Dennis J. Frailey

A practical approach to managing resources and avoiding deadlocks

Resource scheduling and allocation can be expensive with regard to time and space in multiprogramming or time-sharing environments involving large numbers of tasks and resources with conflicting requirements. Detection and/or prevention of deadlocks can require massive amounts of additional overhead if efficient usage of resources is to be maintained. A resource management program is described which uses linked lists along with other techniques to overcome a large portion of this overhead. The program, which is currently running as part of a large scale general purpose operating system, keeps resources relatively active but does not detect or prevent all deadlocks in its implemented state. Certain changes, which would permit more comprehensive levels of deadlock prevention/detection at additional cost, have not been incorporated in the running system due to the infrequency of deadlock situations.

Using SWEBOK for education programs in industry and academia

Discusses how an industrial and an academic software engineering education program were developed and improved using the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK).

Who are we---now?

Considerable progress has been made toward the formation of a computing profession since we started tracking it in this column a decade ago.

Experience teaching Barry Boehm's techniques in industrial and academic settings

This paper discusses the authors twenty five years of experience teaching Dr. Boehms techniques in software estimating, software risk management, and other aspects of software project management. This experience has occurred in both industrial and academic settings. Dr. Boehms techniques have proven to be robust, well suited for teaching purposes, straightforward to implement, and practical enough that many students reported successful application in the workplace.

Bringing Realistic Software Engineering Assignments to the Software Engineering Classroom

Effective, professional quality work is essential for success in many fields of endeavor, yet software engineering students often gain, at best, a limited and cursory level of expertise through their normal curricula. In particular, students often fall short in the areas of communication and project tracking. This paper discusses an approach that has proved successful in two graduate level software engineering courses. The approach requires them to produce professional grade documents and to use earned value management techniques for keeping track of their work. Two key elements of the approach are to set an expectation for professional grade student work products and to provide opportunities for the student to produce drafts that are rigorously reviewed

Computation is Process

Various authors define forms of computation as specialized types of processes. As the scope of computation widens, the range of such specialties increases. Dennis J. Frailey posits that the essence of computation can be found in any form of process, hence the title and the thesis of this paper.

The times, they are a changing

Change is inevitable, especially in the field of software engineering. We must change what we teach and how we teach it if we are to remain relevant and useful to our students. This requires openness to new approaches and more effective collaboration among academics, practitioners and experts on educational methods.

Recent Trends in Graduate Software Engineering

This panel will discuss recent trends in graduate software engineering programs, including adoption of GSwE2009, cooperative programs between schools, increasing use of distance education formats, and specialization of programs for industry partners. Panelists will also discuss the evolving relationship of software engineering to other disciplines, such as computer science and systems engineering.

Ubiquity symposium 'What is computation?': Computation is process

Various authors define forms of computation as specialized types of processes. As the scope of computation widens, the range of such specialties increases. Dennis J. Frailey posits that the essence of computation can be found in any form of process, hence the title and the thesis of this paper in the Ubiquity symposium discussion what is computation. --Editor

Teaching Project Planning with No Project

This paper describes a technique for teaching students about project estimating, planning and tracking in courses where there is no student project. The technique involves treating the course itself as the project. The technique is particularly useful in project management courses offered via distance education (for which team projects are not always feasible but where learning how to plan, estimate and track is fundamental). It has also proven useful for reinforcing planning and management skills with other software engineering courses.