The goal of CTE's curriculum design, with early and ongoing participation from industry, is to combine knowledge of the most current tools and technologies with an understanding of the fundamental principles that underlie them. This ensures that CTE graduates have immediately useful skills, in addition to the deeper understanding that will allow them to move smoothly and efficiently to new systems and approaches. The goal of the Software Systems Development curriculum is to prepare students for careers in software development. Accordingly, it not only incorporates the detailed skills and knowledge needed to work in the present-day software environment, but also stresses fundamental concepts that persist across rapid technology changes.
All courses involve extensive hands-on assignments.
This combination of principle and practice reflects their Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science heritage. A distinguishing feature of the curriculum is that its courses form a tightly integrated whole. Success in each course depends on mastery of the material in the prerequisite courses. This course introduces students to fundamental concepts and skills of software development. Students learn how software is written, what its fundamental building blocks are, and how multiple pieces of software cooperate to make the Web work.