Software Internationalization: A Framework Validated Against Industry Requirements for Computer Science and Software Engineering Programs

In 2001, the ACM and IEEE Computing Curriculum stated that it was necessary to address "the need to develop implementation models that are international in scope and could be practiced in universities around the world." With increasing connectivity through the internet, the move towards a global economy and growing use of technology places software internationalization as a more important concern for developers. However, there has been a "clear shortage in terms of numbers of trained persons applying for entry-level positions" in this area. Eric Brechner, Director of Microsoft Development Training, suggested five new courses to add to the computer science curriculum due to the growing "gap between what college graduates in any field are taught and what they need to know to work in industry." He concludes that "globalization and accessibility should be part of any course of introductory programming," stating:A course on globalization and accessibility is long overdue on college campuses. It is embarrassing to take graduates from a college with a diverse student population and have to teach them how to write software for a diverse set of customers. This should be part of introductory software development. Anything less is insulting to students, their family, and the peoples of the world.There is very little research into how the subject of software internationalization should be taught to meet the major requirements of the industry. The research question of the thesis is thus, "Is there a framework for software internationalization that has been validated against industry requirements?" The answer is no. The framework "would promote communication between academia and industry ... that could serve as a common reference point in discussions." Since no such framework for software internationalization currently exists, one will be developed here. The contribution of this thesis includes a provisional framework to prepare graduates to internationalize software and a validation of the framework against industry requirements. The requirement of this framework is to provide a portable and standardized set of requirements for computer science and software engineering programs to teach future graduates.