Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to various issues in the development of large software systems.
• Develop and test a logic simulator in Python.

Content

The aim of this project is to develop a logic simulation program using the programming language Python. The project introduces students to all major phases of software engineering practice, viz. specification, design, implementation, testing and maintenance.

The project is organised in the form of a 'real life simulation'. You are asked to imagine that you have joined a software development company. You have been assigned to a team of programmers who have just begun work on a contract to develop a logic simulation program. You are given the 'client's' original requirements document and asked to produce a detailed specification for part of the system. Following this, you move onto the design stage. You are told that the program has been divided into eight functional modules and your team has been given the responsibility for designing and implementing four of them. When you have completed these, you have to integrate them with the remaining four modules of the system and test it. Finally, the client requests some changes to be made to the program and you are asked to implement these.

FORMAT

Students work in groups of three. Each student in the group will write different parts of a large software system, test them independently and then integrate into a complete simulator.

Week 1

Introductory exercises in Python. Lecture on formal language theory, lexical analysis, grammars and parsing. Form development team. Start designing the logic specification language.

Week 2

Finish designing the logic specification language, document it in an interim report. Familiarization with provided software modules. Software design, implementation and unit testing.

Week 3

Software design, implementation and unit testing (continued).

Week 4

Integration and testing of the complete system. Implement the client's requested modifications and write a final report.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to various issues in the development of large software systems.
• Develop and test a logic simulator in Python.

Content

The aim of this project is to develop a logic simulation program using the programming language Python. The project introduces students to all major phases of software engineering practice, viz. specification, design, implementation, testing and maintenance.

The project is organised in the form of a 'real life simulation'. You are asked to imagine that you have joined a software development company. You have been assigned to a team of programmers who have just begun work on a contract to develop a logic simulation program. You are given the 'client's' original requirements document and asked to produce a detailed specification for part of the system. Following this, you move onto the design stage. You are told that the program has been divided into eight functional modules and your team has been given the responsibility for designing and implementing four of them. When you have completed these, you have to integrate them with the remaining four modules of the system and test it. Finally, the client requests some changes to be made to the program and you are asked to implement these.

FORMAT

Students work in groups of three. Each student in the group will write different parts of a large software system, test them independently and then integrate into a complete simulator.

Week 1

Introductory exercises in Python. Lecture on formal language theory, lexical analysis, grammars and parsing. Form development team. Start designing the logic specification language.

Week 2

Finish designing the logic specification language, document it in an interim report. Familiarization with provided software modules. Software design, implementation and unit testing.

Week 3

Software design, implementation and unit testing (continued).

Week 4

Integration and testing of the complete system. Implement the client's requested modifications and write a final report.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to various issues in the development of large software systems.
• Develop and test a logic simulator in Python.

Content

The aim of this project is to develop a logic simulation program using the programming language Python. The project introduces students to all major phases of software engineering practice, viz. specification, design, implementation, testing and maintenance.

The project is organised in the form of a 'real life simulation'. You are asked to imagine that you have joined a software development company. You have been assigned to a team of programmers who have just begun work on a contract to develop a logic simulation program. You are given the 'client's' original requirements document and asked to produce a detailed specification for part of the system. Following this, you move onto the design stage. You are told that the program has been divided into eight functional modules and your team has been given the responsibility for designing and implementing four of them. When you have completed these, you have to integrate them with the remaining four modules of the system and test it. Finally, the client requests some changes to be made to the program and you are asked to implement these.

FORMAT

Students work in groups of three. Each student in the group will write different parts of a large software system, test them independently and then integrate into a complete simulator.

Week 1

Introductory exercises in Python. Lecture on formal language theory, lexical analysis, grammars and parsing. Form development team. Start designing the logic specification language.

Week 2

Finish designing the logic specification language, document it in an interim report. Familiarization with provided software modules. Software design, implementation and unit testing.

Week 3

Software design, implementation and unit testing (continued).

Week 4

Integration and testing of the complete system. Implement the client's requested modifications and write a final report.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• Introduce students to various issues in the development of large software systems.
• Develop and test a logic simulator in Python.

Content

The aim of this project is to develop a logic simulation program using the programming language Python. The project introduces students to all major phases of software engineering practice, viz. specification, design, implementation, testing and maintenance.

The project is organised in the form of a 'real life simulation'. You are asked to imagine that you have joined a software development company. You have been assigned to a team of programmers who have just begun work on a contract to develop a logic simulation program. You are given the 'client's' original requirements document and asked to produce a detailed specification for part of the system. Following this, you move onto the design stage. You are told that the program has been divided into eight functional modules and your team has been given the responsibility for designing and implementing four of them. When you have completed these, you have to integrate them with the remaining four modules of the system and test it. Finally, the client requests some changes to be made to the program and you are asked to implement these.

FORMAT

Students work in groups of three. Each student in the group will write different parts of a large software system, test them independently and then integrate into a complete simulator.

Week 1

Introductory exercises in Python. Lecture on formal language theory, lexical analysis, grammars and parsing. Form development team. Start designing the logic specification language.

Week 2

Finish designing the logic specification language, document it in an interim report. Familiarization with provided software modules. Software design, implementation and unit testing.

Week 3

Software design, implementation and unit testing (continued).

Week 4

Integration and testing of the complete system. Implement the client's requested modifications and write a final report.

Aims

The aims of the course are to:

• The project will involve the modelling and control of an 'evaporator', which is a process used in many industries (eg. dairy products, chemicals).
• As a first step a simulation model will be built and tested.
• Then a control system will be designed for the process, and its performance checked by simulating its operation with the evaporator.
• Modern simulation and analysis software will be used throughout.

Objectives

As specific objectives, by the end of the course students should be able to:

• To take students through the simulate/analyse/design/test cycle for an industrial control system (unfortunately omitting implementation).
• To expose students to state-of-the-art software for control engineering.
• To give students experience of simulating dynamic systems.

Content

For the first three weeks students will work in pairs, with all pairs producing similar simulation models. For the final week, students will work in groups of 4, with each group having the option of using a different methodology for designing the final control system.

Week 1

Familiarisation with Simulink simulation and Matlab software. Familiarisation with description and mathematical model of evaporator. Construction and test of Simulink model of the evaporator.

Week 2

Completion of testing Simulink model of the evaporator. Refining the model. Closing one control loop. First interim report.

Week 3

Initial control design for the whole model. Investigation of performance when model behaviour changes. Investigation of integrator wind-up. Second interim report.

Week 4

Group Activity. Choice of further control system design project. Final report.