🖥️ Week 11 Lecture

Software Engineering, AI Tools, and Final Projects

🥅 Learning Goals

By the end of this lecture, you should be able to: i) name the 12-Factor App principles relevant to your final project and explain why they matter, ii) recognise common code smells (Long Method, Data Clumps, Duplicate Code) and know when to refactor, iii) set up GitHub Copilot effectively for a group project using a shared instructions file, iv) use the plan-then-execute pattern with AI coding tools, v) navigate the final project specifications and form your group.

📍 Logistics

📍Location: Monday, 30 March 2026, 4-6 pm at SAL.G.03

This page is slides-first. Use the deck below during and after class.

📋 Preparation

• You attended the 🖥️ W10 Lecture and 💻 W10 Lab.
• You have submitted ✍️ Problem Set 2 (due Thursday 26 March).
• You have read the 📦 Final Project specification and have an idea of which project interests you.

🗣️ What we will cover in this lecture

• General software engineering best practices via the 12-Factor App methodology.
• Technical debt, code smells, and how to spot them in pipeline code.
• Setting up GitHub Copilot for a group project: workspace setup, the interview workflow, and the plan-then-execute pattern.
• Live demo: GitHub Project Boards and the Issue-Branch-PR workflow.
• Final project launch: the six project options, grading criteria, and group formation.

📓 Lecture Materials

🎬 Facilitation Slides

Use keyboard arrows to navigate. You can also open the deck in fullscreen.

🔖 Appendix

Course links

• 💻 W11 Lab
• 📦 Final Project
• 📔 Syllabus

Software engineering

• The 12-Factor App
• From the Twelve to Sixteen-Factor App
• Refactoring Guru: Code Smells
• Patrick Viafore, Robust Python (O’Reilly, 2021)

Git and collaboration

• Atlassian Git tutorials
• GitHub Issues documentation
• GitHub Project Boards

AI coding tools

• GitHub Copilot documentation
• GitHub Copilot custom instructions