Life-long learning

The purpose of this assignment is to encourage you to think about life-long learning as one of the goals of your education, and to give you an opportunity to practice some of the skills of life-long learning, which include finding and reading technical information, and developing your understanding of new material by trying to explain it and relate it to your studies.

Unfortunately, by posing this assignment as an evaluated exercise, I am undermining one of the other skills of life-long learning, self-motivation.

1. In addition to the required readings for this class, you should also read at least one other book about software from this collection of books. If you do not want to use one of these books, you must talk to me about your choice first.
2. Read your chosen book over the course of the semester. If there are references in the book that interest you, or if you find other sources of related information, feel free to follow those leads.
3. Over the course of the semester, during class you will present a short review of the book's main thesis, supported by at least three examples from the book, in the form of a lightning talk. Additionally, you should come prepared with one interesting question raised by your reading to lead a class discussion about your book. Your presentation is not intended to be a simple book report, but instead something that goes into depth about a topic from the book you feel relates well to what you are studying (although you might should present enough about the book to give your topic the proper context). Feel free to discuss your talk with me first if you would like my suggestions before you present.

The books are grouped into common themes and will presented closely together to provide a more robust context for a class discussion. Your reading of the book should be in depth enough to address student questions or comments during these discussions.