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The System Factory Approach to Software Engineering Education

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Issues in Software Engineering Education

Abstract

The System Factory project seeks to investigate the problems of large-scale software engineering through a combine effort in research, development and education. This report describes the System Factory approach to software engineering education as developed and practiced at USC. It describes the genesis and history of the System Factory project the SF approach to software engineering, our experiences in softwre technology transfer, and concludes with some observations and potentials for large-scale software engineering projects in academic settings. Central to the SF approach is a joint focus on three key determinants of the outcomes of large-scale software development: the products developed, the process through the products are developed, and the production setting where the process of creating products occurs. Accordingly, we outline the software tools we employ, the techniques we developed for engineering software systems throughout their life cycle, and the strategies for managing large software engineering projects we employ.

The System Factory project has been supported over the years through contracts, grants, or gifts from the USC Faculty Research Innovation Fund. AT&T Information Systems, Carnegie Group Inc., Hughes Radar Systems Group, IBM through the Socrates Project at USC, System Development Foundation, and TRW Systems Engineering and Development Division. Additional research support was provided by DARPA contract MDA 903–81-C-0331 to the Information Sciences Institute at USC. Finally, more than 300 graduate students in computer science at USC have elected to participate in the System Factory project since 1981. Without their participation and commitment to success, this project would not occur. We are truly grateful for all of their support.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Computer Science Dept., University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, 90089-0782, USA

    Walt Scacchi

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  1. Walt Scacchi
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information Technology and Engineering, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, 22030, USA

    Richard Fairley

  2. Department of Information and Computer Science, University of California-Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92717, USA

    Peter Freeman

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© 1989 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Scacchi, W. (1989). The System Factory Approach to Software Engineering Education. In: Fairley, R., Freeman, P. (eds) Issues in Software Engineering Education. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9614-7_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9614-7_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

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