Software Engineering

Unit 2

Unit 2
Structure 2.1 Introduction Objectives 2.2

Software Design Processes

What is meant by Software Engineering? Self Assessment Questions

2.3

Definitions of Software Engineering Self Assessment Questions

2.4

The Serial or Linear Sequential Development Model Self Assessment Questions

2.5 2.6

Iterative Development Model The incremental Development Model Self Assessment Questions

2.7 2.8 2.9

The Parallel or Concurrent Development Model Hacking Summary

2.10 Terminal Questions 2.11 Answers to Terminal Questions

2.1 Introduction
Software systems are now omnipresent. Software is used to help run manufacturing industry, schools, universities, health care, finance and government. The computational power and sophistication of computers have increased ever since, while their costs have been reduced dramatically. The specification, development, management and evolution of these software systems make up the discipline of software engineering. The more powerful a computer is the more sophisticated programs it can run. Even simple software systems have a high inherent complexity so that
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engineering principles have to be used in their development. The discipline of software engineering discusses systematic and cost-effective software development approaches, which have come out from past innovations and lessons learnt from mistakes. Software Engineering principles have evolved over the past fifty years of contributions from numerous researches and software professionals. To solve actual problems in an industry setting, a software engineer or a team of engineers must incorporate a development strategy that encompasses the process, methods, and tools layers and the generic phases. This strategy is often referred to as a process model or a softwareengineering paradigm. A process model for software engineering is chosen based on the nature of the project and application, the methods and tools to be used, and the controls and deliverables that are required. In the software development process the focus is on the activities directly related to production of the software, for example, design coding, and testing. A development process model specifies some activities that, according to the model, should be performed, and the order in which they should be performed. As the development process specifies the major development and quality assurance activities that need to be performed in the project, the development process really forms the core of the software process. The management process is decided based on the development process. Due to the importance of development process, various models have been proposed. Objectives Upon Completion of this Unit, you should be able to: Explain what basically is meant by software engineering. Know more about Program maintenance. Know about software product and software process Models.

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2.2 What is meant by Software Engineering?

Software Engineering is an engineering discipline whose focus is the costeffective development of high-quality software systems. It is a sub discipline of Computer Science that attempts to apply engineering principles to the creation, operation, modification and maintenance of the software components of various systems. Software engineering is an engineering discipline which is concerned with all aspects of software production. Software engineering is concerned with the practicalities of developing and delivering useful software. The cost of software engineering includes roughly 60% of development costs and 40% of testing costs. Structured approaches to software development include system models, notations, rules, design advice and process guidelines. Coping with increasing diversity, demands for reduced delivery times and developing trustworthy software are the key challenges facing Software Engineering. What is engineering? Engineering is the application of well-understood scientific methods to the construction, operation, modification and maintenance of useful devices and systems. What is software? Software comprises the aspects of a system not reduced to tangible devices. Eg., computer programs and documentation. It is distinguished from hardware, which consists of tangible devices, and often exists as collections of states of hardware devices. The boundary between hardware and software can be blurry, as with firmware and micro code.

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Systems A system is an assemblage of components that interact in some manner among themselves and, possibly, with the world outside the system boundary. We understand systems by decomposing them into Subsystems System components. It is very difficult to separate the software components of a system from the other components of a system. Self Assessment Questions 1) What is Engineering ? 2) Define Software.

