article

A software testing course for computer science majors

Authors:

Fereydoun Kazemian,

Trudy HowlesAuthors Info & Claims

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin, Volume 37, Issue 4

Pages 50 - 53

https://doi.org/10.1145/1113847.1113876

Published: 01 December 2005 Publication History

Abstract

The ability to program is a fundamental skill for Computer Science (CS) majors, and most CS programs introduce programming concepts through a sequence of courses. In fact, "programming courses offer skills and training that meets many of the needs expressed by students, their near-term employers, and non-CS faculty" [3, p. 24]. However, in most of these courses, relatively little time is spent in teaching students how to program well and how to test and locate defects; much of the focus is in teaching language constructs, syntax, and basics of programming. As more topics are introduced and the discipline continues to broaden, it has become nearly impossible to add new topics or required courses without removing others. This paper documents the rationale and procedures in developing an undergraduate testing and debugging elective course for Computer Science majors. It identifies the methodology used to select available tools, and documents the rationale in designing the course and developing its outcomes.

References

[1]

Barbosa, E. F., Maldonado, J. C., LeBlanc, R., & Guzdial, M. "Introducing Testing Practices into Objects and Design Course." Proceedings of the 16th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, (2003): 279--286.

Digital Library

[2]

Carrington, D. "Teaching Software Testing." Proceedings of the 2nd Australasian Conference on Computer Science Education, (1997): 59--64.

Digital Library

[3]

Computing Curricula 2001. Retrieved July 10, 2005, from the ACM Web site: http://www.sigcse.org/cc2001/

[4]

Computing Curricula 2005: The Overview Report. Retrieved July 10, 2005, from the ACM Web site: http://campus.acm.org/public/comments/Draft_5-23-05.pdf

[5]

Harrold, M. J. "Testing: A Roadmap." Proceedings of the Conference on the Future of Software Engineering, (2000): 61--72.

Digital Library

[6]

Jones. E. "SPRAE: A Framework for Teaching Software Testing in the Undergraduate Curriculum." Retrieved July 10, 2005, from http://serel.cis.famu.edu/~testlab/Papers/SPRAE-framework.pdf

[7]

Jones, E. L., "Software Testing in the Computer Science Curriculum: A Holistic Approach. Proceedings of the 2nd Australasian Conference on Computer Science Education,(2000): 153--157.

Digital Library

[8]

Jones, E. L., & Chatmon, C. L. "A Perspective on Teaching Software Testing." Journal of Computing Sciences in Colleges, (March 2001): 16(3), 92--100.

Digital Library

[9]

Kaner, C. "Teaching the Software Testing Course: A Tutorial." Proceedings of the 17th Conference on Software Engineering Education and Training, (2004).

Digital Library

[10]

Kessler, M. "Fewer College Students Choose Computer Majors." Retrieved July 14, 2005, from the USA Today Web site: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2004-08-08-computer-science_x.htm

[11]

Marrero, W., & Settle, A. "Testing First: Emphasizing Testing in Early Programming Courses." Proceedings of the 10th Annual SIGCSE Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education, (2005): 4--8.

Digital Library

[12]

McAllister, A., & Misra, S. "A Teaching Approach for Software Testing." World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education, (2002): 1(2), 177--184.

[13]

NIST Report on Software. Retrieved July 17, 2005, from the National Institute of Standards and Technology Web site: http://www.nist.gov/director/prog-ofc/report02-3.pdf

[14]

Osterweil, L. J., et al. "Strategic Directions in Software Quality." ACM Computing Surveys, (1996): (4), 738--750.

Digital Library

[15]

Pettichord, B. "Four Schools of Software Testing." Retrieved July 15, 2005, http://www.pnsqc.org/files/FourSchoolsofSoftwareTesting.pdf

[16]

Tan, G. "A Collection of Well-Known Software Failures. " Retrieved July 18, 2005, from http://ww.cs.princeton.edu/~gtan/bug/softwarebug.html

[17]

Thomas, C. "Hit the Hot Button for Jobs. " Retrieved July 15, 2005, from http://www.graduatingengineer.com/futuredisc/compsci.html

