ENGI3350 - Performance Analysis of Software Course Outline Winter 2009

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course focuses on the basic principles of Software Performance Engineering (SPE). Students learn why software performance engineering is critical to any software development effort. Topics include introduction to software performance and UML, software performance engineering models, software execution models, system execution models, performance oriented design, performance testing, performance solution, performance tuning and applications. Lectures will be reinforced with projects where students will gain first hand experience identifying, correcting, and preventing performance problems.
CEAB COURSE TYPE: Program Compulsory (Software Engineering) COMPUTER EXPERIENCE: Software design and programming skills. COURSE OBJECTIVES: After completing the course, students will be able to answer questions such as:

Will system users be able to complete their tasks in the allotted time? Is the hardware and network capable of handling the load? Will your system scale up to meet future demand?

More importantly, students will learn how to design, apply and integrate SPE models and techniques into the software development life cycle.
MAJOR TOPICS:

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Introduction to Software Performance Engineering (SPE) Software Performance Engineering and the Unified Modeling Language (SPE and UML). SPE Models : Software Execution Models - System Execution Models SPE Data Collection and Measurements. Performance Solutions: Performance-oriented design - Performance solutions for ObjectOriented Software 6. Performance Tuning and Applications.

Students might be required to do independent study of a few topics as part of the course projects and term paper.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Rachid Benlamri, Associate Professor, Department of Software Engineering, Office: ATAC 5016 Tel.: 346-7960 E-mail: rbenlamr@lakeheadu.ca http://flash.lakeheadu.ca/~rbenlamr/

CLASS SCHEDULE: 2 lectures and 1 laboratory/tutorial session per week. Lectures: T. and Th. 11:30 - 13:00 Room: AT 2006 Lab: Monday 13:00 - 14:30 Room: AT 3001 OFFICE HOURS: Tuesday Thursday

10:00 - 11:00 am 10:00 - 11:00 am

How to contact your instructor: You may take an appointment by email. E-mail is preferred to voice-mail. Please use voice-mail only for extremely urgent matters. Email will be the main communication tool to contact your instructor. Use instructors email (given above) to post your questions and include ENGI3350 in the beginning of the Subject line. TEACHING ASSISTANT: None PRESCRIBED TEXTS: Mandatory Course Textbook: Performance Solutions: A Practical Guide to Creating Responsive, Scalable Software, by C. U. Smith and L. G. Williams, Addison-Wesley Professional, 2002, ISBN: 0201722291 Additional Reading: The Art of Computer Systems Performance Analysis: Techniques for Experimental Design, Measurement, Simulation, and Modeling, by R. K. Jain, John Wiley & Sons Canada, 1992, ISBN: 0471503363; errata and some slides at: http://www.cse.wustl.edu/~jain/books/perfbook.htm This is a good book in the area of performance analysis of computer systems. The concepts in this comprehensive book are not specific to software, but are relevant to software and have time-proven nature. Students who want to quickly refresh their knowledge of software engineering topics and UML can consult their textbooks for other software engineering courses, and many free on-line tutorials on the Web. COURSE WWW PAGE: All necessary course material will be hosted on WebCT. The course will probably not have additional resources on the instructors WWW page outside the WebCT system. Students should check the WebCT pages of this course regularly for announcements and other postings. MARKING SCHEME: 2 Midterm exams 2 projects 1 Term Paper (individual)

2*25= 50 points 2*20= 40 points 1*10 = 10 points -----------------------Total: 100 points

Important Course Work Information: The distribution of marks within particular projects, midterm, and term paper will be given on their description papers. The midterm exams will be closed-book and closed notes. The exact dates and times of the exams will be announced in class, at least two weeks in advance, while their duration will be noted on the exam question papers.

ENGI3350 - Performance Analysis of Software - Winter 2009

The exact dates and times for the projects and term-paper deadlines will be given in the project/term paper description paper. Students are required to submit a hard copy of their work by the deadline. If a student misses a midterm exam due to an illness or other emergency acceptable by the University, she/he must inform the course instructor by e-mail or voice mail ASAP, and provide formal documentation (e.g., doctor notes). The student will have to re-take the exam. An important part of every project is documentation. The students must document their work properly. Note that there will be penalty for non documented work. For the group projects, all students in the group will receive the same mark. It is the responsibility of the group members to self-organize so that all parts of the submitted project are of the highest quality. The students must learn to negotiate between themselves how to divide the work and conduct it towards satisfactory completion. Project management skills are integral part of the project. Every group will give a presentation followed by a demonstration of the developed product. The instructor will ask separate questions to assess students contribution to the project work. The project might have a part that will require from students to independently learn a few additional topics. It is students responsibility to identify such topics (if any) and search the literature to find appropriate solutions. The course instructor should be contacted only after reasonable efforts towards finding a solution were unsuccessful.

LATE SUBMISSION POLICICY: Late submissions of projects/Term paper will only be accepted within the two days after the deadline. However, a penalty of 25% of the full mark for each day will apply. Any submissions afterwards will not be accepted and the student will get a zero for that assignment. However, if a student misses any deadline due to an illness or other emergency acceptable by the University, she/he must inform the course instructor by e-mail or voice mail BEFORE the deadline and provide formal documentation at a later stage. Such student will be allowed to submit her/his work by a new deadline set by the instructor. An illness or other emergency of one member of the group does not bring the possibility of deadline extension for the group projects. The group must re-organize and submit the project before the deadline. PLAGIARISM MISCONDUCT - DISHONESTY: Plagiarism, cheating, and other academic misconduct/dishonesty will NOT be tolerated in this course. The University takes a most serious view of offences against academic honesty such as plagiarism, cheating and impersonation. Penalties for dealing with such offences will be strictly enforced. A copy of the "Code of Student Behaviour and Disciplinary Procedures" including sections on plagiarism and other forms of misconduct may be obtained from the Office of the Registrar. The following rules shall govern the treatment of students who have been found guilty of attempting to obtain academic credit dishonestly. (a) The minimum penalty for a candidate found guilty of plagiarism, or of cheating on any part of a course will be a zero for the work concerned. (b) A candidate found guilty of cheating on a formal examination or a test, or of serious or repeated plagiarism, or of unofficially obtaining a copy of an examination paper before the examination is scheduled to be written, will receive zero for the course and may be expelled from the University. Refer to http://calendar.lakeheadu.ca/current/contents/regulations/univregsIXacdishon.html to know

more about the Universitys definitions of academic dishonesty and plagiarism.

ENGI3350 - Performance Analysis of Software - Winter 2009