MSc Software Systems Technology

Overview of the MSc conversion course at Sheffield University, 1998–1999

Introductory unit

Pascal
Jackson Structured Programming (JSP)
The software lifecycle

Software engineering

Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM)
Pascal
Formal methods (VDM)
Comparison of methods

Computer systems

Introduction to computer architecture
Assembly language programming (8086)
Concurrent processing (occam)
Computer communications

Intelligent knowledge-based systems (IKBS)

Artificial intelligence and AI programming (LISP)
Rule-based expert systems
Logic programming and structured objects (Prolog)
Object-based systems and IKBS design

Database technology

The relational model (relational algebra and calculus)
Database design and small scale systems (dBase3+)
The network model and large scale systems
Future developments

Hardware systems and architecture

Logic systems design
Computer structures
Real-time programming
Operating systems architecture

Discrete mathematics

Discrete mathematics for software engineering

Industrial placement

A five-month placement with a company which produces Computer-based training (CBT) systems. The project was to write a suite of functions that could be used to produce CBT material (that is, an authoring language). Initial research showed that currently available commercial products were poor in the area of response matching, and consequently I focussed on this. The use of an intelligent spelling checker, rather than the 'dumb' type found in word-processors, was the most appropriate method of tackling the problem.

The author language functions were specified both informally in English, and formally using Abstract Data Types (ADTs). The functions were implemented using the 'C' programming language.

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