Software Engineering Is Like An Art

Roger S. Pressman, Ph.D. SOFTWARE ENGINEERING A Practitioner’s Approach, McGraw-Hill, an imprint of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Americas, New York, NY -10020, 2001.

The author of the article mainly discusses about the two approaches that are useful for Software engineering.

Please answer all questions, meeting the minimum word count. Do not copy and paste anything, all words need to be typed by your own fingers.

Please Spiral model is similar to the evolutionary model with more emphasis on risk management. The diagrammatic representation of the model is in form of spiral having many loops. The exact number of loops of the spiral is not fixed. It may vary from project to project. Each loop of the spiral is called up as the phase of the software development process. Basically there are 4 phases of the spiral model – Planning, Risk Analysis, Engineering and Review & Reevaluation. Software repeatedly passes through these phases in order to reach the completion.

The object orientated software engineering approach or the waterfall approach is an example of an object-modelling language. In this essay I will detail the advantages & disadvantages of using this methodology. I will also compare and contrast this methodology with an alternative approach of software engineering which is the agile or scrum approach.

The original Waterfall model has a foundation that is supported by two distinct characteristics. First, the methodology is rooted in the fact that that the software be developed in stages. “Originally created by Benington in 1956 and later modified by Royce in 1970, the quintessential Waterfall model is linear and sequential in evolution, typically with milestones at each phase of development. (Pavolka, 2005). As seen in figure 1 (Ruparelia, May 2010), the typical thresholds consisted of Evaluation, Requirements, Analysis, Design, Development, Validation, and ultimately Deployment. The evaluation phase, at the aggregate level, helps to reveal the situation at hand. The requirements phase is arguably the most important phase of the Waterfall plan as it lays out the project statement and sets the framework and expectations for the project. The next phase, Analysis, works as a comparison between what capabilities are needed versus what constraints currently exist. That leads into the Design phase in which the software developers determine the architecture required to meet the customer’s expectations taking into account the constraints previously identified. Development is the next phase that takes the inputs from the Design phase and outputs a tangible product ready for testing. The testing or Validation phase is the process in which the software is checked for two things: a) any and all bugs are identified and removed and b) the original scope of work including all

The Waterfall method was originally developed in 1970 by Dr. W Royce to assist with the development of software. It has survived to this day through adaption and revisions enabling it to be one of the most widely used models (Charvat 2003). Its namesake originates from the analogy of a waterfall flowing downwards with the model following suit, cascading towards completion (Balaji and Murugaiyan 2012) this is known as a serial lifecycle. Each phase (starting in the top left corner) within the serial lifecycle is completed before moving on to the next phase until the end goal is reached (see Figure 1). This kind of method suits projects that have clearly defined stage goals, outcomes or solutions that are highlighted in the initial strategy of

Waterfall Model is the first software development process model proposed by Royce in 1970 which is a linear sequential software development life cycle (SDLC) model. It is a sequential process model which does not overlap. It means that until the one phase is not completed then next phase cannot start.

While the waterfall model has its flaws, it is important that an organization follows a model. With strict deadlines, tight budgets, and changing targets, a uniform process is required to meet the business needs. Ad hoc process cannot account for all the business constraints and timelines. The waterfall model provides a framework and clear track for software development. It is important to share best practices and evolve aspects of the waterfall method to meet today’s industry standards. Success can result from combining experience and knowledge, and best practices from the past and present and planning and adapting these for future expectations.

This paper discusses about Traditional Software engineering, Agile software development, the Waterfall software development model and also a new concept of Agile software engineering. After a thorough analysis of the paper, I could relate it to topics of Traditional Software Engineering (TSE) which is the process of developing software products. It deals with Cost estimation and budgeting, scheduling, Requirements analysis, Design, Implementation, Testing and Deployment, Measuring products and processes, Quality improvement, Maintenance and so on… Another concept that I could relate to was

An integral part of ensuring that any organization runs smoothly, is ensuring that they have the proper software necessary to perform daily functions effectively and efficiently. No two-software developed will ever be the same, and the same goes for its updates. This leads me to my next point which is, since software programs are developed to meet the different needs of different organizations, it is difficult, better yet nearly impossible for there to be just one type of method for software development. Thus, software development can take form in using anyone of the three categories. There is the Rainfall method (also referred to as the traditional method), the Agile, and the Hybrid. This paper will feature the comparisons of two

Waterfall model: This model has five phase like requirements, design, implementation, verification and maintenance. It is a sequential process. It is originated from manufacturing and construction industries. It is proposed by Royce. This model is series of cascading steps that covers actual development process of the project and has iteration between its steps. The main problem with this model is that rigidity of the model and there is no iteration between any other stages other than adjacent stages. As we all know that web is the fastest mode of developing technology, therefore a model which will automatically adapt to the changes taking place in the environment are to be preferred.

The waterfall method is a linear, sequential, non-iterative process for software development first mentioned by Herbert Benington in 1956. The software development life cycle (SDLC) is defined by Ruparelia as “a conceptual framework or process that considers the structure of the stages in-volved in the development of an application from its initial feasibility study through to its deploy-ment in the field and maintenance (Ruparelia, 2010, p. 8).’’ This method is so named “waterfall’’ because the stages of the SDLC cascade down through the stages of product consideration, re-quirements, analysis, design, development, testing, implementation and review/maintenance.

Though many people interchange system engineering models and software engineering life cycle models, they are defined as two different approaches to software development. System engineering is the technical and technical management process that results in delivered products and systems that exhibit the best balance of cost and performance. As the program progresses from one phase to the next one, so does the system engineering process. It deals with the overall management of engineering project during their life cycle. Its main focus is knowing what the clients and end users wants and needs are satisfied and developing just that all the way through the system’s entire life cycle. Whereas, on the other hand, software engineering focuses on the quality of the product or system, how cost effective it is, is it done within the time-constraints given, whether it is easy to maintain and enhance, and does it work as the requirements defined. Its main focus is on delivering a product that meets the requirement specifications. There are so many models to choose from, as it all depends on what the project needs and entails. Depending on the requirements, allows for the choice of what mode to use.

Software engineering has become a part of everyone’s life. People need software for various activities such as paying electricity, mobile bills through an automated systems and so on which make their work easier. Software engineering is a tedious task which involves steps such as planning, gathering requirements, designing and analysis (whether the architecture fits the requirements of the user or not), implementation (turning the design into machine executable code), testing and maintenance activities. Each step needs careful planning and execution because they involve a lot of money, time, and effort. In the same way to make their work easier, the Federal Bureau of Investigation wanted to build an automated system which provides a transition from their daily paper-based work to fulfill their tasks electronically. Therefore, they wanted to build a project called Sentinel. The Sentinel project had setbacks right from the start. When the request for proposal was published, only two companies came forward to take up the project which is really shocking for any organization. “The CIA’s new approach to break-down the entire project into smaller pieces and work on them incrementally did not seem difficult in the beginning, but as the time goes on they faced the real hardships[1]”. The important reasons for the failure of Sentinel Project are lack of proper scoping, no proper planning(repetitive increments in each phase and no proper estimates on time, money and prototyping which