We describe an open, flexible curricular framework for offering a collection of advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in software development. The courses offered within this framework are further unified by combining solid foundations with current technology and play the role of capstone courses in a modern software development track. Our initiative has been very successful with all stakeholders involved

Läufer, Konstantin

Thiruvathukal, George K.

Loyola eCommons

Loyola University ChicagoLoyola eCommonsComputer Science: Faculty Publications and OtherWorks Faculty Publications2003The Extreme Software Development Series: AnOpen Curricular Framework for Applied CapstoneCoursesKonstantin LäuferLoyola University Chicago, klaeufer@gmail.comGeorge K. ThiruvathukalLoyola University Chicago, gkt@cs.luc.eduThis Working Paper is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Publications at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion inComputer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contactecommons@luc.edu.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.Copyright © 2003 Konstantin Läufer, George K. ThiruvathukalRecommended CitationLäufer, Konstantin and Thiruvathukal, George K.. The Extreme Software Development Series: An Open Curricular Framework forApplied Capstone Courses. , , : , 2003. Retrieved from Loyola eCommons, Computer Science: Faculty Publications and Other Works,The Extreme Software Development Series: An OpenCurricular Framework for Applied Capstone CoursesKonstantin Läufer and George K. ThiruvathukalDepartment of Computer ScienceLoyola University Chicago6525 N. Sheridan RoadChicago, IL 60626, USA{laufer,gkt}@cs.luc.eduABSTRACTWe describe an open, flexible curricular framework for of-fering a collection of advanced undergraduate and graduatecourses in software development. The courses offered withinthis framework are further unified by combining solid foun-dations with current technology and play the role of cap-stone courses in a modern software development track. Ourinitiative has been very successful with all stakeholders in-volved.Category and Subject DescriptorsK.3.2 Computer and Information Science Education; I.7.2Document Preparation; D.1.3 Concurrent Programming;D.2.11 Software ArchitecturesGeneral TermsDesign, Languages, PerformanceKeywordsMarkup languages, XML, Event-based programming, De-sign patterns, Frameworks, Distributed programming, Pro-tocols, Servlets, Web applications, Enterprise applications1. INTRODUCTION AND INSTITUTIONALCONTEXTWe describe a curricular initiative marketed to students un-der the overarching title The Extreme Software DevelopmentSeries. This initiative was initiated, planned, designed, andimplemented by two faculty members over the last threesemesters. Our key objective was to provide an open, flexibleframework for offering an exciting collection of advanced un-dergraduate and graduate courses in software developmentthat combine the state-of-the-art in research with the state-of-the-practice [4] in industry. Both faculty members areactive researchers in systems and have industry experience.Currently, the series consists of the following courses in theauthors’ areas of expertise; we will describe these coursesbelow in detail.• Extreme Markup Languages• Extreme Concurrency• Extreme Distributed Computing• Extreme Server-Side ApplicationsAdditional courses in the area of software development willbe added to this framework as they become available.The challenge has been to offer the Extreme Series withinour institutional context, a small but research-active depart-ment in a liberal-arts-oriented, private, religious university.The department offers an undergraduate major in computerscience, a terminal masters degree, as well as a combinedfive-year bachelors/masters degree. Because of the large setof liberal arts requirements at the undergraduate level, thereis not too much room for the computer science major re-quirements, so flexibility is key. Therefore, the courses of-fered through this framework are loosely coupled electivesthat play the role of capstone courses in a modern soft-ware development track [1, 3]. Undergraduate students areable to take up to three, and graduate students four, of thecourses offered.Our initiative has been very successful with students, asdocumented by consistently high enrollments and very highteaching evaluations, possibly the two highest in the de-partment; and with employers, as documented by anecdotalevidence.2. UNIFYING THEMES OF THE FRAME-WORKAlthough the courses offered as part of the Extreme Seriescover a wide range