C SC 586E: Topics in Computer Systems and Software: " Open Source Software Engineering"

• Dr. Daniel German
• Email: dmgerman at cs.uvic.ca
• Office: ELW A248
• Phone Number: 721-6020
• Office Hours: W  2:00 - 4:00 p.m.

Free and open source software development (FOSS) is a recent phenomenon of great interest, as its practitioners challenge the basic principles of traditional software development.

FOSS has become an important movement in our industry, not only for its strong ideological roots, but also because its economic value. FOSS has dramatically changed the way that we value software and its intellectual property.

Open source software presents a fascinating sociotechnical phenomena. Some of the interesting questions include:

• How can the technical work of dozens, or even hundreds, of developers be coordinated?
• How do useful, well-designed products emerge from the individual actions of widely-distributed developers, with minimal central planning and relatively impoverished communication?
• How frequently do open source projects succeed in attracting both developers and users? What makes them successful?
• Who contributes to open source developments? Why do people participate in this activity with no obvious economic incentive?
• Is open source development an effective means of capturing and widely distributing user innovations? Does it provide a model that could harness user innovation in a wide variety of products?
• How are new paricipants integrated into the development "community of practice" with no face to face contact, few if any training materials, and no provisoin for mentoring?
• How do, and how should, businesses make decisions about whether to adopt open source software? What are the risks, and how can they be managed?
• Can open source practices and tools be introduced in commercial environments to improve quality, speed, and worker satisfaction?
• What are open source licenses and how do they differ from traditional software licenses?

This course will use research papers as the basis for discussion around the previous issues. Students will be expected to read and discuss these papers and choose and conduct some research in this area.

There are no assignments in this course.

There will be no exams.

Students are required to pass the research paper to obtain a passing mark in the course.

Final Grades are obtained by converting the numerical scores using the conversion table below. Dividing lines between letter grades may be adjusted by a maximum of 3% to account for natural breaks in the numeric scores.

• Late Course Work: No late course work will be allowed.

• Please note:

  • Course work is expected to be submitted both electronically and in paper .  Only the electronic copy will be marked, and the paper copy will be used for recording the mark and any feedback to the student from the marker.
  • There will be NO deferral or concession given for course work that is not completed on the date they are due or scheduled unless an appropriate medical excuse is provided.  The mark for any course work not submitted and for which no official medical excuse is provided is zero.  The medical excuse should be dated within the week of the deadline and should be handed in within two weeks of deadline.  The medical excuse should provide sufficient information to establish that the student was not able to write the exam due to his/her medical conditions.  Student will also be required to give written consent for information about their medical condition to be disclosed to the instructor. 
  • The instructor reserves the right to use antiplagiarism tools, and to submit student work to antiplagiarism services.
  • Cheating, plagiarism and other forms of academic fraud are taken very seriously by both the University and the Department. You should consult http://web.uvic.ca/calendar2004/FACS/UnPr/UARe/PoAcI.html
    for the UVIc policy on academic integrity.  Note that the university policy includes the statement that "A largely or fully plagiarized assignment should result in a grade of F for the course".
    
    The Faculty of Engineering Standards for Professional Behaviour is at
    http://www.engr.uvic.ca/policy/professional-behaviour.html
    
    The department guidelines concerning fraud are at
    http://www.csc.uvic.ca/courses/policies/fraud.html
    
  • In cases of plagiarism, and at his discretion, the instructor reserves the right to award a negative mark, or fail in the course the offending student.
• Coursework Mark Appeals: All marks must be appealed within 7 days of the mark being posted.

  Department policies: A list of department policies regarding all courses may be found at http://www.csc.uvic.ca/courses/policies/index.html