Software Quality and Prototyping

Identification

• Software quality is the degree to which a software product meets the requirements.
• Software quality assurance defines and assesses the adequacy of software processes to ensure confidence in producing suitable quality software.
• Software developers and organisations rely on their reputation. Software bugs can have immediate impacts on clients and customers.
• Poor quality software is expensive to develop and maintain (technical debt).
• Software certification may be required, often requiring evidence of quality control and assessment measures.
• Legal obligations may apply to organisations using the software.
• Ethical codes of practice may apply if software isn't covered by certification or legislation (and isn't safety-critical).
• Software prototyping builds prototypes to display functionality, but may not use the original software's logic.

Software Prototyping

• Allow users to evaluate the software system design and how the software actually works.
• Clarify the functionalities of the software to both users and developers.
• Reduce costs and time compared to building and repeatedly modifying a software product.
• Reduce the need for recreating the software system due to gaps in implementation.
• Throwaway Prototyping: A fast method where prototypes are created and discarded after testing.
• Evolutionary Prototyping: Prototypes are reused and refined following testing.
• Fidelity Prototypes: Vary in level of detail (low-fidelity to high-fidelity) showing the visual appearance and user flows (low-fidelity) and actual usage by real users (high-fidelity)
• Paper-Based Prototyping: Used for creating user interface prototypes using hand drawings.
• Wireframing: Visual representation of a product page to arrange user interfaces for software.

Software Inspection/Review

• Software artifacts include requirements, source code, user documentation and test plans.
• Fagan inspection methodology aims to identify and remove errors in software products and identify systematic defects in processes.
• Roles include: Moderator (leads inspection team), Author (responsible for the artefact), Reader (subject matter expert) and Tester (runs test cases).
• Structured walkthrough: A peer review involving the developer bringing reviewers through a deliverable.
• Code reviewing compares code with fellow programmers to identify faults and ensure quality.
• Tool-driven code review uses automated tools to identify problems in source code.
• Developer-driven code review assesses code quality manually.
• Modern code review uses less formal methods than inspections, deploying tools for streamlined development processes.
• Pull-based development is a modern approach where code review happens in an integrated code platform using "pull requests."

Enterprise Architecture Modeling

• Knowledge Representation: Shows how an enterprise architecture model is depicted and perceived by individuals.
• Knowledge Goals: Goals used in the modeling process.
• Knowledge State: Condition and commitment of stakeholders regarding enterprise architecture.
• Knowledge Transformation: Process of knowledge being transformed following the implementation of the enterprise architecture model.
• Central Representations: Primary and essential models used when changing knowledge.
• Modeling Activities:
  • Establish purpose, scope and focus for the model.
  • Select one or more viewpoints for the model.
  • Create and structure the model to meet enterprise documentation needs.
  • Visualize the model while considering stakeholders and their needs.
  • Use the model for communication and evaluation of model effectiveness against intended goals.
  • Validate the model to ensure agreement among key stakeholders.
  • Gain commitment of stakeholders concerning the implications of the model implementation.
  • Disseminate pertinent information about the model.
  • Maintain model up-to-date.

Modelling Actions

• Introduce a candidate element
• Refine an element
• Abandon a model element
• Abstract a concept or relationship