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Modern tools make writing code increasingly easy. But creating
high-quality software remains difficult, uncertain, and often very
expensive. Software development projects too often finish up late, over
budget, and below the quality expectations of end users. These problems
are especially acute as systems grow larger and more complex.
Identifying the software engineering practices that most consistently
lead to the production of high-quality software at predictable cost and
bringing those practices into the computing curriculum will help schools
improve the professional readiness of their graduates.
As the worlds largest software company and developer of products
ranging from desktop applications to operating systems, Microsoft has
some hard-won experience with software engineering on a large scale. At
the same time, formal research into software engineering techniques and
practices continually sheds new light on the common experiences of many
different development organizations.
The Software Engineering Excellence initiative aims to establish a
dialog between our own Engineering Excellence group and leading
researchers and teachers. Out of this conversation will emerge goals and
objectives for innovative curriculum that combines the best of our
experience and academic research. We will then fund selected curriculum
development projects to put into practice and to test the curriculum
ideas that emerge from our discussions with academic partners. Through
these efforts, we hope to increase the prominence and quality of
software engineering curriculum in the education of all students who
aspire to careers in the software industry.
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