Empirical studies revealed that computer science and engineering students have difficulty in mastering concepts such as interfaces and information hiding. These concepts are central to component-based software engineering (CBSE), a challenging subject to address in a university course, given that some degree of software development complexity is necessary for effectively practicing it. This paper describes an experiment carried in an advanced programming course at our institution (MSc), consisting of having a collaborative course project targeting the practice of CBSE. In this collaborative project, student teams developed parts of an IDE embodied in components that had to collaborate to implement the IDE features. We enabled students to practice the CBSE-related concepts in approximate real settings, which are considerably richer than conventional course projects where deliverables are independent among student groups.

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This talk is associated with the following record:

• Collaborative Course Project for Practicing Component-Based Software Engineering