05-01-2013, 04:21 PM
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
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What is Software Engineering?
Answer: Software Engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation and maintenance of software. It is the application of engineering methods to software development.
2. Write two main characteristics that differentiate software from other physical products.
Answer: The two main characteristics that differentiate software from other physical products are: i. The costs of oftware development are concentrated in engineering and not in production. Also, the cost of software is not dependent on volume of production. ii. Software does not wear out and it does not require any spare parts.
3. What are different generations of computers?
Answer: The development of computer technology has taken place in distinct stages. The first generation of computers was built on vacuum tubes. The second-generation machines were built by using transistors. The third generation made use of Integrated Circuits (ICs). The present day's fourth-generation computers use Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) circuits.
4. How has the development of DBMS helped the software industry?
Answer: Development of DBMS software helped in use of computers for data storage. This permitted the development of more sophisticated software for business applications.
5. What is software crisis?
Answer: In the early days of software industry, programmers followed their own personal style for writing programs. The design was implicitly performed in one's mind, and documentation was often non-existent. Due to developments in the field of information technology, computer programs also became very large and complex. With no tools or methods for managing this increased complexity, a large proportion of software projects failed during 1970s. It was referred to as 'software crisis.'
6. What is 'principle of abstraction' in relation to software engineering?
Answer: The principle of abstraction implies that a problem can be simplified by omitting irrelevant details. Once simpler, the problem is solved and then the omitted details can be taken into consideration in stages.
7. What is 'principle of decomposition' in relation to software engineering?
Answer: Decomposition is a technique to solve a complex problem by dividing it into several smaller problems. The problem is decomposed in such a way that each component can be solved independently and then the solution of the different components can be combined to get the full solution.
8. What are the four core aspects of software development?
Answer: Product, Process, People and Project are four important core aspects of software development. Software development involves both technical and managerial aspects. 9. What do you mean by software process? Answer: The term software process refers to the methods of developing software. It generally involves a number of steps or operations.
10. What are different types of software processes?
Answer: There are four major types of software processes. These are: (1) Software Development Process, (2) Software Project Management Process, (3) Software Configuration Management Process and (4) Software Process Management.
11. What are the different phases of a classical waterfall model?
Answer: Different phases of a classical waterfall model are: (1) System Engineering, (2) Requirement Analysis, (3) Design, (4) Implementation or Coding, (5) Verification or testing, (6) Maintenance 12. What is a software prototype? Answer: A prototype is a working representation of the system. By seeing and interacting with the prototype model, the users are better able to realize what the real system will be like. The prototype is refined till the users are reasonably satisfied. From this the software developers are able to develop software that fulfils the real needs of users.