Project Requirements

• Students work in project groups to study, assess and improve the quality of an external open-source project. Project requirements are expressed in terms of group size n.

• Quality assessment and improvement of the open source project must include several dimensions, including at least n dimensions overall. Dimensions considered for the same open-source project in assignment work may only be considered if they are substantially extended during the project.

• Quality dimensions may include:
  • Functional testing using combinatorial methods.
  • Test data adequacy evaluation using white-box methods.
  • Mutation adequacy evaluation.
  • Conformance testing for interoperability with other software.
  • Portability testing across compiler/OS/hardware configurations.
  • Performance testing.
  • Security analysis and testing.
  • Software safety.
  • Test suite improvement driven by test data adequacy results.
  • Defect correction to remove flaws identified.
  • Software refactoring.
  • Application of LLMs to assist in any of the above.
  • Other dimensions approved by the instructor.

• Functionality enhancement is not to be a goal of course projects.

Project Proposals

Project proposals of \( 300 \times (n + 1)\) words are due Saturday March 07 2026, 23:59 (where \(n\) = Group Size).

Your project proposal should be a test plan, identifying the open source project you are studying, the dimensions of testing activity that you propose to undertake and an overview of the methods that you will use to tackle work along each dimension.

Project proposals are worth 5% towards the course mark.

Project In-Class Discussion

Through the term there will be opportunities to briefly present your project ideas and progress. These discussions will form the primary basis for your course participation grade.

Final Project Write-Ups

Final project reports are due Sunday April 19 2026, 23:59. The write-up must be \(1000 \times (n + 1)\) words. Figures should be included. Up to \(4n\) figures may be counted towards the word count total at 100 words per figure.

In addition, each group member must separately submit a 250 word report describing their role in the project.

Your project report is worth 25 credits, i.e., 25% of your overall course grade.