end) running on a mobile device and the back-end running on the cloud. Several examples of reasonably-scoped projects can be found here. More detailed scope specifications are provided in individual project milestones on Canvas.

Client side: a mobile application

• Must run natively on Android (not in a browser)
• Must run on at least one real device and on a Pixel 9 emulator running Android S (API 31).
• Must be written in Kotlin
  • Using other frameworks, e.g., Expo, ReactNative, etc. is not permitted.

Server side: Node.js backend

• Must be implemented in TypeScript
• Must run in a cloud (AWS, Azure, Google, IBM, etc.)
  
  • Most vendors, such as Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and IBM, provide free student/newcomer subscriptions.
  • The course staff also secured a limited number of pre-paid subscriptions to Microsoft Azure. To receive an allocation, please send a request to the instructors on Piazza with the title “Azure Access Request”. In the body of the message, list (a) your first name, (b) your last name, (c) your project name, and (d) your Microsoft account id, if available, or your UBC email, if no account is yet created, which will become your account id.
• If your back-end uses a database, you may choose between MySQL and MongoDB. Using MongoDB Atlas/Realm is not allowed.

Implementation constraints: You should implement the major functionalities of your project using Kotlin for the front-end and Node.js for the back-end. Using third-party services, such as Firebase, AWS Amplify, Azure Functions and App Service, Azure Supabase, Parse Platform, and MongoDB Atlas/Realm, to implement major project functionality, e.g., database management, authentication, and critical application operations, is strictly forbidden. An exception to this rule is Firebase's push notification support, which is permitted. If you plan to use any third-part library or service not listed here to support a major functionality of your project, please check with the instructors beforehand, to make sure the use of the specific library is allowed and the functionality will be considered as part of your work.

Front-end and back-end tutorials: introduction videos for front-end and back-end development are available on Canvas.

Code Management: All development artifacts must be stored in GitHub - a popular platform and cloud-based service for software development and version control using Git.

• All code of each project (front-end and back-end) should be stored in one GitHub repository
  • Well-structured internally
  • Yes, you can make it work in one repository! https://www.wired.com/2015/09/google-2-billion-lines-codeand-one-place/
• Your repository should be public (to use various free GitHub services later on). If you make your repository private, you might need to pay for some services. NO funding will be provided.
• If you do not want to use your GitHub account, feel free to create a throw-away/anonymous GitHub account for this course.
• You must give all TAs access to your repository. The GitHub ID of the TAs are: @Masihbr, @fatteme, @theosiemensrhodes, @dorawyy. 
• Use the Atlassian Git Introduction, which can get you started with Git. A shorter, less formal, guide is also available.

Milestones and Deliverables: The course project has multiple milestones, which are described in the Grading section. The detailed specification for each milestone deliverable is attached to the Canvas assignment. The milestone submission schedule is also outlined in the Course Schedule table.

Project Groups: Besides the first milestone, the project is implemented in groups of 4 students (2 students for the front-end and 2 for the back-end).

• Use Piazza “Search for Teammates” page to find team members.
• Choose your team members wisely as they contribute to the success of your team; no changes will be permitted.
• If you do not have a team organized by the Friday, January 24, 11pm PST deadline, we will assign you to a team randomly.
• We will “fill up” all teams to have 4 members, potentially “breaking” teams of 3 or less to multiple teams.

5. Use of AI Technology

The use of AI technology (such as ChatGPT and CoPilot) is allowed in this course, but all usages should be explicitly declared and documented. Students are ultimately accountable for the work they submit. Unreported and undocumented use is considered academic integrity violation and will be treated accordingly.

The teaching approach responds to a dramatic shift in the software industry, where AI tools are starting to be introduced to automate knowledge worker tasks. Understanding how to best use AI agents and identifying their limitations is thus an important educational objective of the course. Specifically, the course aims at exposing students to the use of AI tools in software engineering processes, emphasizing the need to apply critical thinking skills when working with these tools.

As such, throughout the course, students will document and critically analyze their usage of AI technology, identifying its strengths and weaknesses. The analysis must be submitted as part of the assignment and will be graded.

