Explain the waterfall model. Explain why it is more advantageous than adhoc methods.

1 Answer

Answer :

Ans Waterfall Model: 1.The waterfall model is a sequential software development process, in which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of Conception, Initiation, analysis, design (validation), Construction, testing and maintenance. 2. The first formal description of the waterfall model is given by Winston W. Royce in 1950, however, popular in 1970, and further refined by Barry Boehm. 3. To follow the waterfall model, one proceeds from one phase to the next in a purely sequential manner. For example, one first completes requirements specifications, which are set in stone. When the requirements are fully completed, one proceeds to design. 4. Process structured as a cascade of phases where output of one is input of next. 5. Many variants of model depending on organization and specific project. However underlying phases are same for all. Why Waterfall model is advantageous than Adhoc Methods Ad-hoc Process Models-“Process capability is unpredictable because the software process is constantly changed or modified as the work progresses. Schedules, budgets, functionality, and product quality are generally inconsistent. Performance depends on the capabilities of individuals and varies with their innate skills, knowledge, and motivations. There are few stable software processes in evidence, and performance can be predicted only by individual rather than organizational capability.” So to overcome this problem waterfall model provides the following advantages: a. Waterfall model is simple to follow, however real projects rarely follows this approach. b. Iteration is not required. c. It is widely use because it is easy.

Related questions

Description : What is the advantage of using prototype software development model instead of waterfall model? Also explain the effect of defining a prototype on the overall cost of the software project?

Last Answer : Ans:The waterfall model: This is the classic SDLC model, with a linear and sequential method that has goals for each development phase. The waterfall model simplifies task scheduling, because ... acceptable prototype is finally achieved from which the complete system or product can now be developed.

Description : Requirements can be refined using (A) The waterfall model (B) prototyping model (C) the evolutionary model (D) the spiral model

Last Answer : (B) prototyping model

Description : For a well understood data processing application it is best to use (A) The waterfall model (B) prototyping model (C) the evolutionary model (D) the spiral model

Last Answer : (A) The waterfall model

Description : The model in which the requirements are implemented by category is (A) Evolutionary Development Model (B) Waterfall Model (C) Prototyping (D) Iterative Enhancement Model

Last Answer : (A) Evolutionary Development Model

Description : Explain any two requirement elicitation methods.

Last Answer : Ans. Interviews: After receiving the problem statement from the customer, the first step is to arrange a meeting with the customer. During the meeting or interview, both the parties would like to ... -Board, flip chart, worksheets, wall stickiest, etc. Participants should not criticize or debate.

Description : Explain incremental model? Define core product and detailed plan.

Last Answer : Ans. The incremental model is proposed by D.L PARNAS. It is basically implemented by combining elements of linear sequential model and iterative prototyping model. Incremental development refer to the process ... . Risk of failure of product is decreased as user start using the product early.

Description : Spiral model is a realistic approach to the development of large-scale systems & software. Justify & explain the model?

Last Answer : Ans. There are several advantages of Spiral model that makes it a realistic approach to development of large-scale systems and software, viz: 1) The spiral model promotes quality assurance ... , which can help in identifying and resolving potential problems or errors in the software development.

Description : Explain the software life cycle model that incorporates risk factor.

Last Answer : Ans. The problem with traditional software process models is that they do not deal sufficiently with the uncertainty, which is inherent to software projects. Important software projects failed ... . The risk analysis and validation steps eliminate errors in the early phases of development

Description : Explain the development phases of the detailed COCOMO model.

Last Answer : Ans A software development is carried out in four successive phases, which are as follows: 1: plan/requirements: this is the first phase of the development cycle. The requirement is analyzed, the product ... product. This requires 16% to 34% of normal effort and 18% to 34% of the development time.

Description : Explain the development phases of the detailed COCOMO model.

Last Answer : Ans A software development is carried out in four successive phases, which are as follows: 1: plan/requirements: this is the first phase of the development cycle. The requirement is analyzed, the product ... product. This requires 16% to 34% of normal effort and 18% to 34% of the development time.

Description : The spiral model of software development (A) Ends with the delivery of the software product (B) Is more chaotic than the incremental model (C) Includes project risks evaluation during each iteration (D) All of the above

Last Answer : (C) Includes project risks evaluation during each iteration

Description : Which of the items listed below is not one of the software engineering layers? (A) Process (B) Manufacturing (C) Methods (D) Tools

Last Answer : (B) Manufacturing

Description : Describe the various steps of the reuse-oriented model.

Last Answer : Ans. The reuse-oriented model, also called reuse-oriented development (ROD), is a method of software development in which a program is refined by producing a sequence of prototypes called models, each ... requirements, resulting in a product that does not fully meet the needs of its intended users.

Description : What are the assumptions of the execution-time component model? Compare the execution-time component for basic model and the logarithmic Poisson model.

Last Answer : Ans. The execution-time component is based on the following assumptions: (1) Tests represent the environment in which the program will be used. (2) All failures are observed. (3) ... constant for basic model while the decrement per failure decreases exponentially as shown in the following graph.

