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Questions and Answers

Is there a universal software engineering method for different software systems?

  • True
  • False (correct)

    • What are the fundamental software engineering activities?

    Specification, design and implementation, validation, evolution

    What is a software process model?

    An abstract representation of a process

    Activities are complex and involve sub-activities.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the difference between plan-driven and agile processes?

    <p>Agile processes involve incremental planning, while plan-driven processes are more structured.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In practice, what type of process do most practical software systems use?

    <p>Elements of both plan-driven and agile approaches.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is a plan-driven process model?

    <p>Waterfall model</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Incremental development can be either plan-driven or agile.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Large systems are developed using only one type of process model.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the five phases in the waterfall model?

    <p>Requirements analysis and definition, System and software design, Implementation and unit testing, Integration and system testing, Operation and maintenance.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The waterfall model is only appropriate when the requirements are well-understood and changes during the design process will be fairly limited.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main challenge in using the waterfall model?

    <p>Difficult to accommodate change</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The waterfall model is commonly used for large systems engineering projects where a system is developed at several sites.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the key idea behind Incremental Development?

    <p>Developing an initial implementation, exposing it to user comment, and evolving it through several versions.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Specification, development, and validation activities are interleaved in incremental development.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a key benefit of Incremental Development?

    <p>Reduced cost of accommodating changing customer requirements</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Incremental development is best suited for safety-critical systems, as it allows quick changes.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a problem associated with incremental development?

    <p>The process is not visible</p> Signup and view all the answers

    System structure tends to degrade as new increments are added.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the basis of integration and configuration?

    <p>Software reuse</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Reused elements should never be configured to adapt their behaviour, as doing so can lead to errors.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the standard approach for building modern business systems?

    <p>Use of existing components</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a type of reusable software?

    <p>Manual codes</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a key advantage of using reusable software?

    <p>Reduced development time</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Requirements compromises are inevitable when using reusable software.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a disadvantage of using reusable software?

    <p>Loss of control over the evolution of reused system elements</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Real software processes are interleaved sequences of technical, collaborative and managerial activities.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the overall goal of software development?

    <p>Specifying, designing, implementing, and testing a software system.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a basic process activity in software development?

    <p>Deployment</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In the waterfall model, the basic process activities are organized sequentially, while in incremental development, they are interleaved.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the process of establishing what services are required and identifying the constraints on the system's operation and development?

    <p>Software specification</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the primary goal of requirements engineering?

    <p>Developing a software specification</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Software specification is a critical stage in the software development process.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    A feasibility study is conducted after the requirement engineering stage.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Requirements are typically presented at two levels of detail.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the three main activities involved in requirements engineering?

    <p>Elicitation and analysis, specification, validation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Requirement elicitation can involve the development of system models and prototypes.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Requirement specification involves defining the requirements in detail, using information gathered during the analysis stage.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two types of requirements included in the requirement specification?

    <p>User requirements and system requirements</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is involved in requirements validation?

    <p>The validation stage scrutinizes the requirements to ensure they align with reality, lack contradictions, and encompass all essential details.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Software design and implementation are completely separate activities, conducted one after the other.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the process of converting the system specification into an executable system?

    <p>Software design and implementation</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Software design is developed in stages, often involving constant backtracking.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does the implementation stage involve?

    <p>Translating the software structure into an executable program</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The activities of software design and implementation are always interleaved.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Verification and validation aim to ensure that the software meets its specifications and user requirements.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a part of the verification and validation process?

    <p>Requirement analysis</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is a commonly used Validation technique?

    <p>System testing</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of system testing?

    <p>To test the interactions between components</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the purpose of customer testing?

    <p>To ensure the system meets the customer's needs</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In the V-model, testing is driven by a set of plans, and testers work independently from the development team.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Software is inherently flexible and can change, unlike hardware systems.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Software development is distinct from software evolution.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is a key reason why software evolution is so important in modern software development?

