Avoiding the tarpits-software's challenge

A course that allows teams of undergraduate students to design and develop large computer software systems for Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is described. The students are divided into project teams, the projects typically contain from 4000 to 6000 lines of code and require a year to develop. Working prototypes of each project are designed, implemented, and tested during the fall semester. In the spring semester, students fine-tune and prepare the software systems for incorporation into the laboratory environment at SNL. Some projects are developed further and become subjects for master's theses.<<ETX>>