SWEN30006: Software Modelling and Design

Although all of the subject's content is in the text, it taught me a valuable set of skills I'm sure I will use in the future. I enjoyed the projects and found the exam reasonable, though the lectures and workshops need some work.

Phillip Dart and Patanamon Thongtanunam

5 past exams and one practice exam provided on the LMS at the end of the semester.

4/5

The course closely followed Applying UML and Patterns: An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development (3rd Edition) by Craig Larman, 2004. An ebook version is freely available on the University Library.

The suggested readings, provided on week one, include most of the first four parts. Although the subject does not follow the order of the book, Larman's diagrammatic style and advice are repeated in lectures and tutorials. I felt I had a far better understanding of the content after reading it each week; Larman's depth and explanation style worked well for me.

1-hour lecture, 3-hour workshop

2019 Semester 2

87

5% - Project Part A, individual
10% - Project Part B, group of 3
15% - Project Part C, same group of 3
10% - 10 x 1% for workshop exercise completion (or attendance, depending on your tutor)
60% - 2h exam in exam period

I'll describe the projects in more detail in the comments section

The rest of this review goes into a LOT of detail about the classes, content and assessment structure as it was in 2016 semester 1, plus occasional advice for how to approach the subject. I hope that it helps you prepare for this subject if you decide to take it.

Y

Philip Dart was the course coordinator and lecturer. He's a very articulate presented and experienced designer. I heard some people found his lectures boring but I think he's exactly the kind of person you want in charge of such inherently subjective content.

Additionally, Mat Blair played a substantial role as head tutor. However, this was his last semester at the university as he's off to work for Google (which suits me just fine; not a Mat Blair fan myself ).

Since the dramatic changes for 2016, past exam problems were mostly unrelated. However, a practice exam was made available with solutions during the exam period, and in the final lecture the actual exam was previewed (without any of the text - just the mark breakdown / structure). Additional past exams should be made available for future semesters.

3/5

The prescribed textbook Applying UML and Patterns by Craig Larman was followed quite closely, and most chapters were covered, to varying depths. I wasn't particularly fond of this text, but more about that later! Hopefully the 'content' section of this guide gives you a rough first overview of the course, and you can have fun piecing the structure together yourself when you study it.

UML (2.5 or something) is used extensively in the subject, and the short-but-sweet UML Distilled by Martin Fowler served as some nice light reading in the exam period. I imagine reading it earlier would have been a good idea too, haha!

Two 1h lectures
A compulsory 2h workshop
A significant amount of contribution to group projects (most of the second half of semester)

2016 Semester 1

94 (legit my 5th 94 so far wtf) EDIT: 95 (they forgot to include part of the grade )