Agile software development methods

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Questions and Answers

Which factor is LEAST influential in determining the applicability of agile methods?

  • The size and co-location of the development team.
  • The size and complexity of the product being developed.
  • The use of specific integrated development environments (IDEs). (correct)
  • The degree of customer involvement in the development process.

Which of the following is a core principle of agile methods that emphasizes team autonomy?

  • Customer Involvement
  • Maintain simplicity
  • Incremental Delivery
  • People not process (correct)

When deciding between plan-driven and agile development methodologies, which project characteristic would MOST strongly suggest using a plan-driven approach?

  • A project requiring frequent changes based on customer feedback.
  • A small, co-located team with excellent communication.
  • A project where rapid prototyping is essential to demonstrate core functionality.
  • A long-lifetime system requiring detailed documentation for future support. (correct)

In the context of choosing between plan-driven and agile development, which scenario would make agile methods a more suitable choice?

<p>The customer is readily available to provide ongoing feedback and requirements clarification. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is a primary characteristic of Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>Building new versions of the software several times a day. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In Extreme Programming (XP), what is the purpose of delivering increments to customers every two weeks?

<p>To gather feedback and adapt to changing requirements. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which practice is central to Extreme Programming (XP) to ensure that the software build remains stable and reliable?

<p>Requiring all tests to pass before a build is accepted. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following best describes the role of 'story cards' in Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>A high-level description of a required feature. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does 'test-first development' involve in the context of Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>Writing tests before any code is written. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In Extreme Programming (XP), what does the practice of 'refactoring' primarily aim to achieve?

<p>To improve the internal structure and readability of the code without changing its external behavior. (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which of the following is a defining characteristic of 'pair programming' in Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>Developers work in pairs, with one writing the code and the other reviewing it in real-time. (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In Extreme Programming (XP), what is the PRIMARY benefit of 'collective ownership' of the code?

<p>Allowing any developer to modify any part of the code at any time. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What does 'continuous integration' entail in the context of Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>Integrating code changes continuously throughout the day. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the significance of 'sustainable pace' within Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>Working at a comfortable and consistent pace to avoid burnout. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Which statement BEST describes the role of the 'on-site customer' in Extreme Programming (XP)?

<p>The customer is a full-time member of the development team and provides system requirements. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What aspect of software development does Extreme Programming intentionally de-emphasize compared to plan-driven methodologies?

<p>Detailed upfront planning for future changes. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

In the context of the 'Prescribing Medication Story', what happens if Kate selects 'formulary'?

<p>The system displays a search box for the approved formulary. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to the 'Prescribing Medication Story', what is the system designed to do immediately after Kate enters the dose?

<p>Confirm the prescription. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

According to the 'Prescribing Medication Story', what action does the system take if the dose entered by Kate is outside the approved range?

<p>The system asks Kate to change the dose. (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the main purpose of the 'Dose Checking' task in the context of the 'Prescribing Medication Story'?

<p>To check that the doctor has not prescribed a dangerously small or large dose. (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

Flashcards

Agile Methods

An approach to software development that aims at rapid development and delivery for software systems.

Customer Involvement

Close involvement of customers throughout the development process to provide and prioritize new system requirements.

Incremental Delivery

Developing software in increments with customer input on each increment.

People not Process

The skills of the development team should be recognized and exploited, allowing team members to work without strict processes.

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Embrace Challenge

Expecting system requirements to change and designing the system to accommodate these changes.

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Maintain Simplicity

Focusing on simplicity in both the software being developed and the development process.

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Plan-driven Development

Planning and determining the outputs of each stage in advance, with iteration within activities.

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Agile Development

Specification, development, and testing are inter-leaved and outputs decided through negotiation.

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Extreme Programming (XP)

Building new versions several times per day, delivering increments to customers every 2 weeks, and running all tests for every build.

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Incremental Planning

Requirements are recorded on story cards, which developers break down into tasks.

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Test-First Development

An automated unit test framework is used to write tests for a new piece of functionality before that functionality itself is implemented.

