date: Mon, 10 May 2021 09:57:06 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21 Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 I am Daniel Berry, your prof for this term. I have cc'd Derek, the prof for SE490. This is to inform you of the way SE463 will be run this term. SE463 is the Software Requirements Specification and Analysis course. The course's project is to write a requirements specification. Since several years ago, the project has been the capstone project that you are developing in your concurrent SE490. That is, each group in SE463, which is also a SE490 team, writes a requirements specification for its captstone project in SE490. Since one year ago, your group's TA for this course is your team's TA for SE490. This TA will serve as your customer in both courses, and you will not have to deal with two customers that could expect different things. Also, officially lectures are asynchronous. However, to minimize conflict, all the course instructors for your cohort have scheduled their lectures so that you should not have two lectures at the same time. SE463's recording Zoom sessions will be Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:00pm - 2:20pm EDT. The lectures will be recorded and will be put at the course Web site . However you are strongly encouraged to attend the recording sessions, if for no other reason than to be able to ask questions and get answers in real time. Also, you might appreciate my attempts at humor :-). The first recording session, in which I will go over the course structure and requirements is Tuesday 11 May at 1:00pm. Here is the full Zoom invitation for the term. PLEASE SAVE THIS INVITATION IN YOUR FILES, because the archived copy of this message will have this invitation removed. -------------------------------------------------------------- Deleted zoom inviation -------------------------------------------------------------- For most of you, this link will suffice See you Tuesday 11 May at 1:00pm Stay healthy and sane Dan ================================================================================ Date: Sun, 16 May 2021 19:40:19 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21 Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 The Web site is up to dae. That is, its visible oontents reflect Spring/Summer 2021 and not 2020. The due dates are accurate. Also, the course e-mail address se463@uwaterloo.ca seems to be working, and it forwards to me. Note that the first deliverable is due two weeks from tomorrow. So you and your team need to get started. For most teams, this deliverable should probably be the Domain, Class, and World Model for Your System (). The lecture last Thursday and the lectures this week will give ideas on how to make the Domain, Class, and World Model for Your System. Your team will be assigned a TA as soon we know who the teams are. In the mean time, if you have a question about modeling, please ask me. See y'all Tuesday at 1pm Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 24 May 2021 10:15:26 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21 Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 The Web site continues to be updated. It has the videos of all lectures given so far. It even has the new slides used last Thursday. Also, the course e-mail address se463@uwaterloo.ca seems to be working, and it forwards to me. Note that the first deliverable is due one week from today. So you and your team need to get started if you have not done so already :-). For most teams, this deliverable should probably be the Domain, Class, and World Model for Your System (). Later today, you will receive a message informing you and your teammates who your team's TA is for SE463 and SE490! The lectures this week will give ideas on how to make the Use Case Model for Your System. See y'all Tuesday at 1pm Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 24 May 2021 14:48:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: SE463/SE490 TA assignment to SE490 teams Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 Each of you will receive in a few minutes a message with all the data I have about your team in the following form: nn. team-XXXX TA name ta-email-address one-line-containing-e-mail-adresses-of-your-team's-TA-and-team's-m-members team-member-1's-e-mail-address team-member-2's-e-mail-address ... team-member-m's-e-mail-address where nn is your team's number, XXXX is your team's name and your team has m members These m+2 lines will be the entire body of this message! Get in touch with your TA as soon as possible and plan on meeting regularly. A reminder that: the first deliverable is due one week from today. So you and your team need to get started if you have not done so already :-). For most teams, this deliverable should probably be the Domain, Class, and World Model for Your System (). Enjoy Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 24 May 2021 19:56:55 -0400 Subject: SE463 S21: SE463 TA assignment for students not in SE490 Bcc: se463Notse490 Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 that are not also in SE490 Your TA is Daniel Berry, dberry@uwaterloo.ca. Yes, I. This means that you will be handing in your deliverables to me. Please contact me about when you can meet with me on Zoom for 1 hour on Tuesday through Friday of this week, the sooner the better. A reminder that: the first deliverable is due one week from today. So you