What is Software?

Getting Started
 Software is capable of performing many tasks, as opposed to hardware which can only perform
mechanical tasks that they are designed for. Software provides the means for accomplishing many
different tasks with the same basic hardware
Classes of Software
 System Software: Helps run the computer hardware and computer system itself. System software
includes operating systems, device drivers, diagnostic tools and more. System software is almost
always pre-installed on your computer.
 Application Software: Allows users to accomplish one or more tasks. It includes word processing,
web browsing and almost any other task for which you might install software. (Some application
software is preinstalled on most computer systems.)
 Programming Software: is a set of tools to aid developers in writing programs. The various tools
available are compilers, linkers, debuggers, interpreters and text editors.
Basic Principles
 Software, commonly known as programs or apps, consists of all the instructions that tell the hardware
how to perform a task.
 These instructions come from a software developer in the form that will be accepted by the platform
(operating system + CPU) that they are based on.
 For example, a program that is designed for the Windows operating system will only work for that
specific operating system. Compatibility of software will vary as the design of the software and the
operating system differ.
 Software, in its most general sense, is a set of instructions or programs instructing a computer to do
specific tasks.
Software Evolution

The process of developing a software product using software engineering principles and methods is referred
to as software evolution. This includes the initial development of software and its maintenance and updates,
till desired software product is developed, which satisfies the expected requirements.
Laws of Software Evolution
 Continuing Change: A software system must continue to adapt to the real world changes, else it
becomes progressively less useful.
 Increasing Complexity: A software system evolves, its complexity tends to increase unless work is
done to maintain or reduce it.
 Conservation of Familiarity: The familiarity with the software or the knowledge about how it was
developed, why was it developed in that particular manner etc. must be retained at any cost, to
implement the changes in the system.
 Continuing Growth: In order for a system intended to resolve some business problem, its size of
implementing the changes grows according to the lifestyle changes of the business.
 Reducing Quality: A software system declines in quality unless rigorously maintained and adapted
to a changing operational environment.
 Feedback Systems: The software systems constitute multi-loop, multi-level feedback systems and
must be treated as such to be successfully modified or improved.
 Self-regulations: A system evolution processes are self-regulating with the distribution of product
and process measures close to normal.
 Organizational Stability: The average effective global activity rate in an evolving a system is
invariant over the lifetime of the product.

Software Development Paradigm

Software paradigms refer to the methods and steps, which are
taken while designing the software. There are many methods
proposed and are in work today, but we need to see where in
the software engineering these paradigms stand.
This Paradigm is known as software engineering paradigms
where all the engineering concepts pertaining to the
development of software are applied. It includes various
researches and requirement gathering which helps the software
product to build. It consists of the following:
 Requirement gathering
 Software design
 Programming

Software Design Paradigm

This paradigm is a part of Software Development and includes the following:
 Design
 Maintenance
 Programming
Programming Paradigm
This paradigm is related closely to programming aspect of software development. This includes:
 Coding
 Testing
 Integration
Characteristics of good software
A software product can be judged by what it offers and how well it can be used. This software must satisfy
on the following grounds:
 Operational
 Transitional
 Maintenance
Operational
 Budget - cost
 Usability - the degree of ease with which products such as software and Web applications can be used
to achieve required goals effectively and efficiently.
 Efficiency - is defined as a level of performance that uses the lowest amount of inputs to create the
greatest amount of outputs.
 Correctness - adherence to the specifications that determine how users can interact with the software
and how the software should behave when it is used correctly.
 Functionality - is the ability of the system to do the work for which it was intended.
 Dependability - is the ability to provide services that can defensibly be trusted within a time-period.
 Security – secured system
 Safety
Traditional
This aspect is important when the software is moved from one platform to another:
 Portability - the usability of the same software in different environments
 Reusability - the use of existing assets in some form within the software product development process;
these assets are products and by-products of the software development life cycle and include code,
software components, test suites, designs and documentation.
 Interoperability - the ability of computer systems or software to exchange and make use of
information
 Adaptability - an open system that is able to fit its behavior according to changes in its environment
or in parts of the system itself
This aspect briefs about how well a software has the capabilities to maintain itself in the everchanging
environment:
 Modularity - the extent to which a software/Web application may be divided into smaller modules.
 Maintainability - is defined as the degree to which an application is understood, repaired, or enhanced.
 Flexibility - it normally refers to the ability for the solution to adapt to possible or future changes in
its requirements.
This aspect briefs about how well a software has the capabilities to maintain itself in the everchanging
environment:
 Scalability - is the ability of a program to scale.

