Software Engineering Final Flashcards
(127 cards)
1
Q
What is the core idea of rapid software development in Agile?
A
Rapid delivery is more critical than having perfect requirements in modern day
2
Q
Why do traditional plan-driven models struggle in modern day?
A
Struggle with changing requirements and time-sensitive needs
3
Q
Why was agile developed?
A
To reduce delivery time and support evolving software
4
Q
What activities does Agile development interleave?
A
Specification, design, implementation, and testing
5
Q
What is produced in increments in Agile?
A
Software versions
6
Q
How does Agile involve stakeholders?
A
Stakeholders are involved continuously throughout the development process
7
Q
What tools support Agile for speed and quality?
A
Automated testing
8
Q
What does Agile minimize?
A
Documentation
9
Q
What are key traits of Plan-driven development?
A
Structured stages, heavy upfront planning/documentation, output-focused, suitable for stable systems
10
Q
What are key traits of Agile development?
A
Overlapping activities, lightweight/evolving plans, feedback-focused, suitable for changeable or innovative projects
11
Q
What are the 4 core values of the Agile Manifesto?
A
Individuals & Interactions
Working Software
Customer Collaboration
Responding to Change
12
Q
What is the core principles of Agile
A
Deliver software frequently
Welcome changing requirements
Keep teams motivated
measure progress
Promote technical excellence
13
Q
What is Extreme Programming (XP)?
A
A practice-oriented agile method focused on code quality, testing, and collaboration
14
Q
Highlights of XP
A
Daily builds, biweekly releases, and must pass automated test
15
Q
XP Practices
A
User stories
Refactoring
Test-first development (TTD)
Pair programming
16
Q
How does user stores work in XP?
A
Customers write scenarios, developers break into tasks, customer select story for release
17
Q
What does refactoring do in XP?
A
Improves code clarity/structure without changing functionality
18
Q
What is Test-First Development (TDD)?
A
Write test -> write code -> Run test
19
Q
What tool is for TDD?
A
JUnit
20
Q
What is pair programming?
A
Two developers work on one machine to share knowledge and review code live
21
Q
Benefits of pair programming?
A
Increased code quality, shared team understanding, on-the-fly review
22
Q
Does pair programming reduce speed?
A
Not always—studies suggest two together outperform two alone
23
Q
Agile PM vs Traditional PM?
A
Traditional = plan everything early; Agile = plan just enough, adapt continuously.
24
Q
What is Scrum?
A
An Agile PM framework dividing projects into 2–4-week sprints, each producing a product increment
25
What are the phases of Scrum?
Planning
Sprint cycles
Closure
26
What are the Scrum meetings?
Daily Scrum
Sprint review: present to stakeholders
Retrospective: team evaluation
27
Q: What are challenges in scaling Agile?
Distributed teams, multi-system integration, need for architecture/docs
28
Techniques to scale Agile?
Scrum of Scrums, role replication (e.g., product owners), release alignment, cross-team planning
29
What does scaling Agile require?
Adapting without abandoning core principles—keep flexible planning, frequent releases, CI
30
What are limitations of Agile?
Fixed-scope contracts, legacy systems, long-lifetime systems, regulated industries, skill-dependent teams
31
Why is software change unavoidable?
Evolving business needs, hardware/environment upgrades, etc
32
3 stages of software lifecycle evolution?
Evolution: system is active
Servicing: essential updates
Phase-out: in use but frozen; no change
33
Why does software evolution matter to businesses?
Software systems are major business assets. Software budgets go toward modifying system and not creating
34
What does the evolution process involve?
Change request
Impact analysis
Identifying affect components
Estimating cost/time
Implementing and testing changes
35
What kind of requests might bypass the full lifecycle process?
Urgent requests such as critical bugs or business pressure
36
How does Agile support software evolution?
Agile enables continuous delivery and frequent releases. Automated tests
37
What are handover issues when transitioning between Agile and Plan-driven methods?
Agile -> Plan-based: evolution need more documentation
Plan-based -> Agile: lack of testing/refactoring
38
What is a legacy system?
Outdated technology that is still used due to business dependency
39
What elements might be outdated in a legacy system?
