CS 791Z Graduate Topics on Software Engineering

Transcription

1 Department of Computer Science and Engineering College of Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno CS 791Z Graduate Topics on Software Engineering Set of questions for the midterm test of April 27 th, 2015 Version 2 April 22, 2015 [final] A. Study Material Chapter 2, Software Processes [Sommerville 2010] see Lectures 03 and 04 Chapter 3, Agile Software Development [Sommerville 2010] Lecture 06 Paper by Mary Shaw, 2002 Lecture 07 Paper by Sarah Beecham et al, 2014 Lecture 14 Paper by Otero and Peter, 2015 Lecture 15 Paper by Jacobson and Seidewitz, 2014 Lecture 17 Presentation by Ashley Lecture 18 Presentation by Angela Lecture 18 Presentation by Alex Lecture 19 Presentation by Ashok Lecture 19 Presentation by Moinul Lecture 21 Presentation by Lisa Lecture 21 Presentation by Ben Lecture 22 Presentation by Rui Lecture 22 Paper by Barry Boehm, 2006 Lecture 23 B. Questions From Chapter 2, Software Processes [Sommerville 2010] 1. Explain what a software process is and briefly describe the typical phases of a software process (specification, design, etc.). 2. Explain the differences between plan-driven and agile software processes. page 1 of 5

2 3. Describe the waterfall software engineering process model. Also, indicate its 4. Describe the incremental development software engineering process model. Also, indicate its 5. Describe the reuse-oriented software engineering process model. Also, indicate its 6. Describe the incremental delivery software engineering process model. Also, indicate its 7. Describe the Boehm s spiral model software engineering process model. Also, indicate its 8. Describe the Rational Unified software engineering process model. Also, indicate its 9. Explain what is meant by software specification and describe the activities involved in the requirements engineering process. 10. Explain what is meant by software design and describe the activities involved in the software design. 11. Describe the testing phases in a plan-driven software process. 12. Explain what is meant by software evolution and describe the activities involved in the software/system evolution. 13. Explain what is meant by software prototyping and indicate its benefits. Also, explain why throw-away prototypes should be discarded. From Chapter 3, Agile Software Development [Sommerville 2010] 14. Describe the philosophy behind agile methods as reflected in the agile manifesto. 15. Describe the 5 main principles of agile methods. 16. Give at least 5 examples of questions one should ask when deciding on the balance between a plan-based and an agile approach. 17. Describe 5 principles or practices specific to extreme programming (out of 10 indicated in the book). 18. What are several problems pertaining to applying agile methods? (Indicate at least 4.) 19. What is meant by refactoring? Give at least 3 examples of refactoring. 20. Describe the Scrum approach. Indicate what you think are its main advantages and disadvantages. page 2 of 5

3 From paper by Mary Shaw [2002] 21. What are the key questions that need to be addressed in scientific and engineering research? 22. Describe some of the critiques of experimental Software Engineering (SE). 23. Describe the 3 types of publications found by Newman [1994] as prevalent in 5 engineering fields. 24. Describe the model proposed by Mary Shaw [2002] for SE research. Give two examples for each of its three components. From paper by Sarah Beecham et al [2014] 25. Indicate at least 5 challenges in Global Software Engineering (GSE). What do you think are the reasons practitioners do not look at related GSE research papers for finding solutions/guidance to address these challenges? 26. Describe the Practice-Research paradox (or divide) and discuss the reasons for its existence. 27. What do Beecham et al [2014] suggests to do in order to make research accessible and thus address the practice-research divide? From paper by Otero and Peter [2015] 28. Explain what is big data and what is big data software as defined by Otero and Peter [2015]. 29. Describe the single hop and the multi-hop intelligence production processes presented by Otero and Peter [2015]. 30. Describe the requirements problem identified by Otero and Peter [2015] in relation with big data analytics software engineering. 31. Describe the construction problem identified by Otero and Peter [2015] in relation with big data analytics software engineering. 32. Describe the testing problem identified by Otero and Peter [2015] in relation with big data analytics software engineering. From paper by Jacobson and Seidewitz [2014] 33. Explain why Jacobson and Seidewitz [2014] think software engineering (SE) is not truly engineering at this time. 34. Explain the relationships among methods, craftsmanship, theory, and engineering as presented by Jacobson and Seidewitz [2014]. 35. Describe the philosophy behind the SEMAT initiative. 36. Describe the SEMAT kernel for software engineering. page 3 of 5

4 From presentation by Ashley Lecture What are some of the problems educators face when teaching programming? 38. What techniques can be used to overcome the problems related to teaching programming? 39. Why are computer programming concepts not taught in traditional K-12 computer courses? From presentation by Angela Lecture Why is it rare for assistive technologies (ATs) to cater towards multiple disabilities at a time? 41. What are three research trends/directions of assistive technologies (ATs)? 42. Briefly describe three different types of software-based assistive technologies. From presentation by Alex Lecture List two differences of FDM printing over SLA printing. 44. What are some of the characteristics of web technologies used in online CAD software such as TinkerCAD? 45. If 3D printers change the way things are manufactured, how will creators protect the intellectual property of their inventions? From presentation by Ashok Lecture Briefly explain the main challenges of Big Data. 47. Describe the characteristics of Big Data (5Vs & 1C). 48. What are several major application areas for Big Data? From presentation by Moinul Lecture What is scientific modeling? Briefly describe how software engineering can assist scientific modeling. 50. Discuss three issues in adopting software engineering processes for building scientific software. 51. Describe three software environments available for scientific modeling. From presentation by Lisa Lecture What are the various stages in the data processing cycle? 53. Briefly describe 4 data processing methods. 54. Briefly describe 4 data processing tools. page 4 of 5

5 From presentation by Ben Lecture What do you think are the 3 most important reasons that digital game-based learning may be effective? 56. In the context of software engineering, what are two of the greatest challenges facing digital game-based learning research? Discuss how these challenges can be addressed. 57. When working on a digital game-based learning project, is it better to focus on making the content entertaining first, educational first, or should both be focused on simultaneously, and why? From presentation by Rui Lecture What are three differences between SQL and NoSQL databases? 59. What are the advantages of NoSQL over SQL for software development today? 60. Why SciDB does not need index and primary key? From paper by Barry Boehm [2006] Lecture Apply Hegel s view to describe the evolution of software engineering in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s (3 decades). 62. Use either (a) your own views or (b) Boehm s views to characterize the future of software engineering in the next years. Indicate 3 challenges and describe 3 possible trends (or directions) of SE evolution. 63. Apply Hegel s view to describe either (a) your own evolving understanding of computer science (or software engineering) through the years; or (b) Boehm s views of software engineering evolution in the 1990s and 2000s (2 decades). page 5 of 5