Software Development Life Cycle

Software Development Life Cycle, SDLC for short, is a well-defined, structured sequence of stages in
software engineering to develop the intended software product.
Steps in SDLC

Communication – initiate the request

Requirement Gathering – bringing out the information
on what the project requirement is
Feasibility Study - the team analyzes if a software can
be made to fulfill all requirements of the user and if there
is any possibility of software being no more useful.
System Analysis - decide a roadmap of their plan and
try to bring up the best software model suitable for the
project. Understanding the software limitations and
changes to be done
Software design - The inputs from users and
information gathered in requirement gathering phase are
the inputs of this step. Output will be the logical design
System Implementation and the physical design

Implementation Coding – programming phase

Implementation refers to activities that occur Testing – End user testing

before the system is turned over to its users. Its Integration – integration with other entity
purpose is to:
Implementation - installing the software on user
 build a properly working system install machines
it in the organization
 replace the old systems and work Operation and Maintenance – maintaining the code,
methods the systems for patch updates
 finalize system and user documentation Disposition – retirement; legacy system
 train users
 prepare support systems to assist users
Coding
Coding is the process where the physical design specifications developed by the analysis team are converted
into computer codes by the programming team. This can be an involved and intensive activity that depends
on the size and complexity of the system.
Testing
To conduct a test, programmers should have already built the software and have in hand well-defined standards
for what composes a defect. The product can be tested through reviewing their construction and composition
or through exercising their function and examining the results. Software testing usually begins early in the
systems development life cycle, although many of the actual testing activities are carried out during
implementation.
Types of Testing
1. Unit testing: Unit Testing Sometimes called module testing, unit testing is the process of testing
individual code modules before they are integrated with other modules. The objective of unit testing
is to identify and fix as many errors as possible before modules are combined into larger software units
(such as programs, classes, and subsystems). Unit testing is often automated but it can also be done
manually.
2. Integration testing:
a. Interface incompatibility. An example is a caller module that passes a variable of the wrong
data type to a subordinate module.
b. Parameter values. A module is passed or returns a value that was unexpected (such as negative
number for a price).
c. Run-time exceptions. A module generates an error such as “out of memory” or “file already
in use” due to conflicting resource needs.
d. Unexpected state interactions

3. System testing: In system testing, instead of integrating modules into programs for testing, the
programs are integrated into systems. Not only do individual modules and programs are tested several
times in system testing, but also interfaces between modules and programs.
Acceptance Testing
This is testing the system in the environment where it will eventually be used. Acceptance means that users
normally sign off on the system and “accept” it once they are satisfied with it.
There are two types of acceptance testing and these are:
1. Alpha testing – simulated data
2. Beta testing – real data in the real, user environment
There are several types of tests done during alpha testing and these are as follows:
 Recovery testing – forces the software (or environment) to fail in order to verify that recovery is
properly performed
 Security testing – verifies that protection mechanisms built into the system will protect it from
improper penetration
 Stress testing – tries to break the system
 Performance testing – determines how the system performs in the range of possible environments
in which it may be used.
Installation is the process of moving from the current information system to the new one. There are many
constraints when installing a new system and making it operational.
 Incurring costs operating both systems in parallel
 Detecting and correcting errors in the new system
 Potentially disrupting the company and its IS operations
 Training personnel and familiarizing customers with new procedures
Approaches to Installation
1. Direct installation: In direct installation, the old system is turned off and the new system is turned
on. In direct installation, the users use the new system. Whatever errors found from the new system
will have a direct impact on the users and how they do their jobs. If the new system fails,
considerable delay may occur until the old system can operate again and business transactions are
re-entered to make the database updated.
Advantage:
 Simple
Disadvantage:
 Risk
2. Parallel installation: In parallel installation, the old system continues to operate along with the
new system until the users and management are satisfied with the performance of the new system
and has been thoroughly tested and determined to be error-free and ready to operate independently.