Hardware
Support software
Poorly doc. code
Inconsistent/duplicated code
Embedded business rules/processes
40
What are the risks of replacing legacy systems?
Missing documentation
Business process lock in
New system delays
Budget overruns
41
What are the two key dimensions in assessing legacy systems?
System quality
Business value
42
What are the four legacy system strategy categories?
Low Quality, Low Value: Scrap the system
Low Quality, High Value: Reengineer or replace
High Quality, Low Value: Maintain or replace
High Quality, High Value: Continue maintenance
43
What assessment factors are used for legacy systems?
Stakeholder feedback (users, managers)
Frequency and importance of use
Efficiency of supported processes
System reliability and output importance
44
What is software maintenance?
Modifying programs after release to fix bugs, adapt to new environments, or improve the system
45
What are the 3 types of software maintenance?
Corrective
Adaptive
Perfective
46
What challenges are faced in maintenance?
Cost grows over time
Maintainers may lack knowledge of the og system
Old system often degrades
47
How can maintenance needs be predicted?
Analyzing parts likely to fail
Maintainability assessment
System complexity and environment dependencies
48
What are common maintenance-related metrics?
Control/data structure complexity
Time to analyze/implement change
Frequency of change requests
49
What is software reengineering?
Improving structure and documentation of legacy systems w/o changing behavior
50
Why might an organization choose reengineering over full replacement?
Often cheaper and less risky
51
What are typical reengineering activities?
Code translation
Reverse engineering
Modularization
Data cleanup
52
What is refactoring?
Maintenance involving small, continuous improvements to structure, w/o adding functionality
53
Examples of refactoring targets
Removing dupe code
Breaking long methods into smaller
Elimination data clumps
removing speculative features
Replace switch statements with OOP
54
What is software project management?
Ensures software is delivered in time, within budget, and meets customer needs
55
Why is software project management important?
Software projects have tight schedules, budget constraints, changing requirements, and uncertain processes
56
What are the criteria for a successful software project?
Delivered on time
Within budget
Meets customer teams
Build with effective team
57
What are the unique challenges in software project management?
Intangible product
One-off nature
Unpredictable process
58
Factos influencing management style?
Company size
Customer type
Project size and type
Organization culture
Development process
59
Universal software project management activities?
Planning
Risk management
People management
Status reporting
Proposal writing
60
Risk management
Software is unpredictable due to vague requirements, changing needs, estimation issues, and human variability
61
What are the three main types of software project risks?
Project risk
Product risk
Business risk
62
What are the 4 stages of risk management?
Identification
Analysis
Planning
Monitoring
63
What is the core principle of people management?
People are the organization’s most valuable asset; poor people management leads to project failure
64
What are key values in people management?
Consistency
Respect
inclusion
Honesty
65
What are the types of motivation in project teams (needs-based)?
Basic needs
Social needs
Esteem needs
Self-realization needs
66
What are the personality-based motivation types?
Task-oriented
Self-oriented
Interaction-oriented
67
67
What is the ideal mix of motivation types in a team?
Balance is crucial
68
Why is teamwork important in software development?
Software typically requires group effort. A cohesive team shares knowledge, ensures quality, and supports continuity
69
What are the features of a cohesive group?
Mutual support
Collective ownership of problems
Shared standards
Continuous learning and improvement
70
How should a team be composed?
By mixing technical skills and personality types
71
What happens if a team has only one personality type?
Task-oriented -> isolation
Self-oriented -> competition
Interation-oriented -> Distraction
72
What are the two types of group organization?
Informal (agile): no roles
Hierarchical (traditonal): yes roles
73
What key organizational decisions must be made in a team?
Who makes decisions, handles communication
How remote workers integrated
How knowledge is shared
74
What factors influence group communication effectiveness?
Group size
Structure
Composition
Physical environment
75
What is project planning in software development?
It involves breaking down work into parts, assigning tasks, anticipating problems, and preparing solutions
76
What is the role of a project plan?
It communicates the project approach to the team and customers, and helps track progress throughout the lifecycle
77
What are the three stages of planning?
Proposal stage: provide cost
Startup phase: define team
Ongoing updates: modify plan
78
Why doesn't software cost equal price?
Price reflet strategic factors beyond effort
79
What are two common pricing strategies?