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Refactoring

A practice where all developers are expected to refactor the code continuously when improvements are found to keep the code simple, readable and maintainable.

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Pair Programming

Developers work in pairs, checking each other's work and providing support.

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Collective Ownership

The pairs of developers work on all areas of the system and take responsibility for all code.

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Continuous Integration

As soon as work on a task is complete, it is integrated into the whole system. All unit tests must pass.

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Sustainable Pace

Large amounts of over time are not considered acceptable to achieve a sustainable pace.

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On-site Customer

The customer is a member of the dev team and is responsible for bringing system requirements.

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Software Structure

The good software structure should be constantly refactored.

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Refactoring Example

The reorganization of a class hierarchy to remove duplicate code.

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Study Notes

Agile Methods

  • Agile methods are proposed to achieve rapid software development and delivery
  • Agile methods depend on five factors
  • The development and specification phases are interleaved
  • Systems are developed as a series of versions involving stakeholders in version evaluation
  • User interfaces use IDEs and graphical toolsets
  • Focus is on the code rather than the design
  • Deliver working software quickly and evolve it to meet changing needs
  • The aim is to reduce overhead by limiting documentation

Five Principles of Agile Methods

  • Agile methods involve close customer collaboration throughout development
  • Customers provide and prioritize new system requirements and evaluate iterations
  • Software is developed incrementally with customer-specified requirements
  • Recognize and exploit the skills of the development team
  • Team members develop in their own ways without prescriptive processes
  • Expect system requirements to change and design to accommodate them
  • Focus on simplicity in software and development

When to Use (Applicability)

  • Agile methods are best for small to medium-sized products
  • The entire development team is in one physical location
  • The customer is involved in the development process with fewer external rules

Problems with Agile Methods

  • It can be difficult with contracts that need a whole system delivered
  • Maintaining customers' interest throughout the process can be challenging
  • Prioritizing changes becomes difficult with multiple stakeholders
  • Maintaining simplicity requires extra work

Plan-Driven Development

  • This development relies on planning outputs of each stage in advance
  • Iterations occur within activities

Agile Development

  • Specification, development, and testing are all intertwined
  • Outputs are decided through negotiation during development

Plan-Driven and Agile Development

  • Most projects incorporate elements of both plan-driven and agile development
  • Detailed spec: Plan-driven approach needed for its importance to implementation
  • Use agile methods for incremental strategies
  • Agile for small co-located teams with informal communication
  • Real-time systems with complex timing needs utilize the plan driven approach
  • Long-lifetime systems require more documentation to communicate with the support team
  • See if technologies are good to support development
  • Development teams need to develop documents to communicate across the teams
  • Traditional engineering is needed for cultural or organizational issues
  • Programmers with a higher skill level should use agile methods over plan based
  • Systems subject to external regulation may need to produce documentation as part of safety

Extreme Programming (XP)

  • It is a well used agile method
  • XP takes an "extreme" approach to iterative development
  • New versions are built frequently, potentially multiple times a day
  • Increments are delivered to customers every two weeks
  • Every build requires all tests to pass for acceptance

XP Practices

  • Incremental planning: Requirements are on story cards and broken into development tasks
  • Small releases: develop the minimum useful functionality
  • Enough design is carried out to meet current requirements and no more
  • Test-first development: using automated unit test framework for new functionality tests
  • Refactoring: developers should refactor code to improve code implementations
  • Pair programming: developers work in pairs to check each other's code
  • Collective ownership: developers are responsible for the code
  • Continuous integration: integrating work to the whole system as soon as the task finishes
  • Sustainable pace: Large amounts of overtime are not acceptable
  • Onsite customer: the customer is a member of the developing team

Agile Principles in XP

  • Incremental development using incremental planning
  • Customer involvement means full-time engagement
  • People not project
  • Embrace the challenge and support the releases
  • Simplicity through refactoring code and design

Refactoring

  • This involves reorganizing class hierarchies to remove duplicate code
  • Ordering and renaming attributes and methods
  • Replacing code with methods from a program library
  • Program development environments aid refactoring, simplifying dependency finding and global modifications

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