of topics, they are designed to form acohesive series unified by several pervasive themes.FoundationsAll courses are based upon state-of-the-art, theoretical foun-dations in the relevant areas of research, including:• programming language theory• concurrency• distributed programmingConceptsAll courses study the general, technology-independent con-cepts relevant to the topics studied, including:• object-orientation and aspect-orientation• software architecture, frameworks, and design patterns• processes and threads• interaction among distributed objectsTechnologies and ToolsAll courses are heavily oriented toward “real-world” projectsand use state-of-the-practice approaches and technologies asdelivery vehicles, including:• development methodologies, especially agile approachessuch as Extreme Programming (XP)• modeling tools, such as the Unified Modeling Language(UML)• language technologies, such as Java, Python, and XML• (mostly) open-source development tools, such as Ant,CVS, Eclipse, JBuilder, and JBossWhere appropriate, courses include guest lectures by expertsfrom industry.Place in CurriculumAll courses are consistently positioned in the curriculum asapplied electives with common characteristics:• providing a combination of challenge and excitement• offered at least once a year (evenly distributed betweenfall and spring semesters)From the point of view of other interested faculty, the frame-work is open to the addition of suitable courses that can bepresented consistently with the existing ones.3. COURSE DESCRIPTIONSIn this section, we provide details on each course in the fol-lowing format: overview, prerequisites, textbooks and othermaterials, example, and road map (concepts, research/tech-nologies, and projects).3.1 Extreme Markup LanguagesThis course covers markup languages and their applications.Specifically, this course discusses XML, XSLT, and the var-ious W3C specifications for manipulating XML documentsprogrammatically, including the DOM and SAX frameworks.The course also covers some advanced topics, including howto manage large XML documents and integration with data-bases. The course includes several intermediate to advancedprogramming projects using Python and available XMLframeworks. The road map for this course is shown in Ta-ble 1.PrerequisitesThe required prerequisite for this course is our version ofCS2 and basic or working knowledge of object-oriented pro-gramming.TextbooksFor learning Python, [9] contains two chapters of compre-hensive nature to learn the language quickly. A compre-hensive and concise tour of XML is presented in [5]. Bothtexts are recommended but not required. Several excellenttutorials on Python are provided at the Python web site(http://www.python.org/).ExampleIn the most recent offering, a distributed calendaring systemis being developed using XML. Such a system allows virtu-ally every aspect of XML and its component frameworks tobe explored. The end product is one that can be used forreal-world project management.3.2 Extreme ConcurrencyThis course provides an architectural perspective on the de-velopment of concurrent software with an emphasis on de-sign patterns, composition, and reuse. Initially, this coursewas developed jointly by the first author and another col-league as an avenue to transfer recent research results in con-currency into the classroom, but from a decidedly appliedperspective. The course was first offered in 1997 and hasevolved significantly since that time, along with the bodyof research in this area and the resulting technologies. Theroad map for this course is shown in Table 2.PrerequisitesThe required prerequisite for this course is our version of CS2and our intermediate object-oriented programming coursethat follows CS2.TextbooksThis course uses two texts, one on Java Swing [7] and oneon concurrent programming in Java from a design patternsperspective [6]. In addition, the course relies on variousonline resources. The Swing text is optional because thereis high-quality online material available on this subject.ExampleA distributed voting system with the following functionalrequirements:• Multiple polling booths. Each polling booth has a but-ton for each candidate.• Multiple tracking stations. Each tracking station hasa vote count display for each candidate.• There is a single control panel, which is used to open orclose the poll, add or remove candidates, and controlthe frequency of vote count updates.The voting system has the following nonfunctional require-ments:• Each component follows a presentation-translation-app-lication architecture.• Remote method invocation (RMI) is used for commu-nication among components.