and your team need to get started if you have not done so already :-). For most teams, this deliverable should probably be the Domain, Class, and World Model for Your System (). You will also need to include a brief description of your project, not just your part, but the whole project, in which your part will sit. While your Deliverables 4 and 5 will be about YOUR part, your Deliverables 1 through 3 will be about the WHOLE project so we can see the forest in which your tree sits. Enjoy Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 27 May 2021 19:01:14 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Deliverables not in correct format Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 I have received two delierable submissions not in the correct format. Please see https://student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~se463/deliverables.html I insist on following this format to simplify saving them all and distributing them to the correct TAs with some shell scripts that simplify handling large numbers of submissions all at once. Thank you. Dan ================================================================================ Date: Tue, 8 Jun 2021 23:00:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Thursday 10 June's Recording Session Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 In Thursday's recording session, I will walk through a user's manual and then move on to ambiguity in requirements specification. However, before moving on, I will open the floor for any questions about Deliverable 2, due Monday 14 June by 5:00pm, which for most of you will be a use case model for your capstone project together with any corrections requested by your TA on your Deliverable 1. Hasta Jueves. Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 16:38:50 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Updated Deliverable 1 with Deliverable 2. Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 If you are required by your TA to submit a revised D1 with your D2, then put both in the same properly named PDF file, D2-GXX.pdf, where XX is your group number. Thanks Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2021 18:49:49 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: AMENDMENT Updated Deliverable 1 with Deliverable 2. Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 If you are required by your TA to submit a revised D1, revised abstract, or anything with your D2, then put them all in the same properly named PDF file, D2-GXX.pdf, where XX is your group number. In fact, in general, everything that needs to be delivered with a deliverable should be put in the one PDF that you submit. Thanks Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2021 20:55:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Recording Sessions 22 and 24 June Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 In the recording session on Tuesday 22 June, I will continue with NFRs and then move on to cost estimation. In the recording session on Thursday 24 June, I will start a brand new topic NEVER taught before in SE463, CS445, or ECE451!!!!!!!! ta ta ta TA!!!!! "RE for AI and ML". You all get to participate in a discussion in which we will try to identify WHAT the requirements are for an AI or LM (the learned machine that results from running a machine learning program with training data). The main property of a requirements specification for ANY system is that it allows answering the questions: "Is the system what you, the customer, want?" and "Is the system implemented correctly?" Be READY to contribute to the discussion. I have some ideas, but I would like to hear YOURS first, in case YOU have a BETTER idea!!!!! Hasta Manana ================================================================================ Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2021 14:28:05 -0400 Subject: SE463 S21: REMINDER RE for AI Recording Sessions 24 June Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 In the recording session on Thursday 24 June, I will start a brand new topic NEVER taught before in SE463, CS445, or ECE451!!!!!!!! ta ta ta TA!!!!! "RE for AI and ML". You all get to participate in a discussion in which we will try to identify WHAT the requirements are for an AI or LM (the learned machine that results from running a machine learning program with training data). The main property of a requirements specification for ANY system is that it allows answering the questions: "Is the system what you, the customer, want?" and "Is the system implemented correctly?" Be READY to contribute to the discussion. I have some ideas, but I would like to hear YOURS first, in case YOU have BETTER ideas!!!!! To remind you: Thurday 24 June, 1:00-2:20 SE 463 recording session https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88245177251?pwd=dDRRTUFOY3BzZVlFaHhoRDFsQjVndz09 Meeting ID: 882 4517 7251 Passcode: 505167 Hasta Manana ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 24 Jun 2021 18:59:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Final Assessment Date and Time Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 The final assessment for SE 463 S21 will be on Saturday 7 August at 12:30 -- 3:00PM EDT (2.5 hours synchronous) *** If you are in a time zone whose awake hours do not include 12:30 -- 3:00PM EDT, you will have to do a time-zone shift.*** ***Plan ahead!