Underpricing: to gain market
Pricing to win: based on customer
80
Plan-Driven Development
A traditional approach where everything is planned in detail early in the project.
81
Pros and cons of plan-driven development?
Pro: anticipate problems
Cons: inflexible to changes
82
What are typical sections of a project plan?
Introduction
Organization
Risk analysis
Resources
Work breakdown
Schedule
Monitoring and reporting
83
Why is the planning process iterative?
Projects are evolving so it has the change to reflect new strats
84
How does risk impact planning?
Risk mitigation may require re-planning
85
What does project scheduling involve?
Organizing work into tasks and estimating: Calendar time, effort, resources
86
What are the goals of good scheduling?
Run task concurrently
Minimize dependencies
Optimize flow
87
What tools support scheduling?
bar charts, activity networks, milestones, deliverables
88
What are the key ideas in Agile planning?
Plan just enough to guide the next increment; embrace iteration
89
What are the two levels of Agile planning?
Release planning: guides next several month
Iteration planning: focuses 2-4 week increments
90
What are Agile planning techniques?
Scrum: Daily backlog reviews to adjust priorities
XP Planning
91
What is a key Agile principle regarding iteration scope?
If the iteration is incomplete, scope is reduced
92
What are common challenges of Agile planning?
Requires active customer involvement
Doesn't scale easily to large/distributed teams
93
What are the two main types of estimation techniques?
Experience-based estimation
Algorithmic estimation
94
What is COCOMO II?
A widely accepted empirical model for estimating effort and time based on software size and complexity
95
What are the different COCOMO II models?
Application composition model
Early design model
Reuse model
post-architecture model
96
What is the key effort formula in COCOMO II?
Effort (Person-Months) = A × Size^B × M
97
What is software quality management?
ensures software meets required quality levels through both organizational and project-level quality processes
98
What does quality management do?
Provides oversight, sets quality goals, and verifies software matches organizational standards
99
What is a quality plan?
A brief document outlining:
Product intro
project-specific plans
Process descriptions
Quality goals
Risk management strategies
100
What does software quality focus on (beyond meeting specs)?
Fitness for purpose
Non-functional qualities
101
What are common trade-offs in quality management?
Between performance and reliability
102
What’s the difference between process and product quality?
Process quality: how software is built
Product quality: outcome
103
Does good process always lead to good product?
No
104
What is a 'quality culture'?
A mindset where everyone is responsible for quality
105
What are software standards?
Formal definitions of product and process attributes
106
Types of software standards?
Product standards: documentation
Process standards: design
107
Why are standards important?
Embed best practices and ensure consistency
108
What are some problems with standards?
Seen as outdated/bureaucratic
109
What is ISO 9001?
An international framework for quality systems based on broad principles.
110
What is a criticism of ISO 9001?
Emphasizes conformance
111
What are reviews and inspections in software?
Structured evaluations of code/docs to detect problems early
112
What are the types of reviews?
Inspection
Review
Quality review
113
What are the steps in the review process?
Pre-review
Review meeting
Post-review
114
How are modern reviews supported?
Shared documents, online tools
115
How does Agile manage quality?
Prioritizes informal culture and team responsibility, encourages immediate feedback
116
What shared Agile quality practices exist?
Check before check-in
Never break the build
Fix problem when arise
117
What are Agile review methods?
Sprint Review (Scrum)
Pair Programming (XP)
118
What are trade-offs of pair programming?
May miss shared misunderstandings
Close working relationships may reduce critical feedback
119
When might Agile QM be insufficient?
In large teams with often regulated systems
120
Why do we measure software?
To assign numerical values to attributes, compare progress, control quality, and predict future outcomes
121
What are the 4 types of software metrics?
Process metrics: Time, effort
Product metrics: Size, complexity
Static metrics: Source code
Dynamic metrics: Runtime
122
What are software metrics used for?
Maintainability, problems, decision making
123
What is software analytics?
Uses large-scale code and usage data to gain insights, predict failures, and guide decision-making
124
What enables effective analytics?
Automatic crash reports
Open-source code
Usage tracking
125
What challenges exist with software analytics?
Still immature, mostly adopted by large firm
Custom software harder to analyze
126