• There is a central server object providing a passiveapplication data model and a communication router.3.3 Extreme Distributed ComputingExtreme distributed computing is positioned as a moderndiscussion of distributed computing systems. In this course,we explore the advanced distributed computing technologiesand the important principles and patterns behind them (thetradition of distributed systems): the various forms of trans-parency, remote procedure calls (RPCs), consistency, coher-ence, transactions, and security. The actual technologies tobe explored will vary but will include a discussion of manyJava technologies, including Servlets, Remote Method In-vocation (RMI) and Activation, Jini, JNDI, messaging sys-tems, etc. We will also consider the potential for paralleland cluster computing to address server performance. Theroad map for this course is shown in Table 3.PrerequisitesThe required prerequisite for this course is our version ofCS2.TextbooksThe required textbook is [2], which is used as a referenceto supplement the course lectures. Many of the lecturesare based on material available on the internet, such as theDNS RFC from http://www.ietf.org/, which is one of themost well-known communities for distributed software ap-plications.ProjectsThis course is project-based. Because distributed systemsinvolves more technologies and techniques than could everbe covered in a single course, students are required to in-vestigate technologies presented at a high-level and proposea distributed project that meets the requirements of a dis-tributed system (e.g. support for basic transparency princi-ples, such as fault tolerance, consistency, etc.)ExampleMany projects have been done in the past, including a frame-work for peer-to-peer computing on clusters of workstations,a fault-tolerant chat system, web caching, and many others.3.4 Extreme Server-Side ApplicationsThis course provides an architectural perspective on the de-velopment of interactive server-based software, building ontop of the perspective established in the Extreme Concur-rency course. This course was first offered in 2000, andrecently developed server-side technologies have continuallybeen added to the course. The road map for this course isshown in Table 4.PrerequisitesThe required prerequisite for this course is at least one ofExtreme Concurrency and Operating Systems. In addition,a recommended prerequisite is Extreme Markup Languages.TextbooksThis course requires one text on Java 2 Enterprise architec-ture [8], which provides a high-level, architectural view ofthe material. In addition, the course relies on various onlineresources for design patterns and specific technologies.ProjectA server-based, device-independent bug or issue trackingsystem, usable with ordinary desktop web browsers, as wellas small-screen devices, such as mobile phones or wirelessPDAs. This project proceeds in three consecutive phases:• Static version: a static web site that illustrates all pos-sible scenarios (use cases) of the system. This versionuses XHTML and CSS.• Non-persistent dynamic version: a dynamic web ap-plication that is functional but does not include per-sistent data. The web pages from the previous ver-sion become the view templates for this version. Thisversion uses JSPs in conjunction with the Struts webapplication framework and the Java Mail API for no-tification.• Persistent dynamic version: an enterprise applicationthat is functional and includes persistent data. Theprevious version becomes the web tier for this version.This version uses entity EJBs for persistent storage.4. DISSEMINATION AND REPLICATIONThe authors are committed to disseminating their materialsthrough the following channels:• All course materials developed by the authors for theirstudents are available on the web. URLs to the coursepages are available upon request.• Course pages include links to the software used. Allsoftware supports the most common platforms (Linux,Mac OS X, Windows) and is either open-source or oth-erwise freely available.