Software Engineering and Processes Concept Map–Section 1

SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND PROCESSES CONCEPT MAP–SECTION 1
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1 Explain the various elements of software engineering.
Software engineering comprises of the following key elements:
1.1 Requirements analysis and definition
This element forms the basis for agreement between different stakeholders who shall use the software, e.g., employees, customers, contractors, and suppliers. Thus software requirements are the system specifications that guide software design, and it precedes the development phase. Requirements analysis deliverables include costs, risks, and schedules.
1.2 System and software design
This element results in the complete software architecture. Key processes include the identification of critical software system elements and describing their relationships.
Implementation and unit testing
The software design emerges as a complete set of software components.
1.3 Integration and system testing
This element entails testing and integrating individual system units into the complete system. The purpose of this phase is to ensure that requirements are fully met, and the system operates flawlessly. The system is delivered after it has successfully gone through testing (Briand, 2012).
1.4 Operation and maintenance
This system element involves the delivery and deployment, and operationalization of the software system, whereas maintenance involves the correction of errors.
Different software engineering methodologies use these elements even though in varying degrees. Traditionally, these elements are used in the waterfall development model. During requirements analysis, system testing, and integration, prototype methodology can be used to collect system requirements. Rapid application development (RAD) incorporates concurrent use of these elements. However, extreme programming and Joint Application Development methodologies tend to follow the traditional waterfall model and hence use these elements iteratively.
2 List the fundamental activities involved in software engineering.
Some of the fundamental activities that are involved in software engineering are
1. Software coding
2. Unit testing
3. Full-Scale Testing
a. Exploratory Testing
b. Regression Testing
c. Reporting
Explain the software process models-Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) and the waterfall model, including incremental development, integration, and configuration.
The software process models that will be discussed are software development life cycle (SDLC), waterfall model, incremental development, software integration, and configuration.
* Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
In ADLC, preceding phases do not begin until the previous phase has been accomplished. These phases often overlap and are interdependent. The SDLC is not a typical linear development model but comprises a sequence of iterating software engineering tasks. Iterations are primarily expensive and demand extensive reworking. Thus the waterfall model is ideal for software engineering situations where requirements are well understood and likely to remain constant throughout the development lifecycle (Dittrich, 2014).