Software Development: An Open Source Approach

To understand the principles and practice of software development, there is no better motivator than participating in a software project with real-world value and a life beyond the academic arena. Software Development: An Open Source Approach immerses students directly into an agile free and open source software (FOSS) development process. It focuses on the methodologies and goals that drive the development of FOSS, combining principles with real-world skill building, such as debugging, refactoring, and writing.


The text explains the software development process through an integration of FOSS principles, agile techniques, modern collaboration tools, community involvement, and teamwork. The authors highlight the value of collaboration as a fundamental paradigm for software development. They show how an effective development team can often create better quality software than an individual working in isolation.


Written by experienced software developers and educators, this book enables students to gain a rich appreciation of the principles and practice of FOSS development. It also helps them become better writers, programmers, and software community members.

Web Resource

The book’s companion website provides a wealth of resources:

Downloadable FOSS development projects, including design documents, use cases, and code bases
A discussion forum for instructors and students to share their experiences and exchange ideas about particular issues raised by these projects
Supporting materials for common FOSS development tasks, such as setting up a version control system, an IDE, a project code base, and a unit test suite
Additional exercises that reflect a wide variety of software projects and other activities