Preface

This textbook, Concepts to Code: Software Engineering Foundations, provides a comprehensive guide to Year 11 and 12 Software Engineering. It covers secure software architecture, web programming, automation, and the development of a complete software engineering project. The content is crafted to build foundational skills and knowledge that students can directly apply, blending theory with practical coding exercises and project work.

This resource aligns closely with the New South Wales HSC Software Engineering syllabus. Each chapter is mapped to specific syllabus content to help students and educators navigate the course requirements effectively. This textbook will give students the skills and confidence to design, develop, and evaluate software solutions that meet security, ethical, and performance standards.

I hope this book will become a valuable tool for students and educators, providing clear, structured insights into the fundamental principles and practices of software engineering.

Syllabus alignment

This text is aligned with the NSW Curriculum syllabus for HSC Software Engineering. The course content is woven together in a meaningful sequence rather than teaching and learning each module as a discrete unit. This approach reflects the interconnected nature of modern software engineering. Students will encounter principles from secure software architecture, web programming, automation, and project development throughout the course, reinforcing the relevance of each skill within a real-world context. This approach enables students to build on foundational concepts progressively, applying knowledge across multiple domains to create secure, effective software solutions.

Updates

This e-textbook is part of a dynamic and evolving set of resources the author prepares before teaching concepts from the new Software Engineering course. As content is refined and new sections are written, additional materials will be published online, ensuring that students and educators can access up-to-date material. Each chapter is indexed for easy discovery, making this book a continually expanding tool for learning and teaching the entire Year 12 Software Engineering course.

Licensing and use

This textbook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license. This allows the book to be freely shared, adapted and expanded upon for non-commercial purposes, provided that appropriate credit is given to the original author. This licensing ensures that educational resources remain accessible and beneficial to a broad audience, from students to educators and independent learners.

For more details on this license, please visit Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0.

About the author

Jonathan Saurine is a Digital Technologies educator at Emanuel School in Sydney with over 30 years of experience as a STEM educator and educational leader. His teaching background spans multiple disciplines, including Digital Technologies, Science, Physics, and Chemistry up to the HSC level.

Jonathan’s passion lies in authoring educational materials and designing learning experiences that thoughtfully build upon prior knowledge, allowing students to grasp complex ideas more easily. Each lesson and activity is meticulously sequenced to create a smooth learning journey, focusing on making new concepts accessible and intuitive. Through this approach, Jonathan fosters an environment where learning progresses naturally and efficiently, empowering students to reach their full potential.

For feedback, questions, or additional support, please contact the author:

Email: [email protected]