2.3 Definitions of Software Engineering

Software Engineering is the systematic approach to the development, operation, maintenance and retirement of software. This is the definition as per IEEE. According to Bauer, Software Engineering is nothing but the establishment and use of sound engineering principles in order to obtain economical software that is reliable and works efficiently on real machines. There is yet another definition for software engineering. It is the application of science and mathematics by which the capabilities of computer equipment are made useful to humans via computer programs, procedures, and associated documentation. This is by Boehm. An engineering approach to software engineering is characterized by a practical, orderly, and measured development of software. The principal aim of this approach is to produce satisfactory systems on time and within
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budget. There is a good reason for tackling the problem of planning, developing, evaluating and maintaining software using the engineering approach. Quite simply this approach is needed to avoid chaos in developing software. The engineering approach is practical because it is based on proven methods and practices in software development. The approach is orderly and development can be mapped to fit customer requirements. Finally, this approach is measured, during each phase, software metrics are applied to products to gauge quality, cost and reliability of what has been produced. Software Maintenance Maintenance refers to the support phase of software development. Maintenance focuses on CHANGE associated with error correction, adaptations required as the software environment evolves, and changes due to enhancements brought about by changing customer requirements or improved capability on the part of developers. Four types of maintenance are typically encountered. Correction Even with the best quality assurance activities, it is likely that the customer will uncover defects in the software. Corrective maintenance changes the software to correct defects. Adaption Overtime, the original environment (e.g., CPU, operating system, business rules, external product characteristics) for which the software was developed is likely to change. Adaptive Maintenance results in modification to the software to accommodate changes to its external environment. Enhancement As software is used, the customer/user will recognize additional functions that will provide benefit. Perfective Maintenance extends the software
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beyond its original functional requirements. Developers can also initiate enhancements by utilizing their experience on similer project and replicating the same on earlier developed systems. Self Assessment Questions 1. Define Software Engineering ?

2.4 The Serial or Linear Sequential Development Model

This Model also called as the Classic life cycle or the Waterfall model. The Linear sequential model suggests a systematic sequential approach to software development that begins at the system level and progresses through analysis, design, coding, testing, and support. Figure 2.1 shows the linear sequential model for software engineering Modeled after a conventional engineering cycle, the linear sequential model has the following activities:

Fig. 2.1: The linear sequential model

System/Information Engineering and modeling: Because software is a part of a large system, work begins by establishing requirements for all system elements and then allocating some subset of these requirements to software. This system view is essential when software must interact with other element such as hardware, people and databases. System engineering and analysis encompasses requirements
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gathering at the system level with a small amount of top level design and analysis. Information engineering encompasses requirements gathering at the strategic business level and at the business area level. Software requirement analysis The requirement gathering process is intensified and focused specifically on software. To understand the nature of the program to be built, the software engineer (analyst) must understand the information domain for the software, as well as required function, behavior, performance and interface. Requirements for the both system and the software are documented and reviewed with the customer. Design Software design is actually a multistep process that focuses on four distinct attributes of a program, data structure, software architecture, interface representations, and procedural (algorithmic) detail. The design process translates requirements into a representation of the software that can be assessed for quality before coding begins. Like requirements, the design is documented and becomes part of the software configuration. Code Generation The design must be translated into a machinereadable form. The code generation step performs this task. If design is performed in a detailed manner, code generation can be accomplished mechanistically. Testing Once code has been generated, program testing begins. The testing process focuses on the logical internals of the software, ensuring that all statements have been tested, and on the functional externals; that is, conducting tests to uncover errors and ensure that defined input will produce actual results that agree with required results.

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Support Software will undergo change after it is delivered to the customer. Change will occur because errors have been encountered, because the software must be adopted to accommodate changes in its external environments or because the customer requires functional or performance enhancements. Software maintenance re-applies each of the preceding phases to an existing program rather than a new one. A successful software product is one that satisfies all the objectives of the development project. These objectives include satisfying the requirements and performing the development within time and cost constraints. Generally, for any reasonable size projects, all the phases listed in the model must be performed explicitly and formally. The second reason is the one that is now under debate. For many projects the linear ordering of these phases is clearly the optimum way to organize these activities. However some argue that for many projects this ordering of activity is unfeasible or suboptimal. Still waterfall model is conceptually the simplest process model for software development that has been used most often. Limitation of the linear sequential model 1. The linear sequential model or waterfall model assumes the requirement of a system which can be frozen (baseline) before the design begins. This is possible for systems designed to automate an existing manual system. But for a new system, determining the requirements is difficult as the user does not even know the requirements. Hence, having unchanging requirements is unrealistic for such projects. 2. Freezing the requirements usually requires choosing the hardware (because it forms a part of the requirement specifications) A large project might take a few years to complete. If the hardware is selected
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early, then due to the speed at which hardware technology is changing , it is likely the final software will use a hardware technology on the verge of becoming obsolete. This is clearly not desirable for such expensive software systems. 3. The waterfall model stipulates that the requirements be completely specified before the rest of the development can proceed. In some situations it might be desirable to first develop a part of the system completely and then later enhance the system in phases. This is often done for software products that are developed not necessarily for a client, but for general marketing, in which case the requirements are likely to be determined largely by the developers themselves. 4. It is a document driven process that requires formal documents at the end of each phase. This approach tends to make the process documentation-heavy and is not suitable for many applications, particularly interactive application, where developing elaborate