*** Dan ================================================================================ Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2021 13:37:21 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Clarification in the Description of Deliverable 4 Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 One of you asked: >In the requirements of D4, we need to create a user-interface >description with diagrams. Can you clarify what you mean by that? Do >you mean that we should create a mock user interface along with some >description? Yes.. for example, as suggested in Slides 9--46 of the User Interface Specifications slides found at I have also updated the relevant part of . Enjoy Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2021 16:06:48 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: URGENT: Please tell me if you are located in a time zone other than EDT Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 I want to set up a very short midterm consisting of ONE question: "What is your name?" (really tough question, eh? :-) ) some time in the next two weeks. This trivial midterm is to allow you and me to debug the system in which I will be giving the final assessment on 7 August at 12:30 -- 3:00PM EDT. If you will have problems using the system, we want to find out NOW rather than on 7 August. In order to schedule the midterm at a time that does not require anyone to do a time-zone shift, I need to know where in the world are all SE 463 students. PLEASE REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE ONLY IF YOU ARE NOT IN EASTERN DAYLIGHT TIME (i.e., Waterloo time). Please reply with the name of your time zone, or the time difference between your time and Waterloo's time AND the name of the city nearest you. I NEED YOUR ANSWER by 12:00pm (Noon) Monday 19 July. So please don't wait. If you fail to reply, then if I pick a time for the midterm that is not feasible for you and you fail thus to notice a problem with your getting into the exam system and you end up losing time during your final assessment dealing with the problem, your excuse will not be accepted. Thank you. Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2021 10:27:31 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Evaluation of Me Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All You will be able to evaluate me, the course instructor, at any time between Thursday, July 22 at 11:59 pm and Thursday, August 5 at 11:59 pm. Note that I do not get to see the evaluations until after it is too late to change your grades :-) So it's your time to take revenge for all the nasty work I have made you do :-). Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2021 17:12:53 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Sample Exams Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All One of you asked: "I was wondering if you would happen to have solutions for the past exams. Even just one set of solutions for one past exam would be a tremendous help to us, as it will not only provide great examples to learn from, but it will also solidify our understanding of the course material." I answered: Sorry, as we wrote in the third paragraph of , "We put up ONLY the exams and NOT the solutions. It's hard enough to invent new questions about the same material term after term. Posting the answers makes it even harder. If you have questions about any of YOUR answers to any question, just ask. We won't give an answer. We will comment on YOUR answer." Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2021 19:21:45 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Some questions that came up Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All One of you asked: >API and DB spec? Yes.. >In the requirement spec assignment, I was told to only include >user/environment level details and not include implementation details. Yes.. and to make this advice practical, we refine this, in terms of the World model: Do not include details on the parts of the system you need to implement that are NOT part of the interface.. >However, during coding of the project, I found myself needing to >specify API behavior and meaning of database schema. YES.. >For example, what HTTP methods should be used (GET, POST, etc)? What >should be the response status codes (200, 400, 401, etc)? What language >code spec should be used (zh-CN vs cmn)? So these are clearly interface details UNLESS you wish to not use any of these libraries and write all of their functionality that you use yourself from scratch. Assuming that you DO wish to use these libraries, then the headers of the routines and types defined in the API are part of the interface that ANY implementation of your spec has to obey. These libraries are part of your system's ENV. >On the DB side, what does a null value mean? What does empty string >mean? That is established by the DB that you use. So the same argument that I gave for the APIs applies here. The DB you use is part of the system's ENV. The alternative is to program the needed storage functionality from scratch. Then you might not even need a null value. You might do storage in a totally different way that does not need a null value. Note that you are use the abstraction of null value. The use of a pre-cooked DB means that you never talk about the implementation of the null value. It's just the nullValue. If your system makes some DB concepts visible to the user, and these concepts include the null value, the users will think of it as "nullValue" and not what might be inside of it. >What is your opinion? See above >Test cases as specs? That's another way, logically equivalent to UCs fleshed out with scenarios, because each test case IS a scenario, and vice versa. Same as with items in a complete help system. >People say "test cases are a living documentation of the software". So >why not combine test/behavior driven development with RE and write your >user manual in test cases? As I said, logically they are the same. So in principle, it would work. However, probably the users would find test cases less readable that what is normally written in a user manual or help system. :-) >How do you know it's not a fluke? Correlation vs causation? One never knows for sure because one cannot do life twice. >In Ou's example, how do you know the success of the project is due to >the project execution plan and not other factors, like her prior work >experience or time management skills? In the last analysis, we don't. We (and I do mean "we" because Lihua herself, as documented by Chapters 3 and 4 of her thesis, gives an introspective analysis of what happened.) believe that it was the execution plan and not other factors that made the difference simply because the outcome in this case WAS different from ALL her past developments. Certainly it had to be something that was different, because probably her competence had not changed :-) Of course there are other things that are different. 1. university vs industry 2. one person vs team 3. one customer=user vs a whole group of people making one customer and its users 4. domain of SW: picture drawing vs commerce 5. no pay vs paid And of course there's the Hawthorne effect, just the fact that this was a case study. So in the end we do not know for sure IN THIS case. Since we cannot have her do it again (because she's learned how to do it and will do better for that reason the next time), and we cannot do controled experiments with realistic sized artifacts. We have to rely on a lot of people doing similar one-shot studies and seeing if similar results happen. Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 22 Jul 2021 19:24:58 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: REMINDER: Evaluation of Me Opens TONIGHT at midnight! Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All You will be able to evaluate me, the course instructor, at any time between Thursday, July 22 at 11:59 pm and Thursday, August 5 at 11:59 pm. Note that I do not get to see the evaluations until after it is too late to change your grades :-) So it's your time to take revenge for all the nasty work I have made you do :-). Dan ================================================================================ Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2021 19:00:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Midterm (dry run of final on Learn) THIS THURSDAY Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 I have created a midterm on the SE 463 account at learn.uwaterloo.ca to serve as a dry run, a beta test, for the final exam to be administered in the same way. Since the final exam is synchronous and is timed, the final exam will become available to you only at the scheduled start time of Saturday 7 August 12:30 pm EDT, and it will become unavailable to you at the scheduled finish time of 7 August 12:30 pm EDT. You will have those 2.5 hours = 150 minutes in which to do the exam, just as would be the case for an in-person class held at the UW campus. Note that the time was chosen by the registrar's office to minimize conflicts. If you will be in a time zone whose awake hours do not include 12:30 -- 3:00PM EDT, you will have to do a time-zone shift. Plan ahead! To simulate the final exam situation, I have created a synchronous timed midterm of exactly one hour's duration during which you will answer one question. I chose an hour that is just barely within normal awake time for EVERY ONE in the class that replied to my message about where he or she will be in the next few weeks. The range of time zones stretches from Shanghai's at +12 hours through Vancouver's at -3 hours. So I have set the midterm to be Thursday 29 July 11:00 am to 12:00 pm (noon) EDT (23:00--24:00 Shanghai, 17:00--18:00 Budapest, 16:00-17:00 London UK, 9:00-10:00 Calgary, and 8:00-9:00 Vancouver). (If you forgot to send me your time zone and you will be sleeping during the midterm, it's your problem.) Note that the midterm is available for precisely the one hour that you have to complete it. Thus, if you sign in X minutues late, you have X fewer minutes in which to do the midterm. This time limit is enforced by the software. Nothing you type after availability ends is stored. Please use this one-hour period to play with the window in which you answer the very tough question of "What is your name?". Include images! Copy and paste text from files on your computer. Play with fonts. Insert formulae, emoticons, shapes, whatever, to get comfortable using the interface. You may submit all that you have done, but make sure that your name is the first part of the answer, so that I don't have to wade through all of the art work to find your name :-). **I am aware that one of you is registered with Accessability to have additional time to complete the exam. The "until" and "due" dates for this person has been set later by the required amount his or her time to actually do and submit the exam has been set longer by the required amount. If you believe that you are this student, please contact me directly so that I can confirm that I have set things up correctly for you. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO AND SUBMIT THIS MIDTERM. Since we have not been using Learn all term, we do not really know if it works for you. This midterm is the only opportunity before the actual final assessment in which you will have to observe any problems that you might have during the final assessment at a time that the problems can be fixed. IF YOU DO NOT DO AND SUBMIT THIS MIDTERM, and you find that you cannot log in or that you have other problems doing and submitting your final assessment, you are out of luck. I will not have time during the 2.5 hours of the availability of the final assessment to solve any emergencies, and if you are not able to somehow fix the problem yourself, and get something in on time, you will be given a DNW. Dan ================================================================================ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2021 19:43:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S20: REMINDER about midterm TOMORROW Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 Recall that I have set the midterm to be Thursday 29 July 11:00 am to 12:00 pm (noon) EDT (23:00--24:00 Shanghai, 17:00--18:00 Budapest, 16:00-17:00 London UK, 9:00-10:00 Calgary, and 8:00-9:00 Vancouver). The ability to access the quiz will begin at precisely 11:00 am EDT and will end precisely at 12:00 pm EDT. You will not be able to get to it if you try connecting before 11:00 or after 12:00, or after your specified later time if you are registered with Accessability. Thus, for example you will be able to get to it if you try connecting at 11:30. My intent is that you have to hand in whatever you have done by 12:00pm even if you started late, just as if you were attending the mid term in person on campus. However, the system does not implement that directly. Instead, no matter when you start, it gives you one hour from that point and does not ask you to hand in until then. However, it does keep a log of all your save (even auto save) events and their times. So I can see what you saved after 12:00 and not count them. So I can implement the timing of the in-person exam. In order that someone who has problems connecting with a browser not be up S--t Creek, I will e-mail to the entire class a PDF copy of the exam, at the time the exam becomes accessible. If you cannot do it online, then do it offline and e-mail me a file with your answers by the deadline. In case Internet is down for you or me, you can reach me via SMS at +1-519-885-7222 or +49-151-1573-1047 Whatsapp at +49-151-1573-1047 or Signal at +1-519-885-7222, tell me what the problem is, whether you got the e-mail, and we'll deal with it at that time. I could send the PDF via Whatsapp or Signal, but NOT SMS. I know that for the midterm, most of this stuff is kind of irrelevant, but these procedures will be followed for the final. So I am setting them up now to make sure that they work. Good luck remembering your name. :-) Thanks Dan ================================================================================ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2021 19:46:09 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Solution to Assignment 1 Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 I had hoped to be able to mark each turned in Assignment 1, but doing so in a timely fashion is proving not to be feasible. Because of all the additional things I am having to do this term, my usually very good time management is not working. Therefore, in order to allow you to begin prepare for the final assessment in a timely fashion, I have posted at the course Website the rubric I was planning use to mark the Assignments. Please go to I will do a zoomed tutorial to go over the solution for the benefit of anyone who has a question that the rubric does not answer. It will be Wednesday 4 August at the usual time set aside for recording sessions. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88245177251?pwd=dDRRTUFOY3BzZVlFaHhoRDFsQjVndz09 Meeting ID: 882 4517 7251 Passcode: 505167 For clarity, there is NO RECORDING SESSION on the last official day of class Wednesday 4 August, run officially as a Tuesday. So Thursday 29 July is the last. So you have a WHOLE week without me to finish your Deliverables 5. :-) Enjoy! Dan ================================================================================ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2021 19:48:22 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: REMINDER: Evaluate Me by 5 August Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All You will be able to evaluate me, the course instructor, at any time between Thursday, July 22 at 11:59 pm and Thursday, August 5 at 11:59 pm. Note that I do not get to see the evaluations until after it is too late to change your grades :-) So it's your time to take revenge for all the nasty work I have made you do :-). Dan ================================================================================ Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2021 21:56:36 -0400 Subject: SE463 S20: URGENT UPDATE about midterm TOMORROW Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 One of you asked: "where will it [the midterm] be available?" Oy.. THIS I did not make explicit.. wow.. talk