    <p>All of the above</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Software development is not an evolutionary process.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Change is unavoidable in all large software projects.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a reason for change in large software projects?

    <p>Lack of communication</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Any software process model should be able to accommodate change effectively.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the costs of change in software development?

    <p>Rework costs, such as re-analyzing requirements, and the costs of implementing new functionality.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two main strategies for reducing rework costs?

    <p>Change anticipation and change tolerance.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Prototyping is useful for understanding user needs and exploring design options.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Prototyping is only used in the requirements engineering process.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Throw-away prototypes are typically designed for long-term use.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a reason why throw-away prototypes are typically discarded?

    <p>They are frequently a good basis for a production system</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What is the main advantage of incremental delivery?

    <p>All of the above</p> Signup and view all the answers

    In incremental delivery, user requirements are prioritized, and the highest priority requirements are delivered in later increments.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    When an increment is started, the requirements for that increment are frozen.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Architectural design is not necessary before the implementation of increments.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    One advantage of incremental models is their ability to handle change during development.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    With the waterfall model, an error in the requirements might only be noticed during acceptance testing.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Incremental delivery is effective at identifying requirements errors, as the error may be discovered soon after the relevant code is written.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Incremental delivery is easy to implement for existing systems, as it doesn't require major changes.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Identifying common facilities is a challenge in incremental delivery, as requirements are not defined in detail until an increment is to be implemented.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The process of developing a specification in conjunction with the software is not compatible with most procurement models.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What does process improvement mean?

    <p>Understanding existing processes and changing them to increase product quality or reduce costs and development time.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the two main approaches to process improvement?

    <p>Agile and Maturity-based</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Agile approaches aim to reduce process overheads and improve process management.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Maturity-based approaches focus on reducing process overheads and promoting rapid delivery.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are the key elements in a process improvement cycle?

    <p>Measure, analyze, change</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Process measurements should be used to drive process improvements.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    What are some examples of process metrics?

    <p>Time taken for activities, resources required, and the number of occurrences of a particular event.</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The SEI's process maturity framework aims to help organizations assess their current maturity level and identify areas for improvement in their software engineering practices.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Which of these is NOT a capability maturity level identified by the SEI?

    <p>All of the above are SEI capability maturity levels</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The SEI maturity levels indicate how well an organization manages its software development processes, including measurement, use of best practices, and overall management.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The Rational Unified Process (RUP) is a waterfall model based on UML.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    RUP supports prototyping and incremental delivery, which are important for adapting to change.

    <p>True</p> Signup and view all the answers

    The activities in RUP occur only once during development.

    <p>False</p> Signup and view all the answers

    Study Notes

    Software Processes

    • Software process models are sets of related activities involved in producing a software system.
    • There's no single universal software engineering method for all software system types.
    • Fundamental software engineering activities include:
      • Specification: defining what the software system should do.
      • Design and implementation: defining the system's structure and building it.
      • Validation: confirming the software meets the customer's needs.
      • Evolution: adapting the software in response to changing needs.
    • Software process models are abstract representations of a process, providing descriptions from a particular perspective.
    • Process descriptions often include:
      • Products/deliverables: outcomes of a process activity (e.g., software architecture model).
      • Roles: responsibilities of involved personnel (e.g., project manager, programmer).
      • Pre- and post-conditions: statements about the state of the process before and after an activity.

    Plan-driven and Agile Processes

    • Plan-driven processes meticulously plan all activities in advance, measuring progress against the plan.
    • Agile processes use incremental and continual planning, adapting to changing customer requirements.
    • Safety-critical systems benefit from highly structured processes.
    • Flexible agile processes are better suited for rapidly changing business systems.
    • There aren't universally "right" or "wrong" software processes; often, the best approach combines elements of both plan-driven and agile methodologies.