documentation of the user interfaces is not feasible. Also, if the development is done using fourth generation language or modern development tools, developing elaborate specifications before

implementation is sometimes unnecessary. Despite these limitations, the serial model is the most widely used process model. It is well suited for routine types of projects where the requirements are well understood. That is if the developing organization is quite familiar with the problem domain and requirements for the software are quite clear, the waterfall model or serial model works well. RAD Model Rapid Application Development (RAD) is an incremental software development process model that emphasizes an extremely short

development cycle. The RAD model is a high speed adaptation of the linear sequential model in which the rapid development is achieved by using
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component-based construction. If requirements are clear and well understood and the project scope is constrained, the RAD process enables a development team to create a fully functional system within a very short period of time. The RAD approach encompasses the following phases: Business modeling Here we try to find answers to questions like what information drives the business process? What information is generated? Who generates it? Where does the information go? Who processes it? Etc., Data modeling: Here the information flow which would have been defined as part of the business modelling phase is refined into a set of data objects that are needed to support the business. Process modeling The data objects defined in the data modelling phase are transformed to achieve the information flow necessary to implement a business function. Processing descriptions are created for adding, modifying, deleting, or retrieving a data object. Application generation: RAD assumes the use of fourth generation techniques. Rather than creating software using conventional third generation programming languages the RAD process works to reuse existing program components(when possible) or create reusable components(when necessary). In all cases, automated tools are used to facilitate construction of the software. Testing and turnover Since the RAD process emphasizes reuse, many of the program components have already been tested. This reduces overall testing time. However, new components must be tested and all interfaces must be fully exercised.
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Drawbacks of the RAD model: For large but scalable projects, RAD requires sufficient human resources to create the right number of RAD teams. RAD requires developers and customers who are committed to the rapid-fire acitivites necessary to get a system complete in a much abbreviated time frame. If commitment is lacking from either, RAD projects will fail. Not all types of applications are appropriate for RAD. If a system cannot be properly modularized, building the components necessary for RAD will be problematic. If high performance is an issue and performance is to be achieved through tuning the interfaces to system components, the RAD approach may not work. RAD is not appropriate when technical risks are high. This occurs when a new application makes a heavy use of new technology or when the new software requires a high degree of interoperability with existing computer programs. Self Assessment Questions 1. Explain the drawbacks of the RAD model ?

2.5 Iterative Development Model

The iterative enhance model counters the third limitation of the waterfall model and tries to combine a benefit of both prototyping and the waterfall model. The basic idea is that the software should be developed in increments, each increment adding some functional capability to the system until the full system is implemented. At each step, extensions and design modifications can be made. An advantage of this approach is that it can result in better testing because testing each increment is likely to be easier than testing the entire system as in the waterfall model. The increment

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models provide feedback to the client i.e., useful for determining the final requirements of the system. In the first step of this model, a simple initial implementation is done for a subset of the overall problem. This subset is one that contains some of the key aspects of the problem that are easy to understand and implement and which form a useful and usable system. A project control list is created that contains, in order, all the tasks that must be performed to obtain the final implementation. This project control list gives an idea of how far the project is at any given step from the final system. Each step consists of removing the next task from the list, designing the implementation for the selected task, coding and testing the implementation, performing an analysis of the partial system obtained after this step, and updating the list as a result of the analysis. These three phases are called the design phase, implementation phase and analysis phase. The process is integrated until the project control list is empty, at which time the final implementation of the system will be available. The iterative enhancement process model is shown in figure 2.2.

