The course covers the following topics:

1. The role of software in society. The software market: products, services, and players. References: Prof. Fuggetta's paper " The power of software".
2. Phases and characteristics of the software development process. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 1); in English, the introductory chapters on these topics of any software engineering book such as Pressman, Sommerville or Ghezzi.
3. Software lifecycles. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 8); in English, the chapters on these topics of any software engineering book such as Pressman, Sommerville or Ghezzi.
4. Planning and management of software development processes. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 8); in English, slides distributed during the class.
5. Cost estimation. References: in English, slides distributed during the class.
6. Project tracking and control. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 8); in English, slides distributed during the class.
7. Configuration management. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 8); in English, slides distributed during the class.
8. Software metrics. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 9); in English, slides distributed during the class.
9. Quality control. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 9); in English, slides distributed during the class.
10. Process improvement. References: In Italian, Prof. Fuggetta's software engineering book (Chapter 9); in English, slides distributed during the class.
11. Open source, free software, and software patents. References: Prof. Fuggetta's paper  "Open Standards, Open Formats, and Open Source".

There is no single textbook that includes all the material discussed in the course. Students are invited to take notes and to consult the following books and sites:

• W. Royce. Software project management. Addison-Wesley, 1998.
• M. Cusumano. The business of software. Free Press, 2004.
• D. G. Messerschmitt, C. Szyperski. Software ecosystem. The MIT Press, 2005.
• C. Ghezzi, M. Jazayeri, D. Mandrioli. Software engineering, 2nd Edition. Prentice Hall, 2003.
• M. Jackson. Problem frames. Addison-Wesley, 2001.
• Project Management Institute.
• Alfonso Fuggetta's WebBook.