    Software Process Models

    • Waterfall Model: A plan-driven model with separate, distinct phases of specification and development.
    • Incremental Development: Specification, development, and validation happen concurrently and interleaved. Can be plan-driven or agile.
    • Integration and Configuration: Building systems from existing components (COTS systems). May be plan-driven or agile.
    • Most large systems incorporate elements of various models in practice.

    Waterfall Model Phases

    • Requirements Definition
    • System and Software Design
    • Implementation and Unit Testing
    • Integration and System Testing
    • Operation and Maintenance
    • All activities must be planned and scheduled before development begins.
    • Each phase's result is documented and approved ("signed off").
    • The next phase begins only after the preceding phase is completed.

    Waterfall Model Drawbacks

    • Difficulty accommodating changes once the process is underway.
    • Inflexible response to changing customer requirements.
    • Suitable only for well-understood systems with limited change needs (e.g., safety-critical systems).
    • Few business systems have stable requirements from start to finish.

    Incremental Development Benefits

    • Reduced cost of accommodating changing requirements.
    • Easier for customers to provide feedback throughout the development.
    • Rapid delivery of useful software to the customer.

    Incremental Development Problems

    • Process invisibility to management (with rapid development).
    • System structures tend to degrade as new increments are added.
    • Can lead to messy code.

    Integration and Configuration

    • Based on software reuse: integrating from existing components or applications (COTS).
    • Reused elements usually need to be configured to meet specific user needs.
    • Reuse is a common approach for building business systems.

    Types of Reusable Software

    • Standalone application systems (COTS).
    • Packages of integrated objects using frameworks (.NET, J2EE).
    • Web services adhering to service standards.

    Advantages and Disadvantages of Reuse

    • Advantages: Reduced costs and risks, faster delivery.
    • Disadvantages: Requirements compromises are inevitable, loss of control over reused elements.

    Process Activities

    • Real software processes are interleaved sequences of technical, collaborative, and managerial activities aimed at specifying, designing, implementing, and testing a software system.
    • Core process activities include specification, development, validation, and evolution.
    • These activities are often organized sequentially in methodologies like Waterfall, but concurrently in Incremental methodologies.

    Software Specification

    • Establishing required services and constraints on the system's operation.
    • Requirements engineering is the process of developing this specification.
    • Mistakes during this stage have significant consequences.
    • A feasibility study should be performed first to evaluate market need and technical feasibility.
    • Requirements are usually presented at two levels: general statements from customers; detailed specifications for developers.

    Requirement Engineering Activities

    • Requirements elicitation and analysis: understanding stakeholder needs and gathering information (e.g., through interviews, observation, task analysis).
    • Requirements specification: formally defining the requirements gathered during analysis.
    • Requirements validation: checking the gathered requirements for realism, consistency, and completeness.

    Software Design and Implementation

    • Transforming system specifications into an executable system.
    • Software design focuses on creating a structure that realizes the specified behavior: includes data models, and component interfaces.
    • The design process is often iterative, with design steps evolving and backtracking.
    • Translation (implementation): Design steps are turned into an executable program (code).

    Design Inputs (to the design process)

    • Platform information: existing software environment (operating system, databases, middleware).
    • Requirements specification
    • Data description (how the software's data structure is to be organized and used).

    Design Activities

    • Architectural design: defining overall system structure and component relationships.
    • Database design: modelling the data structures and storage mechanisms.
    • Interface design: specifying communication between software components.
    • Component selection and design: choosing or developing reusable components.

    System Implementation

    • Developing a program or configuring existing system to execute the software.
    • Programming: individual activity with no single standard process.
    • Debugging: identifying and correcting faults.

    Software Validation

    • Verification and Validation (V&V): confirming that the software meets its specifications and customer needs.
    • System testing: evaluating the system as a whole with real data and test cases.
    • Testing is the most common validation approach.

    Testing Stages

    • Component testing: evaluating individual components in isolation.
    • System testing: evaluating the entire system as a whole, including interactions between components.
    • Customer testing: evaluating the system with real data used by its customers (e.g., alpha and beta testing).