After the course is completed, the instructors might document the experience in a report which should be of interest to software developers and educators. More communication on this, including the means that will be taken to protect student privacy, will follow.

6. Topics and Schedule

Note that this is a tentative week-by-week guide and thus is subject to change.

	Date	Topic	Major deadlines  (Friday, 11pm PST, unless stated otherwise)
W1	Mon, Jan 6, 2025	Intro, what is SE, Software Lifecycle
	Wed, Jan 8, 2025	Development Processes
W2	Mon, Jan 13, 2025	UML
	Wed, Jan 15, 2025	Requirements	Plan A and B - M1: Android App with Node.js Backend (individual, 12 pts)
W3	Mon, Jan 20, 2025	Requirements
	Wed, Jan 22, 2025	Architecture, Design	Plan A and B - M2: Groups, Project Idea, Plan Selection (group, 1 pt)
W4	Mon, Jan 27, 2025	Design, REST, Microservices
	Wed, Jan 29, 2025	Design, recap, preparation for midterm 1	Plan A - M3: Requirements and Design + Project Presentation (group, 12 pts) Plan B - M3: Project Presentation (group, 1 pt)
W5	Mon, Feb 3, 2025	Project presentations
	Wed, Feb 5, 2025	Project presentations
W6	Mon, Feb 10, 2025	Midterm 1
	Wed, Feb 12, 2025	Teamwork, Advanced Version Control
W7	Mon, Feb 17, 2025	Midterm Break
	Wed, Feb 19, 2025	Midterm Break
W8	Mon, Feb 24, 2025	Code Reviews, Anti-patterns
	Wed, Feb 26, 2025	MVP Clinic	Plan A and B - M4: MVP (group, 12 pts)
W9	Mon, Mar 3, 2025	Testing
	Wed, Mar 5, 2025	Testing
W10	Mon, Mar 10, 2025	Verification and Validation, Analysis
	Wed, Mar 12, 2025	Verification and Validation, Analysis
W11	Mon, Mar 17, 2025	Recap, preparation for midterm 2
	Wed, Mar 19, 2025	Guest lecture	Plan A - M5:  Testing and Code Review (group, 12 pts) Due Wednesday, March 19, 11 pm
W12	Mon, Mar 24, 2025	Midterm 2
	Wed, Mar 26, 2025	Continuous Integration, DevOps
W13	Mon, Mar 31, 2025	Free to work on Final Release (class will be held in an optional Q/A mode) 2025 Iron Ring Ceremony
	Wed, Apr 2, 2025	Recap, final project deliverables and presentations guide	Plan A - M6: Final Release (group, 12 pts) Plan B - M5: Final Release (group, 34 pts) Due Thursday, April 3, 11 am
W14	Mon, Apr 7, 2025	Top project presentations and awards ceremony

 

The timeline of the course milestones and midterms is as follows:

7. Grading

Grading for this course is based on six components:

• Project – 60 points
  • Students will be able to choose between two alternative milestone schedules and grading modes (Plan A or Plan B). The choice has to be made by the entire group by the M2 deadline. No changes of plans will be permitted after this date. 
    
    • Plan A:

• • • • M1 (App frontend and backend): individual, 12 points
      • M2 (Groups, project idea, plan selection): group, 1 point
      • M3 (Project presentation + Requirements and design): group, 11 points
      • M4 (MVP): group, 12 points
      • M5 (Testing and code review): group, 12 points
      • M6 (Final release): group, 12 points
        (assessed based on both the quality of the final deliverable and the quality of the SE process followed)
    • Plan B:

• • • • M1 (App frontend and backend): individual, 12 points
      • M2 (Groups, project idea, plan selection): group, 1 point
      • M3 (Project presentation): group, 1 point
      • M4 (MVP): group, 12 points
      • M5 (Final release): group, 34 points
        (assessed based on both the quality of the final deliverable and the quality of the SE process followed)
• Midterm 1 – 15 points
• Midterm 2 – 15 points
• In-class Quizzes: 5 points
• Peer-evaluation by team members: 5 points
• Constructive participation in classes, labs, helpful answers to piazza questions – up to 2 points bonus

Grade Appeals

You can appeal your milestone grade by submitting a private post on Piazza (to all instructors), with the subject “<Mx> grade appeal”, where Mx can be one of the milestones, e.g., M1.

