scholarly journals Bridging the Gap between Academia and Industry through Students’ Contributions to the FIWARE European Open-Source Initiative: A Pilot Study

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 1523
Author(s):  
Javier Conde ◽  
Sonsoles López-Pernas ◽  
Alejandro Pozo ◽  
Andres Munoz-Arcentales ◽  
Gabriel Huecas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Pilot Study ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Previous Experience ◽  
Positive Perception ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Recent Graduates

Although many courses in computer science and software engineering require students to work on practical assignments, these are usually toy projects that do not come close to real professional developments. As such, recent graduates often fail to meet industry expectations when they first enter the workforce. In view of the gap between graduates’ skills and industry expectations, several institutions have resorted to integrating open-source software development as part of their programs. In this pilot study, we report on the results of the contributions of eleven students to the FIWARE open-source project as part of their final year project. Our findings suggest that both teachers and students have a positive perception towards contributing to the FIWARE open-source initiative and that students increased their knowledge of technologies valued by the industry. We also found that this kind of project requires an additional initial effort for the students as well as for the instructor to monitor their progress. Consequently, it is important that the instructors have previous experience in FIWARE, as many of the students need help during the process.

scholarly journals Leveraging Final Degree Projects for Open Source Software Contributions

Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 1181
Author(s):  
Juanan Pereira
Keyword(s):  
Graduate Students ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Communication Skills ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Real World ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Multiple Challenges ◽  
Final Degree

(1) Background: final year students of computer science engineering degrees must carry out a final degree project (FDP) in order to graduate. Students’ contributions to improve open source software (OSS) through FDPs can offer multiple benefits and challenges, both for the students, the instructors and for the project itself. This work reports on a practical experience developed by four students contributing to mature OSS projects during their FDPs, detailing how they addressed the multiple challenges involved, both from the students and teachers perspective. (2) Methods: we followed the work of four students contributing to two established OSS projects for two academic years and analyzed their work on GitHub and their responses to a survey. (3) Results: we obtained a set of specific recommendations for future practitioners and detailed a list of benefits achieved by steering FDP towards OSS contributions, for students, teachers and the OSS projects. (4) Conclusion: we find out that FDPs oriented towards enhancing OSS projects can introduce students into real-world, practical examples of software engineering principles, give them a boost in their confidence about their technical and communication skills and help them build a portfolio of contributions to daily used worldwide open source applications.

An Agile Perspective on Open Source Software Engineering

2011 ◽  
pp. 141-153
Author(s):  
Sofiane Sahraoui
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Agile Development ◽  
Iterative Development ◽  
Planning And Design ◽  
Software Engineering Process ◽  
Development Processes ◽  
Agile Software

Open source software (OSS) development has been a trend parallel to that of agile software development, which is the highly iterative development model following conventional software engineering principles. Striking similarities exist between the two development processes as they seem to follow the same generic phases of software development. Both modes of development have less emphasis on planning and design and a more prominent role for implementation during the software engineering process. This chapter expounds on this connection by adopting an agile perspective on OSS development to emphasize the similarities and dissimilarities between the two models. An attempt is first made to show how OSS development fits into the generic agile development framework. Then, the chapter demonstrates how the development process of Mozilla and Apache as two of the most famous OSS projects can be recast within this framework. The similarity discussed and illustrated between agile and OSS development modes is rather limited to the mechanics of the development processes and do not include the philosophies and motivations behind development.

scholarly journals Modding as an Open Source Approach to Extending Computer Game Systems

2013 ◽  
pp. 177-188
Author(s):  
Walt Scacchi
Keyword(s):  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Computer Game ◽  
Game Studies ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Closed Source

This paper examines what is known about the role of open source software development within the world of game mods and modding practices. Game modding has become a leading method for developing games by customizing or creating Open Source Software extensions to game software in general, and particularly to proprietary closed source software games. What, why, and how OSS and closed source software come together within an application system is the subject for this study. Observational and qualitative is used to highlight current practices and issues that can be associated with software engineering and game studies foundations with multiple examples of different game mods and modding practices are identified throughout this study.

scholarly journals Barriers Faced by Women in Software Development Projects

Information ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 309
Author(s):  
Edna Dias Canedo ◽  
Heloise Acco Tives ◽  
Madianita Bogo Marioti ◽  
Fabiano Fagundes ◽  
José Antonio Siqueira de Cerqueira
Keyword(s):  
Software Development ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Gender Equity ◽  
Gender Bias ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Development Projects ◽  
Software Projects ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Workplace Conditions

Computer science is a predominantly male field of study. Women face barriers while trying to insert themselves in the study of computer science. Those barriers extend to when women are exposed to the professional area of computer science. Despite decades of social fights for gender equity in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education and in computer science in general, few women participate in computer science, and some of the reasons include gender bias and lack of support for women when choosing a computer science career. Open source software development has been increasingly used by companies seeking the competitive advantages gained by team diversity. This diversification of the characteristics of team members includes, for example, the age of the participants, the level of experience, education and knowledge in the area, and their gender. In open source software projects women are underrepresented and a series of biases are involved in their participation. This paper conducts a systematic literature review with the objective of finding factors that could assist in increasing women’s interest in contributing to open source communities and software development projects. The main contributions of this paper are: (i) identification of factors that cause women’s lack of interest (engagement), (ii) possible solutions to increase the engagement of this public, (iii) to outline the profile of professional women who are participating in open source software projects and software development projects. The main findings of this research reveal that women are underrepresented in software development projects and in open source software projects. They represent less than 10% of the total developers and the main causes of this underrepresentation may be associated with their workplace conditions, which reflect male gender bias.

scholarly journals Open Source Engineering Processes

2013 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Mauerer ◽  
Michael C. Jaeger
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Software Engineering ◽  
Software Development ◽  
Open Source ◽  
Open Source Software ◽  
Management Quality ◽  
Technical Issues ◽  
Release Management ◽  
Traditional Approaches

AbstractSoftware engineering in open source projects faces similar challenges as in traditional software development (coordination of and cooperation between contributors, change and release management, quality assurance, …), but often uses different means of solving them. This leads to some salient distinctions between both worlds, especially with respect to communication and how technical issues are addressed. The variations within open source software (OSS) communities are considerable, and many different approaches are currently in use, ranging from informal conventions to highly systematic, formally specified and rigidly applied processes. We discuss the archetypal best practises in the field, illustrate them by presenting example projects, and provide a comparison to traditional approaches.

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