COMSM0085 builds on your knowledge of imperative and object-oriented programming.
The aim of this unit is that by the end of the unit you will be ready to write your first data-backed web application. That is, you will be able to produce a program with a web-based user interface, which is backed by a server that lets you interact with some data in a database. This is the “bread and butter” of many software developer jobs and a skill with which you can deliver a lot of value for clients.
The topics we will cover in this unit are:
In 2000, Joel Spolsky wrote an article called The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code. Joel’s portfolio includes developing Stack Overflow (the website), Trello and Microsoft Excel so he knows what he’s talking about. (Since it was written in 2000 before git took over the world, it’s not mentioned yet, but version control is point number one.) Software Tools will help you to become a programmer who can do your bit to make your team pass the technical parts of the Joel test.
MIT has a page called the missing semester of your CS education. This is a course containing all those things that you’re expected to know by the end of your CS degree, but are often not taught explicitly - you’re expected to pick them up by your own on the side (hence the “missing” semester). Software Tools covers very similar content: the unit was born out of the idea “we expect our students to know this, some of them don’t, what if we actually teach it?”.
Rachel by the bay is one of my favourite Silicon Valley tech bloggers, lots of posts about development and bugs and security and corporate culture and posix and stuff.