CS 257: Software Design

Fall 2021

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Class Notes

How to read this page

• Items marked ASSIGNMENT require you to hand something in, which you will do (most of the time) by adding the relevant files to your (or your partner's) GitHub repository and pushing up to the GitHub server
• Items marked VIDEO, READING, LAB, or TASK do not require you to hand anything in. Do these items by the date specified, or during the week in which the video or task appears.
• Items marked QUESTIONS are things for you to think about, and are likely to come up in our in-class discussions.
• All due dates will be Mondays or Thursdays, and will have a due-time of 11:59PM Central.

Week 0

Things to do right away, on or before the first day of class.

• [ASSIGNMENT] Fill out this survey about course logistics.
• [VIDEO] (5:40) Course overview
• [VIDEO] (10:50) CS257: lessons from 2020-2021
• [READING] The course information page. I will expect you to know what's in here.

Week 1 (Sep 15-19)

What makes software good or bad? Setting up your computer. Version control.

• [QUESTIONS] (1) What are the attributes of good software? (2) What are the most important things to do or avoid doing if you want to work effectively with other people on a programming project?
• [VIDEO] (11:34) How to set up your development environment
• [LAB 9/17] Set up your development environment
• [VIDEO] (27:15) Intro to Unix, part 1
• [TASK 9/20] Work through the first five sections of this introductory tutorial on Unix (up through Tutorial Three).
• [READING 9/20] The Guiding Principles section (i.e. Chapters 1-5) of Steve Krug's Don't Make Me Think, Revisited (3rd edition)

Week 1.5

[TASK] Start learning the vi/vim editor in a terminal. You'll be glad you did.

Week 2 (Sep 20-26)

Test-driven development. Command-line interface design and implementation.

• [QUESTIONS] (1) What are your favorite three ideas from the first five chapters of Krug? (2) What questions do you have about Unix and git?
• [VIDEO] (35:12) Intro to git and version control, part 1
• [ASSIGNMENT 9/20] Getting started with git
• [ASSIGNMENT ongoing] Examples of good and bad data-driven websites
• [READ 9/22] articles on test-driven development and command-line design
• [ASSIGNMENT 9/24, etc.] A books-and-authors command-line program.This is a 2-week project with multiple due dates. Partners to be assigned by end of day 9/21 and posted on Slack.
• [LAB 9/24] Using Python's unittest module for TDD
• [TASK 9/24] Please fill out this one-question survey about your git lab partner experience

Week 3 (Sep 27-Oct 3)

Writing good functions. The books project continues.

• [READING 9/27] High-Quality Routines from Code Complete, 2nd edition by Steve McConnell. You have to be connected to the Carleton network for this link.
• [QUESTIONS 9/27] What would Steve McConnell say are are the 2-3 most important ideas to keep in mind if you want to write good functions/methods/routines? Do you agree with him?
• [VIDEO] (18:50) Intro to Unix, part 2. File permissions, redirecting input/output streams, environment variables, start-up files.
• [VIDEO] (11:14) Tabs & spaces
• [VIDEO] (7:17) git config & git log

Week 4 (Oct 4-10)

Code reviews. More design readings. Intro to databases and postgresql.

• [READING 10/4]
  • The Commento, from Code Complete 2 by Steve McConnell
  • [READING 10/4] From About Face 3 by Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, and David Cronin. Read selections from Chapter 1 (Goal-Directed Design, pages 3-26), Chapter 10 (Orchestration and Flow, pages 201-202), and Chapter 11 (Eliminating Excise, pages 223-248).
  You have to be connected to the Carleton VPN for both of those links.
• [ASSIGNMENT] Reminder: code review preparation
• [LAB 10/8] Intro to PostgreSQL, psql, and SQL
• [VIDEO] (23:58) Intro to databases
• [VIDEO] (23:57) psql details to give you a bit more postgresql info and help with a few problems people sometimes encounter while getting postgres runnning on their machines
• [TASK 10/4] Please fill out this survey about your books.py partnership

Weeks 5-6 (Oct 11-24)

Database design, population, and access from Python. More git. What's a good partnership?

• [VIDEO] (16:18) A miniscule introduction to database design
• [READING 10/13] Database normalization: what are the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd normal forms? Start with this simple database of kids and their pets, then this multipage introduction to normal forms (follow the links to First Normal Form, Second Normal Form, and Third Normal Form to get the full story).
• [ASSIGNMENT 10/14] Database design and population
• [LAB 10/15] Accessing postgres databases from Python using psycopg2. Nothing to hand in.
• [TASK 10/15] Please fill out this midterm survey
• [ASSIGNMENT 10/21] A database-driven command-line application using psycopg2

Week 7 (Oct 25-31)

HTTP-based APIs. Getting started on web application.

• [VIDEO] (19:38) A brief introduction to HTTP
• [LAB 10/25] Using HTTP-based APIs. Nothing to hand in.
• [VIDEO] (25:12) Mini-intro to APIs and Flask
• [LAB 10/26] Implementing APIs with Flask. Nothing to hand in.
• [ASSIGNMENT 10/27] Web app: selecting your data
• [ASSIGNMENT 10/28] Implementing an API
• [READING 10/29] User stories, up through section 6 (Limitations)
• [READING 10/29] Use cases, sections 1 (History), 2 (General principle), 7 (Examples), 8 (Advantages) and 9 (Limitations)
• [READING 10/29] Requirements analysis

Week 8 (Nov 1-7)

(Very) Light-weight requirements analysis. HTML & CSS.

• [ASSIGNMENT 11/1] Web app: requirements & wireframes
• [VIDEO] (27:44) A brief intro to HTML and CSS
• [LAB] Lab: intro to HTML and CSS
• [READING 11/3] Chapter 6 (Street Signs and Breadcrumbs) of Don't Make Me Think, Revisited
• [ASSIGNMENT 11/4] HTML/CSS mockups of your website
• [READING 11/5] Blind Users Struggle with State CoronavirusWebsites, Adrianne Jeffries, April 2020
• [READING 11/5] 10 Ways to Make Your Website Accessible, Ellice, July 2020
• [LAB] Intro to Javascript

Week 9 (Nov 8-14)

Putting your web application together.

• [READING 11/8] Chapters 9 (Usability on 10 cents a day) and 11 (Usability as common courtesy) from Don't Make Me Think, Revisited.
• [VIDEO] (22:09) SQL Injection
• [VIDEO] (22:43) Our web app architecture NOTE: the corresponding sample code is in webapps/app4-for-video/, not in books-webapp/, despite what the video says.
• [ASSIGNMENT 11/11] End-to-end web app setup
• [READING 11/12] Chapters 9 (Usability on 10 cents a day) and 11 (Usability as common courtesy) from Don't Make Me Think, Revisited.

Week 10 (Nov 15-19)

Wrapping things up

• [ASSIGNMENT 11/15] Web app: first draft
• [ASSIGNMENT 11/18] Web app: code review
• [ASSIGNMENT 2:30PM 11/24] Web app: final version