Welcome to the Summer of Software Engineering!
We shortened the (really) long name, "Summer of Software Engineering", to SoSE, pronounced "saucy", which is fun. :-)
We're off and running for 2008! Last year was the SoSE program's second official year. We spent 16 weeks developing software that quickly & easily searches College personnel contact information: a Java client-server application named WOW, which stands for "Window on the World". Please feel free to learn more about WOW by selecting the "Projects" navigation button (on the left side of this page).
This year our desire is to learn as much as we can about computer game development -- an amazing realm of study for anyone aspiring to be a software developer. Computer gaming has proven itself an area that keeps most every student's interest piqued; the SoSE Team wants to capitalize on this obvious motivational factor. This summer will yield two games: one developed in a rapid game development (RGD) environment; the other, a "home grown" effort wherein lessons learned in the RGD endeavor are applied to our organic software code base.
A Glance at our Philosophy
The SoSE concept strives, through well planned and comprehensive projects, to afford faculty, staff, and students a means to explore best practice team software development processes, project techniques, tools, and development infrastructures.
Every software developer should know and use a core of certain best practice methods, yet many do not. Graduates should gain valuable experience during their college years; they should be immersed in these best practices through professionally managed, structured, and consistent projects. And these projects should reach beyond the scope of the "average" student class project.
This summer, the VTechMech & VTank projects will immerse SoSE team participants in a range of best practice software development tools & methods. These projects will also add to the College's body of knowledge (BOK); this BOK can be used in a multitude of ways to influence curriculum, teaching methods, degree marketing & branding, and much more.
On to the 2008 experience!