CS2310 Multimedia Software Engineering
Instructor: Prof. S. K. Chang
Office Hours: Tu Th 3:45pm to 5:15pm
Office: 6101 SQ
E-mail: chang@cs.pitt.edu
Telephone: 412-624-8423
Zoom Meeting ID: 702-670-0069
Time and Classroom: Tu Th 2:30pm to 3:45pm 6101 SQ
Course Description:
This course is one of the graduate courses in software engineering.
The course concentrates on the investigation of
the dual role of multimedia software engineering to
apply software engineering principles to the
design of multimedia systems, and
to apply multimedia technologies to the
practice of software engineering.
Prerequisites: CS1530/1631 or understanding of general principles
of software engineering; Java or C/C++ programming; Web programming such as JavaScript.
Textbook: Shi-Kuo Chang,
Multimedia Software Engineering, KSI Publishing Company, Revised Edition Published in 2022. The pdf version of the textbook can be accessed for free.
Course Structure:
(Part I) (First eight weeks)
The instructor will present a framework of
multimedia software engineering based upon a theory of
multidimensional languages. Four exercises (32%)
will be given.
Midterm Exam:
The midterm exam (20%) covers the essence of the theory, as well as
relevant aspects of the experimental environment.
Please read grading policy
for exams, projects and assignments.
(Part II) (Second four weeks)
In the introduction to Part I
the instructor has presented a general survey on
the current research in multimedia software engineering.
Each student will then study one or several related papers to
present one aspect of multimedia software engineering in class (10%).
Some topics will be suggested by the instructor
and some found by the students themselves.
The presentation is intended to stimulate discussions and
will lead to a project formulation assignment (8%)
designed to motivate the students
to explore various issues in multimedia software engineering.
Sometimes this is replaced by two project milestones (4% each) if
the nature of the project is clear.
(Part III) (Final two weeks)
Each student will do a term project (30%).
In lieu of classroom lectures sometimes
there will be one-on-one discussions on projects,
or small-group teleconferences
provided that our teleconferencing system is working by that time.
Individual meetings, teleconferences and classroom lectures
will be scheduled by e-mail.
On-line interactions:
In addition to classroom lectures, this course will emphasize
on-line interactions. In fact, the instructor hopes to offer
this course (and other courses) by distance learning in the
future. Therefore, on-line interactions will be an important,
necessary component of this course. The course materials,
announcements and exercises will all be available from the
Internet. Impromptu meetings and schedule changes will be
announced by e-mail.
Part I: The Theory
Week-1
Chapter 1: Introduction
(David against Goliath
and Multimedia Software Engineering - What is it about?) (REQ)
Exercise 1 (8%) is due on Week-3-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Chapter 2: General Survey
Week-2
Chapter 3: Patterns, IC Cards and Visual Languages
(Discussion of visual patterns from Alexander's pattern language, the use of IC cards to specify patterns)
(REQ)
Reference: Patterns in software development
Suggested Project 1: Visual specification of patterns using IC cards.
Model-based Testing of Mobile Applications (must be augmented).
Design Patterns by Reverse Engineering (must be augmented).
Chapter 4: Multimedia languages ( S. K. Chang, "Visual Languages and Programming", in Encyclopedia of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, 1998)
Reference: A framework of multimedia software engineering based upon
the theory of multidimensional multimedia languages.
Week-3
Chapter 5: Active Index
( Theory of active index and
relations between patterns and active index) (REQ)
Reference:
S. K. Chang, "Towards a Theory of Active Index" , Journal of Visual Languages and Computing, Vol. 6, No. 1, March 1995, 101-118 (in html format); and the corresponding book chapter (in pdf format).
Reference: Introduction to Petri Nets.
(REQ)
Reference:
UML: The Unified Modelling Language
(For more details, please also read online introduction on UML)
Reference: Visual languages with dynamic multimedia objects derived from other multimedia objects
using active index technology.
