Answer All Questions PART A – (20x2 = 40 Marks)

1. What is software process model?

software process models often represent a networked sequence of activities, objects,

transformations, and events that embody strategies for accomplishing software evolution.

2. Define Software Engineering?

software engineering can be defined as the application of a systematic,

disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance
of software,

3. Define a task set?

A task set defines the actual work to be done to accomplish the objectives of a software
engineering action. For example, elicitation

4. What are the challenges in software?

a)delivery time challenge
b)heterogeneity challenge

5. What are the issues in measuring the software size using LOC as metric?

This measure is based on lines of code computation

This measure is extremely dependent upon the programming language
This measure does not accommodate non procedural languages
The loc is not universally accepted metric

6. If you have to develop a word processing software product, what process model will you
choose? Justify your answer.

Incremental process model

Justification:-
Working software can be generated quickly and early during software life cycle.
The customers can respond to its functionalities after every increment.

7. Mention the characteristics of software contrasting it with characteristics of hardware.

Software is engineered not manufactured

Software does not ware out
The software is custom built rather than being assembled from components

8. What are the pros and cons of iterative software development model?

Pros
The risks can be identified and rectified before they get problematic.
Cons
This model is typically based on customer communication.if the communication is not
proper then the software product that gets developed will not be as per requirements
9. What is a data dictionary?

The data dictionary represents all names used in system models.the descriptions of
entities,relationships and attributes are also included in data dictionary.

10. Why does software change?

A software changes when new module is added.
Reasons
Adding a feature

Fixing a bug

Improving the design

Optimizing resource usage

11. What are the different types of traceability in software engineering?

Source traceability
Requirement traceability
Design traceability

12. What are the characteristics of SRS?

SRS must be
Correct
Unambiguous
Complete
Consistent
Traceable

13. List the characteristics of good SRS.

Same as above

14. What is the need for feasibility analysis?

The feasibility analysis is required to decide whether or not the proposed system is
worthwhile to implement

15. How are requirements validated?

Requirements are validated with the help of following validation techniques:

1.requirement reviews
2.prototyping
3.test case generation

16. Define data dictionary

The data dictionary represents all names used in system models.the descriptions of
entities,relationships and attributes are also included in data dictionary
17. List the notations used in data flow model?

18. Define Software Architecture?

The software architecture is the hierarchical structure of software components and their
interactions.In software architecture the software model is designed .The structure of model
is partitioned horizontally or vertically.

19. A system must be loosely coupled and highly cohesive- Justify?

Loose coupling is an approach to interconnecting components in a system or

network so that components are less dependent on each other.
High cohesiveness indicates that module performs only one task.
Ideally components in a system must be least dependent on each other and every component
must perform only one task at a particular instance.

20. Why architectural design is important in software engineering?

1.It defines an abstraction level at which the designers can specify the functional and
performance behaviour of the system.
2. It acts as a guideline for enhancing the system
3. It evaluates all top-level designs.
4. It develops and documents top-level design for the external and internal interfaces.
5. It develops preliminary versions of user documentation.

21. How can refactoring be made more effective?

After careful analysis of design or code separate out the components that can be
refactored.Then refactor the and finally integrate and test them.

22. What are the common activities in design process?

23. List four design principles of a good design

Design should not suffer from tunnel version

The design should be traceable to analysis model
The design should exhibit uniformity and integrity
Design is not coding and coding is not design

24. Define coupling? List out its Types

Coupling is a qualitative measure of the degree to which classes are connected to

one another.

Types

Content coupling
Common
Control
Stamp
Data
Routine call
Type use
Inclusion or import
External

25. List out the Characteristics of Testability of Software.

Characteristics of Testability of Software :

• Operability
• Observability
• Controllability
• Decomposability
• Simplicity
• Stability
• Understandability

26. What is Cyclomatic complexity?

It gives the quantitative measure of logical complexity of a program

In basis path testing it is defined as the number of independent path of the program structure

27. What is black box testing?

28. Write about drivers and stubs?

Stub: A stub is called from the software component to be tested. As shown in the diagram
above ‘Stub’ is called by ‘component A’.
Driver: A driver calls the component to be tested. As shown in the diagram above
‘component B’ is called by the ‘Driver’.

29. Explain the difference between black box testing and white box testing

Same

30. What are the testing principles the software engineer must apply while performing software
testing?

1.all tests should be traceable to customer requirements

2.test should be planned long before testing begins
3.Testing should begin in small and progress towards testing in large
4.exhaustive testing is not possible.

31. Distinguish between verification and validation. Which types of testing address verification?
Which types of testing address verification?

Performance testing

32. How can refactoring be made more effective?

Rules
Refactor in small steps
For testing the existing functionalities make use of test scripts

33. Define measure?

Software measure is a numeric value for a attribute of a software product or process

34. Write short note on various estimation techniques?

35. What are the metrics computed during error tracking activity?

Ereq
Edesign
Ecode
Requirement analysis
Architectural design
Component level design
Coding

36. How are CASE tools classified?

Upper case tools – used at planning analaysis and design stages

Lower case tools – implementation testing and maintenance

37. How are productivity and its cost related to function points?
38. How software risks are assessed?
It needs a unique assessment process of the possible risk that may cause failure or loss of
the project if they occur.

39. What is the difference between organic mode and embedded mode in COCOMO model?
40. State the importance of scheduling activity in project management.
It established timeline delivery and availability of the project resources whether they be
personal inventory or capital