about tacit assumptions.. it's at learn.uwaterloo.ca You log in there with your watIam credentials Select SE 463 Spring 2021 [BTW... I thanked him or her for asking the obvious question.] Dan %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% [ the previous message aobut the midterm] ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 29 Jul 2021 11:00:40 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: PDF of the midterm in case you cannot get to it at learn Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 If you cannot get into your account at learn.uwaterloo.ca, then download the file at . Prepare an answer editing the PDF, or converting it to a Word file, or copying and pasting its contents to another application Alternatively, answer this one question in a return message: ---------------------------------- Ques!on 1 (1 point) What is your name (given name first, family name second)? ---------------------------------- Dan ================================================================================ Date: Sun, 1 Aug 2021 14:41:08 -0400 Subject: SE463 S21: Last Week of Class Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All Reminders: * No classes this week. * Deliverable 5 is due Thursday 5 August at 5:00 pm. * You can evaluate me any time until Thursday, 5 August at 11:59 pm. * The final assessment is Saturday 7 August at 12:30-3:00 pm EDT. One of you asked a question that may be on others' minds: >I wanted to clarify the format of the exam - is it going to be possible >to complete the exam entirely online, without having to print the >exam? YES.. >LEARN does not support drawing, and in a discussion with our TA today >he mentioned that it may be necessary to sketch diagrams. that information is not correct.. I am writing the questions in a way that you don't need to draw anything.. you MAY if you wish.. but you can just use text.. I recognize that in order to decide what text to enter in on your answer, you may wish to draw a diagram for your own purposes.. and you might prefer to upload that diagram if you get pressed for time.. but a pure text answer is more than fine. >Would it be permitted to use paint or some other simple drawing program >to generate a diagram? if you want.. but you do not need to draw anything. >I ask because I do not have ready access to a scanner or a phone to >upload a paper sketch. understood Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2021 15:32:46 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: D5 Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All You can take the feedback you got on D4 to do a PERFECT job on D5, because D5's spec is almost the same as D4's and D5's rubrik will be largely the same as D4's. Remember the how much each deliverable and the final assessment count towards the final grade. The non-final deliverables count 16%, as follows: 1.6%, for deliverable 1, 1.6%, for deliverable 2, 1.6%, for deliverable 3, 11.2%, for deliverable 4. The final deliverable, deliverable 5 counts 64%. The final assessment counts 20% This distribution means that you have had low-cost opportunities, that cost only 16%, to learn what you need to do a perfect job on D5, which counts 64%. Moreover, the deliverable D4, that is a good model for the difficulty of D5, which stands the highest risk of not getting right the first time, counts only 11.2%. PLEASE DO GO FOR PERFECTION in D5! Dan ================================================================================ Date: Mon, 2 Aug 2021 15:40:57 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Final Exam Bcc: se463students, se463tas I understand from the class reps that there is a lot of stress over the final exam because of the requirement: you need to pass the final exam to pass the course. This requirement comes because the course is a core course in an engineering degree. I believe that it has to do with the fact that while projects are often done in groups, the final exam is supposed to be an individual effort, in which you show what you can do with no one helping you. Maybe I can reassure you by pointing out that I have been teaching this class at UW for 22 years, usually two sections per year. In all that time, only ONE person has failed the class because he failed the final exam. Note that the final assessment counts only 20% towards the final grade. The coverage is limited to the material mentioned in the videos that are marked with stars. Finally, I have no need to enforce a normal distribution of exam marks. I would be HAPPY to give everyone a 100, if he or she earns it. So please, on Saturday, make me a HAPPY prof. Good Luck Dan ================================================================================ Date: Wed, 4 Aug 2021 08:13:10 -0400 Subject: SE463 S21: Remember.. tutorial today on Ambiguity A1 and Exams Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All Just reminding you that instead of class today, I will use the regular class time to offer feedback on the Ambiguity A1 and also will entertain questions on the final assessment. This session will be at 1:00pm at: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88245177251?pwd=dDRRTUFOY3BzZVlFaHhoRDFsQjVndz09 Meeting ID: 882 4517 7251 Passcode: 505167 Hasta Luego Dan ================================================================================ Date: Thu, 5 Aug 2021 12:04:04 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: Instructions