Software Engineering class

FSM (finite state machine), DFD (data flow diagram), PND (petri-net diagram), lions, tigers, bears, oh my. My head is swimming. Actually, I am getting most of this, and have been using some of these methods during my career (partially or otherwise), but, NOT consistently. Need to work on that! My class team of four met after class - 3 of us understand the term project, and are making good … [Read more...]

Computer Programmer vs. Software Engineer

Last week, I posted a short entry on my blog about “computer programmers”, “software developers”, and “software engineers”.  One of my friends (and, myself, many years ago), thought “aren’t they the same thing?”  [If you don’t like to read long winded articles, please skip this one].  Here is a quick generalization, with which you should take with a grain of salt, since the lines do blur, and … [Read more...]

Life at USPS

A colleague created an enhancement, and it was put in UAT (User Acceptance Testing) Environment yesterday, and he then left for vacation for a week - oh, and it's scheduled to go into production this Sunday.  He asked me to "test" it since the end users didn't really know "how" to test it according to him.  Anyway, I tested it this morning, and the enhancement causes an email notification to be … [Read more...]

2nd class at Saint Thomas: Software Engineering

First session of SEIS 610 Software Engineering was 2 weeks ago.  I was immedaitely impressed by our instructor (C. Lai).  He put up easy to read slides, and spoke toward them, not reading them word for word.  He spoke for the entire 6-1/2 hour class, giving us instruction on the term's group project, and the first 2 assignments, as well as enlightening the class about a "new" (read: different) … [Read more...]