• Sample exams/quizzes and solutions are available toqualified instructors upon request.Furthermore, the authors are interested in establishing adialog with colleagues at other institutions who are planningto develop similar courses.Concept Research/Technology ProjectAd-Hoc Document Parsing Brute-Force Parser Calendar, To-Do ListWell-formedness and Validation Basic XML Parsers, DTD Calendar, To-Do List in XML w/DTDDocument Trees DOM, Instructor’s Framework Calendar, To-Do List with Recurring Dates,Excluding DatesParsing Events SAX XElement: An OO Tree FrameworkGrounded in Design PatternsDirectory Metaphor XPath N/A, Part of Later ProjectMultiple XML Namespaces Namespaces, XML/Schema N/A, Part of Later ProjectTransformation XSLT, Instructor’s Framework Generating XHTML Calendar ViewRemote Procedure Call XML/RPC, SOAP Distributed Data Collector for a ComputingClusterXML Frameworks RSS, Selected Others Syndication of News, Blogs, CMS ContentTable 1: Road map for Extreme Markup LanguagesConcept Research/Technology ProjectBehavioral modeling UML state diagrams Wrist watch modelGraphical user interfaces Java Swing, JBuilder Wrist watch implementationEvent-based programming Java Beans Voting systemMulti-threading Java threads and monitors Adventure gameReusable components util.concurrent library Adventure gameAbstract combinators for concurrency Instructor’s own framework Microwave ovenEvent-based testing Temporal logic Microwave ovenRemote communication Java RMI Voting systemTable 2: Road map for Extreme ConcurrencyConcept Research/TechnologyTransparency Principles only; numerous examples such as HTTP, DNS, RPC, etc. are intro-duced to see the big picture.Networking TCP/IP, use of UDP for heartbeats and one-way messagingCoordination Instructor’s Memo System, JavaSpacesDirectories LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol)Remote Procedure Call RPC Classic (ONC/RPC), Remote Method Invocation (RMI), XML/RPC,SOAPFault Tolerance Database Replication/Mirroring in MySQL or OracleTransactional Semantics Servlet Session Management, Database Transaction FacilitiesParallelism Parallel Database Servers, Clustering, Round-Robin DNSSecurity and Authentication SSL, Certificate Management, Survey of Authentication Frameworks (Kerberos,Windows Active Directory)Table 3: Road map for Extreme Distributed ComputingConcept Research/Technology ProjectServer-based multi-tiered systems J2EE Semester-long project: server-basedissue-tracking systemPresenting content XML-based markup languages Static prototype of projectModeling dynamic behavior UML state diagrams UML state diagram to accompanystatic prototypeDynamic web-based applications Java servlets, JSP Web tier of project (without persis-tence)Web application frameworks Struts Web tier of project (without persis-tence)Server-side business logic components Session EJBs Not required in projectServer-side persistent components Entity EJBs, Hibernate Complete multi-tier project (withpersistence)Security and authentication J2EE web container authentication Complete projectApplication servers JBoss Deployment of projectTable 4: Road map for Extreme Server-Side Applications5. CONCLUSION AND NEXT STEPSIn conclusion, the curricular framework presented here hasturned out to be a success for all stakeholders: administra-tors, faculty, students, and employers.The challenge for the coming years is to keep the compo-sition of the curricular framework up-to-date with new re-search and technologies in software development. This isgreatly facilitated when participating faculty are active re-searchers and have ongoing relationships with industry.Within the bigger context of our academic department, andencouraged by other authors [3], our plan is to evolve theExtreme Software Development Series into the centerpieceof a full-fledged undergraduate major and graduate special-ization in software development.6. REFERENCES[1] Eric Allen, Robert Cartwright, and Charles Reis.Production programming in the classroom. InProceedings of the 34th SIGCSE technical symposiumon Computer science education, pages 89–93. ACMPress, 2003.[2] George Coulouris, Jean Dollimore, and Tim Kindberg.Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design.Addison-Wesley, 3rd edition, 2000.[3] Alan Fekete and Bob Kummerfeld. Design of a majorin software development. In Proceedings of the 33rdSIGCSE technical symposium on Computer scienceeducation, pages 73–77. ACM Press, 2002.[4] Robert L. Glass. Practical programmer: On personaltechnical obsolescence. Communications of the ACM,43(7):15–17, 2000.[5] Cheryl M. Hughes. The Web Wizard’s Guide to XML.Addison Wesley, 2002.[6] Doug Lea. Concurrent Programming in Java: DesignPrinciples and Patterns. The Java Series.Addison-Wesley, 2nd edition, 2000.[7] David Karr Matthew Robinson, Pavel Vorobiev. Swing.Manning, 2nd edition, 2003.[8] Inderjeet Singh, Beth Stearns, and Mark Johnson.Designing Enterprise Applications with the J2EEPlatform. The Java Series. Addison-Wesley, 2ndedition, 2002.[9] George K. Thiruvathukal, John P. Shafaee, andThomas W. Christopher. Web Programming in Python.Prentice Hall PTR, 2002.

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