Cited By

Hynninen TKasurinen JKnutas ATaipale OPolycarpou IRead JAndreou PArmoni M(2018)Guidelines for software testing education objectives from industry practices with a constructive alignment approachProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3197091.3197108(278-283)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3197091.3197108
Krutz DMalachowsky SReichlmayr TDougherty JNagel KDecker AEiselt K(2014)Using a real world project in a software testing courseProceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/2538862.2538955(49-54)Online publication date: 5-Mar-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2538862.2538955
Krutz DLutz M(2013)Bug of the Day: Reinforcing the importance of testing2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2013.6685147(1795-1799)Online publication date: Oct-2013
https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2013.6685147
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

A software testing course for computer science majors

Recommendations

An introductory computer science course for non-majors
Proceedings of the 11th SIGCSE symposium on Computer science education

This paper describes an approach to an introductory computer science course designed especially for students who are not specifically required to take a computer course and thus ordinarily receive no appreciation for computers or computing. This is the ...
An introductory computer science course for non-majors
SIGCSE '80: Proceedings of the eleventh SIGCSE technical symposium on Computer science education

This paper describes an approach to an introductory computer science course designed especially for students who are not specifically required to take a computer course and thus ordinarily receive no appreciation for computers or computing. This is the ...
A graduate immigration course in computer science
SIGCSE '78: Papers of the SIGCSE/CSA technical symposium on Computer science education

As part of a RIAS grant from the NSF, a pilot course intended for incoming graduate students in computer science was offered during the fall of 1977. This course was intended to acquaint new graduate students with (1) the CS graduate curriculum and ...

Comments

Information & Contributors

Information

Published In

cover image ACM SIGCSE Bulletin

ACM SIGCSE Bulletin Volume 37, Issue 4

December 2005

184 pages

ISSN:0097-8418

DOI:10.1145/1113847

Issue’s Table of Contents

Copyright © 2005 Authors.

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 01 December 2005

Published in SIGCSE Volume 37, Issue 4

Check for updates

Author Tags

Qualifiers

Article

Contributors

Other Metrics

View Article Metrics

Bibliometrics & Citations

Bibliometrics

Article Metrics

6
Total Citations
View Citations
736
Total Downloads

Downloads (Last 12 months)8
Downloads (Last 6 weeks)1

Reflects downloads up to 15 Oct 2024

Other Metrics

View Author Metrics

Citations

Cited By

Hynninen TKasurinen JKnutas ATaipale OPolycarpou IRead JAndreou PArmoni M(2018)Guidelines for software testing education objectives from industry practices with a constructive alignment approachProceedings of the 23rd Annual ACM Conference on Innovation and Technology in Computer Science Education10.1145/3197091.3197108(278-283)Online publication date: 2-Jul-2018
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3197091.3197108
Krutz DMalachowsky SReichlmayr TDougherty JNagel KDecker AEiselt K(2014)Using a real world project in a software testing courseProceedings of the 45th ACM technical symposium on Computer science education10.1145/2538862.2538955(49-54)Online publication date: 5-Mar-2014
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2538862.2538955
Krutz DLutz M(2013)Bug of the Day: Reinforcing the importance of testing2013 IEEE Frontiers in Education Conference (FIE)10.1109/FIE.2013.6685147(1795-1799)Online publication date: Oct-2013
https://doi.org/10.1109/FIE.2013.6685147
Kreeger M(2009)Security testingACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1595453.159548441:2(99-102)Online publication date: 25-Jun-2009
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1595453.1595484
Tremblay GMalenfant BSalah AZentilli P(2007)Introducing students to professional software constructionACM SIGCSE Bulletin10.1145/1269900.126883739:3(176-180)Online publication date: 25-Jun-2007
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1269900.1268837
Tremblay GMalenfant BSalah AZentilli PHughes JPeiris RTymann P(2007)Introducing students to professional software constructionProceedings of the 12th annual SIGCSE conference on Innovation and technology in computer science education10.1145/1268784.1268837(176-180)Online publication date: 25-Jun-2007
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1268784.1268837

View Options

Get Access

Login options

Check if you have access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.

Full Access

Get this Publication

View options

PDF

View or Download as a PDF file.

eReader

View online with eReader.

Media

Figures

Other

Tables

View Issue’s Table of Contents