INF 385T: Special Topics in Information Science: AI Augmented Software Engineering and System Design

Spring Term 2027
Mode: In-Person
Syllabus to come
Program: MSIS/PhD
Unique ID
99999
Day Start End Building Room
  • Wednesday
  • 12:00 pm
  • 3:00 pm
  • UTA
  • 1.212

Catalog Description

Introduction to software engineering in the age of AI. Strengthen existing Python, learn classic engineering practice, and then augment it with large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, and agents. Design scalable, reliable distributed systems, learning from real architectures such as Amazon and Netflix, and designing AI-powered systems themselves.

Instructor Description

AI-Augmented Software Engineering and System Design weaves four strands into one 13-week course. Week 1 gives every student the same engineering-grade Python foundation: classes, dataclasses, typing, testing, HTTP, and async; core Python is a self-study prerequisite checked by a diagnostic. Weeks 2 and 3 cover standard software engineering: process, requirements, design principles, testing, code review, CI/CD, and maintenance. Weeks 4 to 8 augment that practice with AI: how language models work, context engineering and spec-driven development, verification of generated code, retrieval and RAG, agents and sandboxes, research methods and benchmarks, and security and responsible use. Weeks 9 to 13 turn to system design: estimation, networking and APIs, caching, data and storage, distributed systems, and a case-study class on real systems such as Amazon and Netflix, then LLM and RAG systems at scale.

Prerequisites

Graduate standing.

Restrictions

Enrollment in Information Studies (INF) courses is restricted to graduate students in the School of Information through registration periods 1 and 2, with outside students only being accepted during period 3.