Assignment #1: Background/Literature Research

Assignment#1-part 1: Literature Research

• Browse through at least 3 recent (no more than 10 years old under most circumstances, and typically within the last 5 years) periodical/proceeding issues where some of the relevant papers in the subject area appear.
• List related papers for each issue by the following topic areas:
  1. software reliability engineering
  2. software safety engineering
  3. general discussion about software quality
  Be sure to glance through the abstracts because some titles may not be informative enough for your to make the above categorization.
• For papers on other topics (other than the above three), there is no need to list them individually, just indicate the total number.
• If you choose to do an individual study presentation, choose your paper, and let me know of your desired presentation date.
• In addition, if you plan to do a "literature survey" type of project, indicate which paper(s) will be among your candidate papers.

Assignment#1-part 2: Background Research on Analysis Techniques

• Causal analysis for individual defects and groups of defects, and related analysis techniques and processes.
• Overall statistical defect analysis, including trend analysis (e.g., Lyu/HSRE Ch. 10), distribution analysis (lots of papers on this), general defect models.
• Defect classification and analysis (e.g., read one of the original ODC papers referenced in Tian/SQE Ch.20, or Lyu/HSRE Ch.9).
• Risk identification techniques, particularly newer ones such as PCA/DA, NN, OSR, TBM (e.g., read one of the references cited in Tian/SQE Ch.21, or Lyu/HSRE Ch.17)

Write a one-paragraph summary of the paper/chapter, and an additional paragraph or two about its relevance to our class and to your work (total length not to exceed 2 pages).

If you find the paper/chapter interesting and useful, you might want to prepare a presentation as your individual study presentation for the class on 9/9/05. In that case, please let me know before class time (the earlier, the better).

Due Date for hw#1: 9/9/05

Assignment #2: Paper Summary/Critique

• The summary should be your own summary, based on your understanding of the paper, not the authors' summary/abstract.

• The analysis and critique is an important part of your essay (at least as important as your summary itself), which may include, among other things, an analysis based on what we covered in class on related topics, your subjective assessment of the paper, what you would do differently, practical impact of the reported work. It is desirable if you can make it relevant to what you are doing at work.

• Give full citation details (for example references, see Tian/SQE), and provide a copy of the original abstract. If the paper was not publicly available (e.g., internal report) or hard to track down (e.g., regional or industry specific conferences), you need to include a copy of the paper(s) with your homework submission.

Due Date for hw#2: 10/7/05

Assignment #3: Paper Summary/Critique

Due Date for hw#3: 11/4/05

Assignment #4: Preparing for the Final Quiz

• Sample final quiz to be distributed in class on 11/4/05.
• Problems from Tian/SQE book: 2.3, 2.4, 15.1, 15.3, 15.4, 15.6, 15.7, 16.1, 16.2, 16.7, 16.9, 18.5, 20.1, 20.3, 20.4, 20.5, 20.6, 21.2, 21.7, 21.9, 22.1-6 (all).

Due Date for hw#4: (None, but see note below.)

Alternatively, you can treat hw#4 as an on-going self-evaluation assignment, and finish the questions as we go along throughout the semester when relevant topics are discussed in class.

Individual Study Presentation