Fig. 2.2: The iterative enhancement model

The project control list guides the iteration steps and keeps track of all tasks that must be done. Based on the analysis, one of the tasks in the list can include redesign of defective components or redesign of the entire system. Redesign of the system will occur only in the initial steps. In the later steps, the design would have stabilized and there is less chance of redesign. Each
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entry in the list is a task that should be performed in one step of the iterative enhancement process and should be completely understood. Selecting tasks in this manner will minimize the chance of error and reduce the redesign work. The design and implementation phases of each step can be performed in a top-down manner or by using some other technique. One effective use of this type of model is for product development, in which the developers themselves provide the specifications and therefore have a lot of control on what specifications go in the system and what stay out. In a customized software development, where the client has to essentially provide and approve the specifications, it is not always clear how this process can be applied. Another practical problem with this type of development project comes in generating the business contract-how will the cost of additional features be determined and negotiated, particularly because the client organization is likely to be tied to the original vendor who developed the first version. Overall, in these types of projects, this process model can be useful if the core of the applications to be developed is well understood and the increments can be easily defined and negotiated. In client-oriented projects, this process has the major advantage that the clients organization does not have to pay for the entire software together, it can get the main part of the software developed and perform cost-benefit analysis for it before enhancing the software with more capabilities.

2.6 The incremental Development Model

The incremental model combines elements of the linear sequential model with the iterative of prototyping. Figure 2.3 shows the incremental model applies linear sequences in a staggered fashion as calendar time progresses. Each linear sequence produces a deliverable increment of the software. For e.g., word processing software developed using the
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incremental paradigm might deliver basic file management, editing, and document production functions in the first increment; more sophisticated editing and document production capabilities in the second increment; spelling and grammar checking in the third increment; and advanced page layout capability in the fourth increment. It should be noted that the process flow for any increment could incorporate the prototyping paradigm.

Fig. 2.3: The incremental model

When an incremental model is used, the first increment is a core product. That is, basic requirements are addressed, but many supplementary features remain undelivered. The customer uses the core product. As a result of use and/or evaluation, a plan is developed for the next increment. The plan addresses the modification of the core product to better meet the needs of the customer and the delivery of additional features and functionality. This process is repeated following the delivery of each increment, until the complete product is produced. The incremental process model is iterative in nature. The incremental model focuses on the delivery of an operational product with each increment. Incremental development is particularly useful when staffing is unavailable for a complete implementation by the business deadline that has been
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established for the project. Early increments can be implemented with fewer people. If the core product is well received, then additional staff can be added to implement the next increment. In addition increments can be planned to manage technical risks. For e.g.: a major system might require the availability of new hardware i.e., under development and whose delivery date is uncertain. It might be possible to plan early increments in a way that avoids the use of this hardware, thereby enabling partial functionality to be delivered to end users- without inordinate delay. Spiral model This model couples the iterative nature of the prototyping with the controlled and systematic aspects of the linear sequential model. It provides the potential for rapid development of incremental versions of the software. Using the spiral model, software is developed in a series of incremental releases. During early iterations, the incremental release might be a paper model or prototype. During later iterations, increasingly more complete versions of the engineered system are produced. Usually the spiral model consists of around six task regions or phases. Customer communication: tasks required to establish effective

communication between developer and customer. Planning: tasks required to define resources, timelines, and other projectrelated information. Risk analysis: tasks required to assess both technical and management risks. Engineering: tasks required to build one or more representations of the application. Construction and release: tasks required to construct, test, install and provide user support. (e.g. documentation and training).
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Customer evaluation: tasks required to obtain customer feedback based on evaluation of the software representations created during the engineering stage and implemented during the installation stage. As the evolutionary process begins, the software engineering team moves around the spiral in a clockwise direction, beginning at the center. The first circuit around the spiral might result in the development of a product specification; subsequent circuit passes around the spiral might be used to develop a prototype and then progressively more spohesticated versions of the software. Each passes through the planning region resulting in adjustments to the project plan. Cost and schedule are adjusted based on feedback derived from customer evaluation. In addition, the project manager adjusts the planned number of iterations required to complete the software. Self Assessment Questions 1. Explain the Spiral Model.