    Testing Phases in Plan-driven Process (V-Model)

    • Testing driven by pre-formulated plans (and related activities).
    • Testing occurs in parallel with the software development cycle.

    Software Evolution

    • Software is more adaptable than hardware.
    • Adaptability to changing business needs is required to keep the software performing as desired.
    • Development and maintenance are not discrete phases - instead, they operate in parallel, often as a continuous improvement cycle.

    System Evolution

    • Representing system evolution over its life cycle, focusing on defining requirements, assessing existing systems, proposing changes, and modifying/creating the new version.

    Coping with Change (in software projects)

    • Change is inherent in large software projects.
    • Business changes generate needs for revised software requirements
    • Technological improvements lead to opportunities for enhancement and new functionality.

    Reducing Costs of Rework

    • Change anticipation: Including activities in the process that predict and prepare for future adjustments.
    • Change tolerance: Design the system and process to allow for adjustments at manageable costs, which often involves an incremental approach.

    Software Prototyping

    • Prototype: an initial version of a software system used for demonstrating concepts or validating ideas (e.g., a user interface).
    • Prototyping helps anticipate potential changes and improve user understanding of the intended system, and it allows for feedback cycles during development and testing.
    • Prototypes can help validate requirements, guide the design process, and plan testing efforts.

    Incremental Delivery

    • Delivers the system in increments, providing functional parts to users early.
    • Highest-priority requirements are included in the initial increments.
    • Requirements can evolve during the development cycle, with later iterations often based on feedback from earlier releases.

    Incremental Delivery Advantages

    • Faster delivery of value to the customer.
    • Risk mitigation through stepwise delivery of smaller, testable units.
    • Enhanced adaptation to changing requirements.

    Incremental Delivery Disadvantages

    • Challenging to apply with pre-existing systems.
    • Difficulty in identifying shared functionalities needed by multiple increments.
      This method can require careful consideration in the design and procurement stages of a large project.

    Process Improvement

    • Process improvement: Techniques to enhance existing processes to raise product quality and reduce development costs/time.
    • Many software companies adopt better process management, quality assurance, and good software engineering practice to achieve higher efficiency.
    • Agile approaches promote reduced overhead in the development process, while maturity approaches prioritize better process management and quality standards.

    Approaches to Process Improvement

    • Process Maturity Approach: Emphasizes improving organizational management practices and software engineering techniques.
    • Agile Approach: Stresses iterative development, reducing overhead, and responding to evolving requirements.

    Process Improvement Cycle

    • Measures (of process effectiveness and efficiency).
    • Analyses (to identify development bottlenecks).
    • Changes (to address identified issues)

    Process Measurement

    • Measuring attributes of software process or product.
    • Process measurements help determine the success of process improvement efforts, providing a baseline for comparison to future measures.

    CMM-Based Appraisal

    • Frameworks for analyzing and improving software development processes.
    • Evaluating maturity through standards like ISO 9001 and SPICE which provide guidance for process assessment and improvement.

    Rational Unified Process (RUP)

    • A comprehensive iterative software development process.
    • Hybrid approach combining elements of both Waterfall and Incremental methodologies.
    • Supports incremental development within each of its phases.

    RUP Workflows and Phases

    • RUP Workflow: Organized sets of activities oriented around UML (Unified Modeling Language) models, including conceptual descriptions for Business Modeling, Requirements Modeling, Analysis and Design activities, Implementation, Testing, and Deployment.
    • RUP Phases: iterative activities focused on delivering different levels of deliverables by phase-Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition (with phases also containing many iterative development increments).

    RUP Good Practices

    • Iterative and incremental development with prioritized increments.
    • Well-defined requirements and change management.
    • Component-based architectures and visual modeling.
    • Quality and standard verification.
    • Effective control over software changes.

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