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Software Engineering Notes questions and
answers 2025/2026 Paradigm - answerphilosophy or approach for building a product. (eg. OO vs structured approaches)
Analysis -key. answerdecompose a large problem into smaller, understandable pieces. Abstraction is the
Software Engineering -of software. answera discipline that applies sound engineering principles to the development
Synthesis - answerbuild (compose) software from smaller building blocks. Composition is challenging. Fault -activities. answeroccurs when a human makes a mistake, called an error, in performing some software
Failure - answeris a departure from the system's required behavior. Transcendental View - answerquality is something we can recognize but not define. User View - answerquality is fitness for purpose. Manufacturing View - answerquality is conformance to specification. Product View - answerquality tied to inherent product characteristics. Value-Based View - answerdepends on the amount the customers is willing to pay for it. What are the 3 ways of considering quality? -process, the quality of the product in the context of the business environment. answerThe quality of the product, the quality of the
(True or False) Users judge external characteristics to determine the quality of a product. - answerTrue. McCall's quality model includes what dimensions of quality? -integrity, usability, maintainability, testability, flexibility, portability, reusability, interoperability. answerCorrectness, reliability, efficiency,
Modeling the development process addresses questions such as: -of fault; how to find faults early; how to build in fault tolerance; what are alternative activities. answerwhere to find a particular kind
Name some models for process improvement. -9000; Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination (SPICE) answerSEI's Capability Maturity Model (CMM); ISO
Return on Investment (ROI) -much money will I earn? If it costs more than I will earn, then I won't build it. answerhow much money is it going to cost to make the product and how
Interpreted in different terms: reducing costs, predicting savings, improving productivity and costs(efforts and resources)
What is the system approach? -identifying activities and objects; define the system boundary; consider nested systems, systems answerDetermine the hardware, software, interact with people; interrelationship. Activities and Objects -elements involved in the activities. answerAn activity is an event initiated by a trigger. Objects or entities are the
Relationships and the System Boundaries -and activities. System boundaries determine the extent to which you have to program; determining how answerA relationship defines the interaction among entities far you should do code for. (True or False) Some systems are dependent to other systems. -may be complex. answerTrue - the interdependencies
What is the full engineering approach? -System design answerRequirements analysis and definition
Integrator - answerperforms software builds and maintains software base. Managers and Leads - answerdirect the work of others and obtain resources. Business analyst - answerdetermines the ROI and sells the idea. Lab Managers - answermanage the project's development lab. (if they have one) Abstraction - answera description of the problem at some level of generalization. Prototyping - answerbuilding a small version of a system. Process -intended output o some kind. answera series of steps involving activities, constraints, and resources that produce an
Who invented the first computer? - answerCharles Babbage (1837) Who is thought to be the first programmer? - answerLady (Ada) Lovelace What was the first electronic digital computer, Colossus, used for? -codes. First programmable electronic digital computer. answerUsed to crack Nazi military
When did the term "Software Engineering" first appear? -biggest initial boost from two NATO conferences on Software Engineering held in 1968 and 1969. answer1950's and 1960's. The field got it's
Describe the waterfall model for software development -2) Identify System Requirements and Analyze them answer1) Document system concept
- Break the system into pieces (architectural design)4) design each piece
- Code the system components and test them individually (coding, debugging, and unit testing)
- Integrate the pieces and test the system
- Deploy the system and operate it. What are the two main US based professional organizations of software engineering? -ACM answerIEEE and
Methodology - answera codified set of practices that may be repeatably carried out to produce software Why is Software Engineering needed? - answer- Many software projects ran over budget
- Would not meet a defined schedule- Were not predictable
- Some projects caused property damage- A few projects caused a loss of life (Therac-25)
What are currently the three most popular languages? - answer1) Java
- C3) C++
1970's Software Engineering - answerCollaborative software tools, such as Unix, code repositories, make, and so on. Minicomputers and the rise of small businesssoftware
1980's Software Engineering - answerPersonal computers and personal workstations became common. Commensurate rise of consumer software. Smalltalk: thefirst commercial OOPS language/platform that is UI based, Memory Managed, VM Image based, scripted/incremental. 1990's Software Engineering -Extreme programming gained mainstream acceptance. Computer answerObject-oriented programming and agile processes like
Harvard Mark I -ballistics calculations. answerCreated by Howard Aiken and Grace Hopper in 1944. Used by the US Navy for
Grace Hopper -Coined the term "computer bug" answerCreated the Harvard Mark I with Howard Aiken in 1944. Invented the compiler.
