Introduction of software engineering to freshman: Challenges and rewards

It is likely that the first programming course that a Software Engineering (SE) or a Computer Science (CS) freshman student takes at a university is Object- Oriented (OO) Programming with Java. The emphasis in the typical course is on development/language basics. The importance of process, design, testing, etc., considered core elements of Software Engineering, are typically ignored in such a class. It is believed that these concepts can be taught in later courses. This paper describes our experience of incorporating the core elements of the software engineering process in the first programming course for freshman at the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE). The evolution of the introductory programming sequence at MSOE along with our initial assessment is also presented.