The Software Factory: An Undergraduate Computer Science Curriculum

Industry often complains that current academic curricula fail to address the practical issues of real software development. This paper outlines a proposal for an innovative core curriculum for a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science. The proposed core curriculum contains elements of traditional computer science programs combined with software engineering via a team-oriented, hands-on approach to large-scale software development. In addition to traditional lecture/ project/exam courses, students are required to take an eight-semester sequence of `Software Factory' courses. Software Factory courses put the students' newly acquired skills to work in a real software organization staffed and managed by all students in the program. Students from all courses in the Software Factory sequence meet simultaneously to ful®ll their roles in the software organization. We expect that the students will be better prepared software engineering practitioners after completing a curriculum that combines traditional courses with practical Software Factory experience.