Appeals can be submitted within 5 days after the milestone grades are posted and should include:

• The criterion for which marks were deducted
• Your understanding of the criterion (1-2 sentences)
• Explanation for why your assignment satisfies the criterion (1-2 sentences)
• Evidence (screenshots, network traffic, etc.) demonstrating how your assignment satisfies the criterion

Notes:

• An appeal is not an opportunity to argue about the grading scheme (e.g., this item should not be worth this number of points or this item should not be included in the rubric). It is a chance to address situations where the grading scheme was applied incorrectly to your assignment.
• Appeals without proper reason/explanation or that do not follow the rules (e.g., submitted after the appeal deadline) will not be considered.

Late Deliverables

• Each group is given 4 grace days per term in total that can be used for milestones M2-M5 for groups choosing plan A or M2-M4 for groups choosing plan B. 
  • You can use the grace days as you wish, i.e., all four days on one deliverable, distribute across deliverables, etc.
  • Grace days are counted as integers, i.e., if you are one hour late, that counts as one grace day.
  • Once all grace days are used, late submissions will receive a grade of 0.
• There are no grace days for M1 and the final deliverable milestone (M6 for Plan A groups or M5 for Plan B groups). Late submissions for these milestones will be deducted 30% for each late day (which also count as integers).

In exceptional circumstances, to make up for a missed grade, you must submit a request for APSC's academic concession here and provide all the necessary documentation. Requests not submitted through this mechanism will not be considered.

8. Academic Integrity

The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. As members of this enterprise, all students are expected to know, understand, and follow the codes of conduct regarding academic integrity. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or mislead others about what is your work. Violations of academic integrity (i.e., misconduct) lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious consequences arise and harsh sanctions are imposed. For example, incidences of plagiarism or cheating may result in a mark of zero on the assignment or exam and more serious consequences may apply if the matter is referred to the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. Careful records are kept in order to monitor and prevent recurrences.

For more information, see here.

9. APSC and UBC-wide Policies

Academic Concession

The University is committed to supporting students in their academic pursuits. Students may request academic concession in circumstances that may adversely affect their attendance or performance in a course or program. Students who intend to, or who as a result of circumstance must, request academic concession must notify their instructor, dean, or director as specified in the link below.
https://www.calendar.ubc.ca/vancouver/index.cfm?tree=3,329,0,0

Students seeking academic concession due to absence from the final exam for any reason must apply to Engineering Academic Services (EAS) within 72 hours of the missed exam. This is a standard practice for all final examinations at UBC. For more information, see: https://academicservices.engineering.ubc.ca/exams-grades/academic-concession/

Health and Wellness

UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles, while recognizing that challenges and crises can arise for students. There are resources in ECE and at UBC where students can find help and support, including wellness, equity, inclusion and indigeneity, resources for survivors of sexual violence, and health. Some frequently used resources are as follows:

• ECE Wellness Hub: https://ece.ubc.ca/student-life/student-wellness/
• ECE has an EDI.I committee whose goals are to improve equity, diversity and inclusion in the ECE Department, and support the UBC Indigenous Strategic Plan. The committee welcomes feedback from all students, and can be contacted by emailing help@ece.ubc.ca.
• Central resource for supporting student success (medical and crisis support, Centre for Accessibility, and support for survivors of sexual violence): https://senate.ubc.ca/vancouver/policies-resources-support-student-success/
• UBC Office of the Ombudsperson for Students: https://ombudsoffice.ubc.ca/how-we-can-help/

UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious, spiritual and cultural observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of UBC’s respectful environment policies, which all students, staff and faculty are expected to follow, can be found here: https://hr.ubc.ca/working-ubc/respectful-environment

University Policies

UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access including those for survivors of sexual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious, spiritual and cultural observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions. Details of the policies and how to access support are available here.