for Final Assessment Bcc: se463students, se463tas The Final Assessment for SE 463 Summer 2021 will be available on Saturday Aug 7, 2021 12:30 PM EDT until Aug 7, 2021 3:00 PM EDT. It is due on Aug 7, 2021 3:00 PM. It is found by logging in at learn.uwaterloo.ca with your watIam credentials and opening "Quizzes" under "Submit". The ability to access the quiz will begin at precisely 12:30 pm EDT and will end precisely at 3:00 pm EDT. You will not be able to get to it if you try connecting before 12:30 or after 3:00, or after your specified later time if you are registered with Accessability. Thus, for example you will be able to get to it if you try connecting at 12:00. My intent is that you have to hand in whatever you have done by 3:00pm even if you started late, just as if you were attending the final exam in person on campus. However, the system does not implement that directly. Instead, no matter when you start, it gives you one hour from that point and does not ask you to hand in until then. However, it does keep a log of all your save (even auto save) events and their times. So I can see what you saved after 3:00 and not count them. So I can implement the timing of the in-person exam. The global instructions say: Open Google and Course WebSite, but not classmates, in particular not teammates. You have 150 minutes for this exam, and the total number of points is 150. The number of points allocated to each question is proportional to the estimated amount of time you will spend on the question. So, if a question is worth N points, you should not spend more than N minutes on it. In order that someone who has problems connecting with a browser not be up S--t Creek, I will e-mail to the entire class a PDF copy of the exam, at the time the exam becomes accessible. If you cannot do it online, then do it offline and e-mail me a file with your answers by the deadline. In case the Internet is down for you or me, you can reach me via SMS at +1-519-885-7222 or +49-151-1573-1047 Whatsapp at +49-151-1573-1047 or Signal at +1-519-885-7222, tell me what the problem is, whether you got the e-mail, and we'll deal with it at that time. I could send the PDF via Whatsapp or Signal, but NOT SMS. In case UW's mail system is down, send me e-mail at dont.ever.email.me.here100@gmail.com Thanks Dan ================================================================================ Date: Sat, 7 Aug 2021 12:30:40 -0400 Subject: SE463 S21: PDF of the final assessment in case you cannot get to it at learn OR IF YOU LOSE ACCESS IN THE MIDDLE Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021 (This is a copy without the attachment of a message sent by another path. I send it from here without the attachment, in case the message with the attachment got spammed. Now you know to look. In any case, there is here a way to get the file that was attached from a Website.) If you cannot get into your account at learn.uwaterloo.ca, then download the file at or save the attachment (the same file). Prepare an answer editing the PDF, or converting it to a Word file, or copying and pasting its contents to another application. *** Use this file also to finish up the assessment if you lose access to learn in the middle. Dan A reminder: In order that someone who has problems connecting with a browser not be up S--t Creek, I will e-mail to the entire class a PDF copy of the exam, at the time the exam becomes accessible. If you cannot do it online, then do it offline and e-mail me a file with your answers by the deadline. In case the Internet is down for you or me, you can reach me via SMS at +1-519-885-7222 or +49-151-1573-1047 Whatsapp at +49-151-1573-1047 or Signal at +1-519-885-7222, tell me what the problem is, whether you got the e-mail, and we'll deal with it at that time. I could send the PDF via Whatsapp or Signal, but NOT SMS. In case UW's mail system is down, send me e-mail at dont.ever.email.me.here100@gmail.com ================================================================================ Date: Sat, 21 Aug 2021 02:33:06 -0400 (EDT) Subject: SE463 S21: The message you will receive from me with Subject, "Your SE463 S21 Grades" Bcc: se463students, se463tas Hi All in SE463 Spring 2021; I have filed your grades for SE463! You will shortly get a message from me of the form: "Clark Kent, your group got 40 out of 80 on D1--D5; you got 12.7778 out of 20--scaled from 150--on the final exam; therefore, your final grade is 53." As promised, the deliverables count as 80% of the grade, and the final exam-assessment counts as 20% of the grade. The number you see for the exam is scaled down from the 150 points you aimed for while doing the quiz at Learn on 7 August. 10/20, 50%, is a passing grade on the final exam. Again, it happened that no one failed the exam. The file grade has to be an integer. So, I had the software round to the nearest integer. Enjoy the rest of the summer. Dan PS: Superman got perfect scores across the board; Clark did close to 50% across the board; and the message is generated by the awk scripts that build also the csv file for submitting grades. I used Superman and Clark as test students to help check that the scripts were working correctly. ================================================================================ ================================================================================ ================================================================================