Exercise 2 (8%) is due on Week-4-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Week-4
Slow Intelligence Systems (REQ)
Super Components: (Visual Specification and Design of Component-based Slow Intelligence Systems) (REQ)
(I-card and C-card in html format)
(REQ)
Suggested Project 2: Incremental Design using I-card and C-card.
Reference: Applications of Slow Intelligence Systems
Exercise 3 (8%) is due on Week-5-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Quiz 1
Week-5
SIS Testbed (REQ)
SIS Abstract Machine
(REQ)
SIS for Senior Citizen Self-Care
(REQ)
Chapter 7: Multimedia Dependency Theory
(REQ)
Reference: S. K. Chang, V. Defeumia, G. Polese, "A Normalization Framework for Multimedia Databases"
Suggested Project 3: Propotyping of multmedia information systems using multimedia dependency theory.
Week-6
Chapter 8: Complex multimedia objects for Multimedia Information Custom Engineering
Reference: H. Chang, S. K. Chang, T. Hou and A. Hsu, "The Management and Applications of Tele-Action Objects" , ACM Journal of Multimedia Systems, Springer Verlag, Volume 3, Issue 5-6, 1995, 204-216.
Reference: Chapter 9: Multimedia Information Custom Engineering (MICE)
(MICE Developer's Guide
and
MICE Application Development Steps).
Note: The old Chapter 8 is on the prototyping of multimedia applications.
It should be integrated into the new Chapter 9.
The old Chapter 9 is on the design of multimedia languages.
It should be integrated into Chapter 4.
Week-7
Chapter 10: Distributed Multimedia Systems Design
( C. C. Lin, S. K. Chang and J. X. Xiang, "Transformation and Exchange of Multimedia Objects in Distributed Multimedia Systems" , ACM Journal of Multimedia Systems, Springer Verlag, Volume 4, Issue 1, 1996, 12-29)
Exercise 4 (8%) is due on Week-7-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Week-8
Chapter 11: Specification of Multimedia Applications
(Multimedia objects constructed from other media objects
using grammar-based approach and different types of links)
Midterm Week-8-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Part II: Survey of current research
Weeks 9 to 12
Each student will study one topic and
give a presentation (see class presentation guidelines) and critical evaluation of the papers
assigned by the instructor and/or found by the student.
If a selected paper is available in electronic form, a link will be
made to that file -- usually in pdf format, so an Acrobat Reader should
first be downloaded. Some of the papers can be obtained from the
instructor in hard copy (hc). The remaining papers are available from
journals, proceedings etc., and the student should search the
library.
(Topics studied in 2019,
Topics studied in 2017,
Topics studied in 2011,
Topics studied in 2008,
Topics studied in 2007,
Topics studied in 2006,
Topics studied in 2005,
Topics studied in 2003,
Topics studied in 2001,
topics studied in 2000,
topics studied in 1999.
New topics or extension of old topics will also be made available)
Project Milestone #1 (4%) is due on Week-10-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Project Milestone #2 (4%) is due on Week-12-Lec-2 (See Calendar).
Part III: The Practice
Weeks 13 and 14
The TOY World with bonus topic based upon Extreme Visual Languages (XVL) will be used to test ideas about multimedia software engineering.
For the class where the class project is on TOY World,
project demo and report should be prepared following the
TOY project report guidelines.
For the class where the class project is NOT on TOY World,
project report should be prepared following the
geueral project report guidelines.
Report is due on at end of semester (See Calendar).
Milestone 1 for a Projects for 2022
Milestone 2 for a Projects for 2022
Final report for a Projects for 2022
Note:
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting an
accommodation, you are encouraged to contact both your instructor and
Disability Resources and Services, 216 William Pitt Union, (412) 648-7890/(412)
383-7355 (TTY), as early as possible in the term. DRS will verify your
disability
and determine reasonable accommodations for this course.