Mock 1 – Software Engineering

A system analyst studies how the business works, finds problems and opportunities, and designs the information system. Developers and programmers then build it.

SDLC = System Development Life Cycle (also called Software Development Life Cycle). Its phases are planning, analysis, design, implementation, testing and maintenance.

A Gantt chart is a bar chart of tasks against time, used in project planning and scheduling to show start and end dates, durations and overlaps.

Rapid Application Development (RAD) is a family of methods (prototyping, iterative builds, user involvement) that grew out of the rigid, slow waterfall model, with the aim of delivering systems quickly.

Black box testing derives test cases from the specification (inputs and expected outputs) without looking at the code. White box testing designs tests from the internal code structure.

In the SDLC the analysis phase studies the users and requirements: who will use the system, what it will do, and where and when it will be used.

MVC = Model–View–Controller: model holds data and logic, view shows it, controller handles user input.

In feasibility analysis, technical risk depends on familiarity with the technology and the project size — so project size is part of technical feasibility.

The design phase decides how the system will work: hardware, software, network infrastructure, interface, programs and files.

E = 3.2 (KLOC)^1.05 is Boehm's simple (basic COCOMO, organic) model. Walston–Felix: E = 5.2 (KLOC)^0.91; Bailey–Basili: E = 5.5 + 0.73 (KLOC)^1.16; Doty: E = 5.288 (KLOC)^1.047.

The bath-tub curve (high early 'infant mortality', flat useful life, rising wear-out) describes hardware failure rate. Software does not wear out; its curve is idealised/spiky.

PowerDesigner → Sybase, Rational Rose → IBM, Visio → Microsoft, ArgoUML → open source: i-c, ii-a, iii-b, iv-d.

Acceptance testing → alpha testing and system testing → usability testing; only option 3 has both (with integration → data-flow and unit → black-box).

Big-bang integration joins all modules at once — it is the non-incremental approach. Top-down, bottom-up and functional increment are incremental.

Requirement gathering (analysis) is the first waterfall phase, done by meeting the customer.

White-box testing is also called glass-box (clear-box, structural) testing.

Pressman's generic process framework: Communication → Planning → Modelling → Construction → Deployment = e, b, a, d, c.

In the testing phase modules are integrated and tested to ensure they are error-free and meet requirements.