Teaching Software Quality with Emphasis on PSP

Abstract

Learning about software quality is a must for any computer science student. At Faculty of Computer and Information Science it is taught at course named Software Development II, which undergraduate students take in their third year. In article we present a discussion on selection of an appropriate quality model to cover software quality area first. Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is a well known and complete model, but it is useful for bigger computer companies mostly. In Slovene case it is better to choose Personal Software Process (PSP) model, which defines process for engineer in software organization. After that the basic characteristics of PSP are presented, and teaching process of Software Development II course explained. Course covers several other Software Engineering themes, but we dedicate our main attention to PSP.A practical exercise is part of course as well, and there students develop a small web application by the PSP principles. Some PSP documents are produced in this way, and those we analyzed at the end of course.We discovered PSP learning was successful, but efficient use demands additional gradual implementation of PSP principles. In last part we present the analysis of anonymous student questionnaire. Results proved that students mark PSP as a useful and practical model. Key words: Software Engineering, Software Quality, Quality Models, Capability Maturity Model (CMM), Personal Software Process (PSP), questionnaire