Description : Define capability. What are the quantities that determine the degree of capability of a software reliability model?

Last Answer : Ans: Capability refers to the ability of the model to estimate with satisfactory accuracy quantities needed by managers; engineers and users in planning and managing software development or running ... , expected date of reaching reliability, resource and cost requirements to reach the objectives.

Description : Compare the basic COCOMO model with the detailed COCOMO model .

Last Answer : Ans. COCOMO consists of a hierarchy of three increasingly detailed and accurate forms. Basic COCOMO - is a static single-valued model that computes software development effort (and cost) as a ... cost driver's impact on each step (analysis, design, etc.) of the software engineering process.

Description : How does the risk factor affect the spiral model of software development?

Last Answer : Ans:Risk Analysis phase is the most important part of "Spiral Model". In this phase all possible (and available) alternatives, which can help in developing a cost effective project are analyzed ... data and find out possible solution in order to deal with the potential changes in the requirements.

Description : Which of these terms is a level name in the Capability Maturity Model? (A) Ad hoc (B) Repeatable (C) Reusable (D) Organized

Last Answer : (C) Reusable

Description : Which is the most important feature of spiral model? (A) Quality management (B) Risk management (C) Performance management (D) Efficiency management

Last Answer : (B) Risk management

Description : The model that assumes that effort and development time are functions of product size alone is (A) Basic COCOMO model (B) Intermediate COCOMO model (C) Detailed COCOMO model (D) All the three COCOMO models

Last Answer : (A) Basic COCOMO model

Description : ER model shows the (A) Static view. (B) Functional view. (C) Dynamic view. (D) All the above.

Last Answer : (A) Static view.

Description : In the spiral model ‘risk analysis’ is performed (A) In the first loop (B) in the first and second loop (C) In every loop (D) before using spiral model

Last Answer : (C) In every loop

Description : A COCOMO model is (A) Common Cost Estimation Model. (B) Constructive Cost Estimation Model. (C) Complete Cost Estimation Model. (D) Comprehensive Cost Estimation Model.

Last Answer : (B) Constructive Cost Estimation Model.

Description : The most important feature of spiral model is (A) requirement analysis. (B) risk management. (C) quality management. (D) configuration management.

Last Answer : (B) risk management.

Description : Draw the flow chart of Risk Management-Activity and explain various Software risks.

Last Answer : Ans RISK is a problem that could cause some loss or threatens the success of the project, but which has not happened yet. Typical Software Risks:- 1. Dependencies: -Many ... Inadequate application domain experience. New technologies. Ineffective, poorly documented, or neglected processes.

Description : What is Data Dictionary? Explain each component?

Last Answer : Ans Data dictionary is a storehouse of data giving information about data. It is a list of terms and their definition for all data items and data files of a system. A data dictionary contains ... Data Stores- data Flows are data structures in motion whereas data stores are data structures at rest.

Description : Explain various types of static and dynamic testing tools.

Last Answer : Ans. Static testing tools: 1. Static analysers A static analyser operates from a pre-computed database of descriptive information derived from the source text of the program. The idea of a static ... for documenting that the tests have been done and that no defects were found during the process.

Description : Explain various Object Oriented concepts used in Software Engineering. Give an example.

Last Answer : Ans .Various concepts of Object Oriented concepts used in Software Engineering: Object:- An object is something which is capable of being seen, touched or sensed. Each object has certain distinctions ... . A message can be sent between two objects only if they have an association between them.

Description : What is function point? Explain its importance. What is function-oriented metrics?

Last Answer : Ans. Function point measures the functionality from the user point of view, that is, on the basis of what the user request and receives in return. Therefore, it deals with ... empirical relationship based on countable measures of software's information domain and assessments of software complexity.

Description : Explain acceptance testing and beta testing.

Last Answer : Ans. Acceptance Testing and Beta testing:System tests are designed to validate a fully developed system to assure that it meets its requirements. Acceptance and beta testing are form of system ... testing performed by the cutomer to determine whether he should accept the delivery of the system.

Description : Explain the concept of bottom-up, top-down and hybrid design.

Last Answer : Ans: Bottom up design:This approach leads to a style of design where we decide how to combine these modules to provide larger ones; to combine those to provide even larger ones, ... approaches are often not practical therefore hybrid approach which combines the above two approaches is often used.

Description : What are dynamic testing tools? Explain the functions that they must support.

Last Answer : Ans. Dynamic testing tools: 1: coverage analyzers (execution verifiers): A coverage analyzer is the most common and important tool for testing. It is often relatively simple. One of the common ... tester to plan tests so they are both efficient and also effective at forcing discovery of defects.

Description : Explain Equivalence Class Partitioning and Boundary value analysis. Compare the two.

Last Answer : Ans. Equivalence Class Partitioning: It is a technique in black box testing. It is designed to minimize the number of test cases by dividing tests in such a way that the system is expected to act the ... valid data equivalence class, then you can select test case values like: 1, 11, 100, 950 etc.

