SE Lecture 1

Question 1

What are the learning objectives of the first lecture?

Answer 1

Appreciate software complexity

Question 2

Why is software development complex?

Answer 2

Large systems require planning

Question 3

Give an example of a large codebase to illustrate software complexity.

Answer 3

Boeing 787 → 14M lines of code; Windows 10 → 15M lines of code.

Question 4

Why can’t large systems be implemented bottom-up?

Answer 4

Too complex to implement line-by-line; requires significant upfront planning.

Question 5

How does the application domain add to software complexity?

Answer 5

Problems can be inherently complicated

Question 6

What is an example of software complexity due to the application domain?

Answer 6

Building a hospital management system requires learning the hospital domain.

Question 7

How does communication contribute to software complexity?

Answer 7

Different vocabularies

Question 8

What is an example of communication challenges in software development?

Answer 8

Clarifying whether to store integers or floating-point numbers when clients request “storing numbers.”

Question 9

Why is project management challenging in large software development?

Answer 9

Requires dividing projects

Question 10

How does coding contribute to software complexity?

Answer 10

Writing reliable

Question 11

What are some software quality problems caused by complexity?

Answer 11

Unreliable

Question 12

What happened in the Ariane 5 rocket failure?

Answer 12

A tiny bug caused the rocket to explode.

Question 13

What happened to the London Ambulance System in 1992?

Answer 13

System failure caused fatalities due to delayed ambulance service.

Question 14

What happened to the London Stock Exchange System?

Answer 14

Abandoned after 5 years of development due to reliability issues.

Question 15

How can software complexity affect software development projects?

Answer 15

Projects may be over-schedule

Question 16

What percentage of large software systems face company-threatening issues?

Answer 16

0.17

Question 17

What percentage of large software systems go over budget?

Answer 17

0.45

Question 18

What percentage of large software systems are overtime?

Answer 18

0.07

Question 19

What percentage of large software systems deliver less value than expected?

Answer 19

0.56

Question 20

What is the first step to reduce complexity in software engineering?

Answer 20

Choose appropriate design goals at the start of the project.

Question 21

Why can’t all design goals be achieved simultaneously?

Answer 21

Conflicting goals due to time and budget constraints.

Question 22

What does modularity mean in software development?

Answer 22

Dividing large systems into smaller

Question 23

Define a module in software systems.

Answer 23

A part of the system that can be considered independently.

Question 24

What is the purpose of interfaces in modular systems?

Answer 24

Facilitate communication and interaction between modules.

Question 25

What is abstraction in software design?

Answer 25

Skipping internal module details and focusing only on the interface.

Question 26

What is encapsulation in software design?

Answer 26

Changing a module without affecting other parts of the system.

Question 27

Name three benefits of modularity and incremental development.

Answer 27

Increased productivity

Question 28

What are the two main tasks of a software engineer?

Answer 28

Programming-in-the-small (coding) and programming-in-the-large (software engineering).

Question 29

What do software engineers do besides coding?

Answer 29

Communicate with stakeholders

Question 30

What distinguishes software engineering from small programming tasks?

Answer 30

Software engineering is a disciplined

Question 31

What is the role of Software Configuration Management in software engineering?

Answer 31

It tracks different versions of software to support multi-version projects and ensure proper version control.

Question 32

What are the two primary models used in software engineering?

Answer 32

The Requirements Model captures user needs

Question 33

What does rationale management involve in software engineering?

Answer 33

Documenting decisions and assumptions to revisit and adapt them as the project evolves.

Question 34

How does software engineering differ from computer science?

Answer 34

Computer science focuses on algorithms and computing theory

Question 35

What is the primary activity in software engineering?

Answer 35

Building models

Question 36

Why is team communication crucial in software engineering?

Answer 36

Effective communication with clients

Question 37

How does software engineering handle changes in requirements?

Answer 37

By continuously assessing and adjusting based on the evolving understanding of user needs and technological changes.

Question 38

What is modularity in software engineering?

Answer 38

Breaking down a large software system into smaller

Question 39

What is the benefit of abstraction and encapsulation in modular design?

Answer 39

They allow developers to interact with modules through interfaces

Question 40

What are the consequences of poor software engineering practices?

Answer 40

Unreliable

Question 41

Why is training important for software engineers?

Answer 41

It equips them with the necessary knowledge and skills to design

Question 42

How does incremental development help manage complexity?

Answer 42

By focusing on one small piece of the system at a time

Question 43

What is the divide-and-conquer approach in software engineering?

Answer 43

Dividing a large system into smaller modules to tackle each part separately