Z1 -computer. answerCreated by Konrad Zuse in 1938. It is the first programmable, general-purpose digital
Mark I aka IBM Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (ASCC) -1944 from a million dollar grant from IBM answerCreated by Howard Aiken in
Cloning - answerBorrow design/code in its entirety, with minor adjustments Reference Models -system answerGeneric architecture that suggests how to decompose the
System Architecture Document (SAD) - answerThe final outcome of the design process. Turing Machine -mechanically operated on a tape. Operation is fully determined by a finite set of elementary answerCreated by Alan Turing in 1936. Mathematically models a machine that instructions. Concept of an infinite tape that could be read, written to, and erased was precursor totoday's RAM.
requirement -or implementation answeran expression of desired behavior. Focus on the customer needs, not the solution
Top factors that cause a project to fail - answer-Incomplete requirements
- lack of user involvement- Unrealistic expectations
- lack of executive support
- changing requirements and specifications
- lack of planning- system no longer needed
Design - answerthe creative process of figuring out how to implement all of the customer's requirements; the resulting plan is alsocalled the design
Software Requirement Specifications - answerThe final outcome of the requirements process The Requirement Process - answer1) Elicitation
- Analysis3) Specifications
- Validation5) System Requirements Specifications (SRS)
The Volere Requirements Process Model - answerElicit requirements from:
- Domain models- Current situation model
- Reusable requirements from a reuse library- Suggested types of requirements from a requirements template
- Existing Documents- Current organization and systems
- Stakeholder wants and needs Functional Requirement -required activities. answerA type of requirement. Describes required behavior in terms of
Association, marked as a line between two classes, indicates a relationship between classes'entities.
Aggregate association - answerAn association that represents interaction, or events that involveobjects in the associated (marked with white diamond)- "has-a" relationship
What is the Waterfall Model. -sequence of process activities. (requirements, system design, program architecture, coding, testing, answerpresents a very high-level view of the development process and a deployment, operation and maintenance) What are drawbacks to the Waterfall Model? -iterative activities that lead to creating a final product; views software development as manufacturing answerLong wait before a final product; there is no process rather than creative process; etc. Prototyping is used for... - answerverification and validation. What is prototyping? -strategies and users understand what the system will be like. answerA partially developed product; helps developers assess alternative design
What is the V Model? -after coding verify the initial conditions. (requirements are verified by acceptance testing, system design answerA variation of the Waterfall Model - very similar, except the end results is verified by the system testing, program design is verified by the unit and integration testing) What is the Prototyping Model? -reduces risk and uncertainty in the development. answerAllows repeated investigation of the requirements or design;
What is the Operational Specification Model? -is evaluated early in the development process; functionality and the design are allowed to be merged. answerRequirements are examined and their implication
What is the Transformational Model? -specification into a deliverable system. (change data representation, select algorithms. optimize, answerApplies a series of transformations to change a compile) (relies on formalism) What is Incremental Development? -functionality with each new release. answerStarts with small functional subsystem and adds
What is Iterative Development? -subsystem with each new release. answerStarts with full system, then changes functionality of each
Why is Phased Development desirable? -though some functions are missing; markets can be created early for functionality that has never before answerFor several reasons: training can begin early, even been offered; frequent releases allow developers to fix unanticipated problems globally and quickly; thedevelopment team can focus on different areas of expertise with different releases.
What is the Spiral Model? -and control risks. The model is presented as a spiral in which each iteration is represented by a circuit answerCombines development activities with risk management to minimize around four major activities: plan-determine goals, alternatives and constraints-evaluate alternative &risks-develop and test.
What are Agile Methods? -value individuals and interaction over process and tools, prefer to invest time in producing working answerEmphasis on flexibility in producing software quickly and capably: software rather than in documentation, focus on customer collaboration, & concentrate on respondingto change rather than on creating a plan and then following it, simplicity, the best architecture, many more. What are some examples of the Agile Process? -crystal; adaptive software development. answerScrum: 30-day iterations; extreme programming;
What is a sprint? -product after each sprint. answerA focused short period of intense work. There is a potentially shippable
What is Scrum? -ensures that everyone is as productive as possible. answerAn Agile Method where daily standup meetings are held by the ScrumMaster
What is a Gantt Chart useful for? -concurrently. (or in parallel) answerUnderstanding which activities can be performed
What are the 2 factors that affect difficulty in the Wolverton Model? -old or new; whether the problem is easy or moderate. answerWhether the problem is
How many factors are there in the Watson and Felix model? -productivity; 1 if it increases the productivity, 0 if it decreases the productivity. answerThere are 29 factors that can affect
What is the goal of the Mean Magnitude of Relative Error? (MMRE) - answerGoal should be .25 or less. What is risk? - answerRisk is an unwanted event that has negative consequences. What are the 3 strategies for risk reduction? -the risk. answerAvoiding the risk, transferring the risk, assuming
What is the Risk Leverage equation? -reduction - risk exposure after reduction) / (cost of risk reduction) answerRisk Leverage (cost of reducing risk) = (risk exposure before
What are Bohm's Top 10 Risk Items? -Developing the wrong functions; Developing the wrong user interfaces; Gold-plating; Continuing stream answerPersonnel shortfalls; Unrealistic schedules and budgets; of requirements changes; Shortfalls in externally-performed tasks; Shortfalls in externally-furnishedcomponents; Real-time performance shortfalls; Straining computer science capabilities
What is the Win-Win Spiral model used for? -used as a supplement to the milestones. answerThe Win-Win spiral model (suggest by Bohm) is
What are the key concepts in project management? -estimation; risk management; team organization. answerProject planning; cost and schedule