Description : Explain the following with the help of an example (i) Common coupling (ii) Communicational cohesion (iii) Class diagram (iv) Structure chart

Last Answer : Ans. (i) Common coupling: Common coupling is when two modules share the same global data (e.g. a global variable). Changing the shared resource implies changing all the modules using it ... Whether each identifiable function is a manageable entity or should be broken down into smaller components.

Description : Explain throw-away prototyping and evolutionary prototyping. Discuss the differences between the two.

Last Answer : Ans Throw-Away Prototyping: Also called close ended prototyping. Throwaway or Rapid Prototyping refers to the creation of a model that will eventually be discarded rather than becoming part of the ... develop parts of the system that they understand instead of working on developing a whole system.

Description : Explain the following: (i) Equivalence class testing. (ii) User and System documentation with examples. (iii) Core dumps.

Last Answer : Ans: (i) Equivalence class testing is based on partitioning the input domain of a program into a number of equivalence classes so that the test of a representative value of each ... indiscriminately. Sometimes it is difficult to interpret the dump which is represented using hexadecimal numbers.

Description : Explain a. the activities of software maintenance. b. key process areas of CMM.

Last Answer : Ans: a) Software maintenance is a broad activity that includes error correction, enhancement of capabilities, deletion of obsolete capabilities and optimization. b) Key process areas of CMM ... management which establishes and maintains the integrity of the products throughout the life cycle.

Description : Explain some of the limitations of testing.

Last Answer : Ans: Though testing is an important part of system development and leads to a valid, verified and efficient system, it also faces some limitation in its scope. Following are some of such limitations. ... to a complete re- development of the module under testing and hence putting all effects in vain.

Description : Define software testing. Explain various level of testing .

Last Answer : Ans: Software testing is a process used to help identify the correctness, completeness and quality of developed computer software. With that in mind, testing can never completely establish the ... various level of testing are : Unit Testing Integrating testing Validation testing System testing

Description : Explain cause effect graphing .

Last Answer : Ans: Cause-effect graphing is a test case design technique that provides a concise representation of logical conditions and corresponding actions. There are four steps: 1. Causes (input conditions) and ... graph is converted to a decision table. 4. Decision table rules are converted to test cases.

Description : Software deteriorates rather than wears out because (A) software suffers from exposure to hostile environments. (B) defects are more likely to arise after software has been used often. ( ... requests introduce errors in component interactions. (D) software spare parts become harder to order.

Last Answer : (B) defects are more likely to arise after software has been used often.

Description : Software project planning entails what activities? What are the difficulties faced in measuring the Software Costs?

Last Answer : Ans. Software project planning entails the following activities: Estimation: o -Effort, cost, resource, and project duration Project scheduling: Staff organization: o -staffing ... actual specifications of the system hence cost estimations based on uncertain information cannot be accurate.

Description : What specific languages can be used in SRS? What are the advantages of using these specific languages of SRS?

Last Answer : Ans. Requirement specification necessitates the use of some specification language. The language should support the desired qualities of the SRS- modifiability, understandability, unambiguous, and so forth. ... formally specify the behavior of a system on different combination of input or settings.

Description : How is cyclomatic complexity useful in program test? What is sequence of testing? What is testability?

Last Answer : Ans. Cyclomatic complexity measures the amount of decision logic in a single software module. It is used for two related purposes in the structured testing methodology. First, it gives the number of ... a lack of testability may hinder testing parts of the software or software requirements at all.

Description : Design black box test suits for a function that checks whether a character or string upto ten characters in a palindrome?

Last Answer : Ans Following may be the test cases: - Try with Even number of characters (MALAYALAM) - Try with Odd number of characters (ADDA) - Try with maximum length of string The following are negative test ... come for the following) - Try with empty string - Try with numbers - Try with special characters

Description : Compare and contrast reliability and availability?

Last Answer : Ans. Reliability:The probability of failure-free system operation over a specified time in a given environment for a given purpose is called reliability Availability:The probability that a system, at ... damage data, low reliability may not be a problem. Availability takes repair time into account.

Description : Define cohesion & coupling? Give suitable examples.

Last Answer : Ans Coupling:Coupling refers to the strength of the relationship between modules in a system. Coupling represents how strongly different modules are interconnected with each other. Cohesion: Cohesion ... Cohesion represents how strongly the internal elements of a module are bound to each other.

Description : What is Data Binding?

Last Answer : Ans.The matrix that attempts to capture the module-level concept of coupling is data binding. Data binding are a measure that captures the data interaction across portions of a software system. In ... words, data binding try to specify how strongly coupled different modules in a software system are.

Description : What is CMM? Describe its levels & compare it with ISO 9001?

Last Answer : Ans. CAPABILITY MATURITY MODEL (CMM): CMM is a strategy for improving the software process, irrespective of the actual life cycle model used. Software Engineering Institute (SEI) of Carnegie- ... in the CMM are called out in the auditing practices of the verifying implementation common feature.

Description : Discuss the problems faced during software maintenance

Last Answer : Ans. Problems During Maintenance The most important problem during maintenance is that before correcting or modifying a program, the programmer must first understand it. Then, the programmer ... be very difficult. Therefore approach of development should be the production of maintainable software.