1.2.3 Software development

Question 1

Software development methodologies

What are 5 common methodologies?

Answer 1

Waterfall lifecycle

Rapid Application Development (RAD)

Spiral

Agile

Extreme Programming (XP)

Question 2

What are the stages of the Waterfall methodology?

Answer 2

Define requirements

Analysis

Design

Implement

Test

Install

Maintain

Question 3

Describe the ‘define requirements’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Answer 3

Describing the overall purpose and what is wanted out of the software

Question 4

Describe the ‘analysis’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Answer 4

When the time, cost, and resources required for the project are assessed

Question 5

Describe the ‘design’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Answer 5

Working out how the program is to be structured and created

Question 6

Describe the ‘implement’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Answer 6

Coding is carried out

Question 7

Describe the ‘test’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Answer 7

Plans are made for how the program is to be tested, and the tests are carried out

Question 8

Describe the ‘install’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Answer 8

The software is provided out to the users

Question 9

Describe the ‘maintain’ stage of the Waterfall methodology

Question 10

What are the features of the Waterfall methodology?

Answer 10

• The project is split with milestones at each stage
• The method is sequential, with stages rarely being revisited after completing them
• Works best when requirements and risks are well understood

Question 11

What are the advantages of the Waterfall Methodology?

Answer 11

• Time and money is saved by planning at the initial stages
• Milestones enforce a disciplined approach and easily assessable progress
• Encourages extensive documentation
• Easy for someone outside of the project to understand it

Question 12

What are the disadvantages of the Waterfall methodology?

Answer 12

• Clients often don’t know exactly what they want
• Not as good for high risk or challenging projects
• Requires tight documentation, which can dampen creativity
• Not suited for vague or changing requirements

Question 13

What are the stages of the RAD methodology?

Answer 13

Requirements specification

Prototypes

Customer evaluation

Question 14

Describe the pilot prototype of the RAD methodology

Answer 14

Used to determine how feasible a design approach is. It is not intended to be developed further

Question 15

Describe the modeling prototype of the RAD methodology

Answer 15

Created to test if it fits the requirements. It is demonstrated to the user and is either:

Throwaway: code is discarded after being used

Evolutionary: the code is retained to develop the next prototype

Question 16

What are the features of the RAD methodology?

Answer 16

It uses an iterative approach, where each part is provided to the user when ready.

Prototypes are developed rather than extensive documentation made at the start.

Question 17

What are the advantages of the RAD methodology?

Answer 17

• Accounts for if the customer is unsure of what they want at the start
• Will improve quality as the customer can provide feedback from early on
• Focuses on the speed of development
• Risk analysis is key

Question 18

What are the disadvantages of the RAD methodology?

Answer 18

• Requires significant time commitment from the customer
• Risk of poorly designed project, with ‘see what happens’
• Not good for large projects or widely spread teams

Question 19

What are the stages of the Spiral methodology?

Answer 19

Plan

Analyse risk

Engineering

Evaluation

Question 20

Describe the ‘plan’ stage of the Spiral methodology

Answer 20

Requirements are initially drafted

They are later edited to keep updated

Question 21

Describe the ‘analyse risk’ stage of the Spiral methodology

Answer 21

Risk is analysed

A prototype is produced, which is a functional view of the software

Question 22

Describe the ‘engineering’ stage of the Spiral methodology

Answer 22

The coding occurs, and then it is tested

Question 23

Describe the ‘evaluation’ stage of the Spiral methodology

Answer 23

The customer evaluates the project in its current stage, and the requirements are then updated

Question 24

What are the features of the Spiral methodology?

Answer 24

Iterative approach: cycles round all the stages

At the end of each cycle, the project is presented to the customer

Question 25

What are the advantages of the Spiral methodology?

Answer 25

• Good for a large, risky project
• Prototypes help to track the requirements
• Allows for extra functionality to be added later on
• Customers have a chance to evaluate much early than in other methods

Question 26

What are the disadvantages of the Spiral methodology?

Answer 26

• Success depends on handling the risks early on
• Can be considered overkill for small, short projects
• Can be costly in terms of man-hours needed
• Requires customers to be engaged throughout the process

Question 27

What are the stages of the Agile methodology?

Answer 27

Iteration of:

Planning

Analysis

Design

Build

Test

Question 28

What are the advantages of the Agile methodology?

Answer 28

• Minimal documentation
• Promotes teamwork
• Realistic approach considering that clients often don’t know the full requirements
• Supports fluctuating requirements

Question 29

What are the disadvantages of the Agile methodology?

Answer 29

• Doesn’t work well when different modules depend on each other
• Less documentation so can be harder to maintain and extend in the future
• Depends on customer interaction
• Depends on self-discipline, since it is management light

Question 30

What are the features of the Agile methodology?

Answer 30

• This is a group of similar methodologies
• Each iteration delivers a small set of feature, which are reviewed by the client before moving to the next iteration

Question 31

What are the stages of the XP methodology?

Answer 31

Iterative:

Outline plan

Code

Unit test

Customer acceptance test

Question 32

What are the features of the XP methodology?

Answer 32

• XP is an example of the Agile methodology
• Acts as a code-first approach
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Question 33

What are the advantages of the XP methodology?

Answer 33

• Same advantages as the Agile methodology
• Resulting code is high quality after testing through many unit tests
• Good for when requirements are not well defined
• Programming in pairs provides opportunities to learn

Question 34

What are the disadvantages of the XP methodology?

Answer 34

• Same disadvantages as the Agile methodology
• Doesn’t work with geographically distributed groups
• Pair programming can be intensive and tiring
• Doesn’t work too well with large teams