Assignment 1: Software Life-Cycle and Process Models

This assignment is due on Friday 2 February 2007 at 11:00 PM. An assignment that is turned in late will lose 1 point out of 10 points every day (24 hours or fraction thereof) that it is late. Mail the assignment as an attached text file to the TA at ahmed.mohsen@gmail.com.

When an exercise asks for a reason, use the rationale format for your answer.

The first assignment consists of the following exercises from the textbook:

1.1 You are in charge of automating a large bakery. The cost of developing the software has been estimated to be $425,000. Approximately how much additional money will be needed for post-delivery maintenance of the software?
1.6 Seven months after delivery, a fault is detected in the software of a product that analyses DNA using the Stein-Rontgen reagent. The cost of fixing the fault is $16,700. The cause of the fault is an ambiguous sentence in the specification document. Approximately how much would it have cost to have corrected the fault during the analysis phase?
1.7 Suppose that the fault in Problem 1.6 had been detected during the implementation phase. Approximately how much would it have cost to have fixed it then?
1.14 You are in charge of developing the product in Problem 1.1. Will you use the object-oriented paradigm or the classical paradigm. Give a reason for your answer.
1.15 Instead of implementing component c9 of a software product, the developers decide to buy a COTS component with the same specifications as component c9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
1.16 Instead of implementing component c37 of a software product, the developers decide to utilize an open-source component with the same specifications as component c37. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
2.3 What is the connection between Miller's Law and stepwise refinement?
2.4 Does stepwise refinement correspond to iteration or incrementation?
2.8 You are a software engineering consultant and have been called in by the vice-president for finance of a corporation that manufactures and sells boots. She wants your organization to build a product that will monitor the company's stock (i.e., its inventory of materials), starting with the purchasing of the leather and keeping track of the boots as they are manufactured, distributed to the individual stores, and sold to customers. What criteria would you use in selecting a life-cycle model for the project?
2.10 Your development of the stock control product for the bootwear chain is so successful that your organization decides that it must be rewritten as a package to be sold to a variety of different organizations that manufacture and sell products via their own retailers. The new product must therefore be portable and easily adapted to new hardware and/or operating systems. How would the criteria use in selecting a life-cycle model for this project differ from those in your answer to 2.8?

1.1	You are in charge of automating a large bakery. The cost of developing the software has been estimated to be $425,000. Approximately how much additional money will be needed for post-delivery maintenance of the software?
1.6	Seven months after delivery, a fault is detected in the software of a product that analyses DNA using the Stein-Rontgen reagent. The cost of fixing the fault is $16,700. The cause of the fault is an ambiguous sentence in the specification document. Approximately how much would it have cost to have corrected the fault during the analysis phase?
1.7	Suppose that the fault in Problem 1.6 had been detected during the implementation phase. Approximately how much would it have cost to have fixed it then?
1.14	You are in charge of developing the product in Problem 1.1. Will you use the object-oriented paradigm or the classical paradigm. Give a reason for your answer.
1.15	Instead of implementing component c9 of a software product, the developers decide to buy a COTS component with the same specifications as component c9. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
1.16	Instead of implementing component c37 of a software product, the developers decide to utilize an open-source component with the same specifications as component c37. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
2.3	What is the connection between Miller's Law and stepwise refinement?
2.4	Does stepwise refinement correspond to iteration or incrementation?
2.8	You are a software engineering consultant and have been called in by the vice-president for finance of a corporation that manufactures and sells boots. She wants your organization to build a product that will monitor the company's stock (i.e., its inventory of materials), starting with the purchasing of the leather and keeping track of the boots as they are manufactured, distributed to the individual stores, and sold to customers. What criteria would you use in selecting a life-cycle model for the project?
2.10	Your development of the stock control product for the bootwear chain is so successful that your organization decides that it must be rewritten as a package to be sold to a variety of different organizations that manufacture and sell products via their own retailers. The new product must therefore be portable and easily adapted to new hardware and/or operating systems. How would the criteria use in selecting a life-cycle model for this project differ from those in your answer to 2.8?