2.7 The Parallel or Concurrent Development Model

The concurrent process model can be represented schematically as a series of major technical activities, tasks, and their associated states. For e.g.:, the engineering activity defined for the spiral model is accomplished by invoking the following tasks. Prototyping and / or analysis modeling, requirements specification, and design. Figure 2.4 shows that it provides a schematic representation of one activity with the concurrent process model. The activity-analysis-may be in any one of the states noted at any given time. Similarly, other activities (e.g. Design or customer communication) can be represented in an analogous manner. All activities exist concurrently but reside in different states. For e.g., early in a project the customer communication activity has completed its first iteration and exists in the awaiting Changes State. The analysis activity
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(which existed in the none state while initial customer communication was completed) now makes a transition into the under development state. If the customer indicates that changes in requirements must be made, the analysis activity moves from the under development state into the awaiting changes state. The concurrent process model defines a series of events that will trigger transition from state to state for each of the software engineering activities. For e.g., during early stages of design, an inconsistency in the analysis model is uncovered. This generates the event analysis model correction, which will trigger the analysis activity from the done state into the awaiting Changes State.

Fig. 2.4: One element of concurrent process model

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The concurrent process model is often used as the paradigm for the development of client/server applications. A client/server system is composed of a set of functional components. When applied to client/server, the concurrent process model defines activities in two dimensions a system dimension and component dimension. System level issues are addressed using three activities, design assembly, and use. The component dimension addressed with two-activity design and realization. Concurrency is achieved in two ways; (1) System and component activities occur simultaneously and can be modeled using the state oriented approach (2) a typical client server application is implemented with many components, each of which can be designed and realized concurrently. The concurrent process model is applicable to all types of software development and provides an accurate picture of the current state of a project. Rather than confining software-engineering activities to a sequence of events, it defines a net work of activities. Each activity on the network exists simultaneously with other activities. Events generated within a given activity or at some other place in the activity network trigger transitions among the sates of an activity. Component based development model: This model incorporates the characteristics of the spiral model. It is evolutionary in nature, demanding an iterative approach to the creation of software. However, the component-based development model composes applications from prepackaged software components called classes. Classes created in past software engineering projects are stored in a class library or repository. Once candidate classes are identified, the class library is searched to determine if these classes already exist. If they do, they are extracted from the library and reused. If a candidate class does not reside in the library, it is engineered using object-oriented methods. The first iteration
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of the application to be built is then composed using classes extracted from the library and any new classes built to meet the unique needs of the application. Process flow then returns to the spiral and will ultimately re-enter the component assembly iteration during subsequent passes through the engineering activity. The component based development model leads to software reuse, and reusability provides software engineers with a number of measurable benefits although it is very much dependent on the robustness of the component library.

2.8 Hacking
The growing dependence of society on software also places tremendous social responsibilities on the shoulders of software engineers and their managers. When the software is being used to monitor the health of patients, control nuclear power plants, apply the breaks in an automobile, transfer billions of dollars in an instant, launch missiles, or navigate an airplane, it is not simply good engineering to build reliable software; it is also the engineers ethical responsibilities to do so. Program defects are not merely inconvenient bugs or interesting technical puzzles to be captured, but potentially serious business-or life-threatening errors. Building reliable software is technical objective of the software engineer, but it also has ethical and social implications that must guide the actions of a serious professional. In this light, Hacking, i.e., inserting play full bugs into programs, creating viruses, writing quick and dirty code j ust to meet a schedule or a market window, shipping defective software, and even shipping software that works but does not meet the agreed upon specifications is unethical.

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2.9 Summary
Software engineering is a discipline that integrates process, methods and tools for the development of computer software. The software process models consist of activities, which are involved, in developing software products. Basic activities are software specification, development, validation and evolution. The linear sequential model of the software process considers each process activity as a separate and discrete phase. The evolutionary development model such as iterative, increment model of the software process treats specification, development and validation as concurrent activities.

2.10 Terminal Questions

1. Explain whether the linear sequential model of the software process is an accurate reflection of software development activities or not. 2. Giving reason for your answer based on the system being developed suggest the most appropriate generic software process model which might be used as a basic for managing the development of the following systems; a) a system to control anti-lock barking in a car; b) a virtual reality system to support software maintenance; c) a university accounting system which is intended to replace an existing system; d) an interactive system which allows railway passenger to find train times from terminals installed in stations. 3. Which of the software engineering paradigms presented in this chapter do you think would be most effective? Why? 4. Describe the concurrent development model in your own words.

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2.11 Answers to Terminal Questions

1. Refer to section 2.4 2. Refer to sections 2.4 to 2.6 3. Refer to section 2.7

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