Advantage:
 Low risk of system failure
Disadvantage:
 Not Feasible
3. Phased installation: In Phased Installation, the new system is installed and brought into operation
in a series of steps or phases. Components or functions are added to the operational system on each
phase. The system is tested in each phase to make sure that it is ready for the next phase.
Advantage:
 Reduced risk
Disadvantage:
 Increased complexity

Requirements Gathering
Requirements Gathering is a fundamental part of any software development project. It is the process of
generating a list of requirements (functional, system, technical, etc.) from all the stakeholders (customers,
users, vendors, IT staff) that will be used as the basis for the formal definition of what the project is.
The Importance of Requirements Gathering
 The problem with the business customers is that the latter tends to expect software teams
to deliver a solution based on unspoken, incomplete or unknown requirements.
 The problem with software teams is that they tend to assume that business customers will
communicate exactly what they want as succinctly as possible.
 The requirements need to be formally captured in one document that can be used as a
reference during software development.
 Good gathering, processing and management of requirements is important as it sets clear
targets for everyone to aim for. It can be a lot of hard work, but it need not be a daunting
task if you can keep some key points in mind.
 Consider always the user inputs. Find out how actual users complete their tasks and
exactly how they get things done – and how they want to get things done.
The Users Comes First
The requirements should detail how a user would accomplish what they want using the software being
developed. Awareness of any technological preferences and existing system integration is also
fundamental, as it can have a huge impact on the development path and subsequently impact on
performance and user task efficiency.
What are requirements and its specifications?
 A requirement is a statement about an intended product that specifies what it should do or
how it should perform.
 Goal:
o To make as specific, unambiguous, and clear as possible.
 Functional Specifications:

⚬ What the system should do

Non-Functional Specifications:
 what constraints there are on the system its development - (For example that a work processor
runs on different platforms)
What requirements should be gathered?
 Functional:
o What the product should do.
 Data requirements:
o Capture the type, volatility, size/amount, persistence, accuracy and the amounts of the
required data.
 Environmental requirements:
o context of use
o Social environment (eg. Collaboration and coordination)
o how good is user support likely to be d) what technologies will it run on
 Functional:
o What the product should do.
 User Requirements:
o Capture the characteristics of the intended user group.
 Usability Requirement:
o Usability goals associated measures for a particular product.
Data Gathering Techniques
 Questionnaires: Series of questions designed to elicit specific information from us.
o The questions may require different kinds of answers: some require a simple Yes/No,
others ask us to choose from a set of pre-supplied answers.
 Interviews: Interviews involve asking someone a set of questions.
o Often interviews are face-to-face
o Forum for talking to people
o Structured, unstructured or semi-structured
o Props, e.g. sample scenarios of use, prototypes, can be used in interviews
o Good for exploring issues
o But are time consuming and may beinfeasible to visit everyone
 Focus groups and workshops
Interviews tend to be one on one, and elicit only one person’s perspective. It can be very
revealing to get a group of stakeholders together to discuss issues and requirements.
 Studying documentation:
Procedures and rules are often written down in a manual and these are a good source of data
about the steps involved in an activity and any regulations governing a task.
 Naturalistic Observation
o It can be very difficult for humans to explain what they do or to even describe
accurately how they achieve a task.
o Spend time with stakeholders in their day-to-day tasks, observing work as it happens
o Gain insights into stakeholders’ tasks
o Good for understanding the nature and context of the tasks
o But it requires time and commitment from a member of the design team, and it can
result in a huge amount of data
o Ethnography is one form: entire class devoted to this.

Data Gathering Guidelines

 Focus on identifying the stakeholders
 Involve all the stakeholder groups
 Need more than in person from stakeholder group(s)
 Use a combination of data gathering techniques
 Support the data-gathering sessions with suitable props, such as task descriptions and
prototypes if available.
 Run a pilot session if possible, to ensure that your data-gathering session is likely to go as
planned

Requirements Analysis
Requirements Analysis is the process of defining the expectations of the users for an application that is to be
built or modified. Requirements analysis involves all the tasks that are conducted to identify the needs of
different stakeholders.
 Business process modeling notation (BPMN)
 Flowchart technique
 Data flow diagram
 Role Activity Diagrams (RAD)
 Gantt Charts
 Gap Analysis
Business Process Modeling Notation (BPMN)
Business process modeling and notation is used to create graphs for the business process. These graphs
simplify understanding the business process. BPMN is widely popular as a process improvement
methodology.
The Basics of Business Process Modeling and Notation (BPMN) | IBM
Flowchart technique
A flowchart depicts the sequential flow and control logic of a set of activities that are related. Flowcharts are
in different formats such as linear, cross-functional, and top-down. The flowchart can represent system
interactions, data flows, etc.
Flowchart: Room Reservation

Data flow diagram

Data Flow Diagram describes various entities and their relationships with the help of standardized notations
and symbols. By visualizing all the elements of the system it is easier to identify any shortcomings. These
shortcomings are then eliminated in a bid to create a robust solution.
0 Level DFD: Railway Reservation

Role Activity Diagrams (RAD)

Role-activity diagram (RAD) is a role-oriented process model that represents role activity diagrams. Role
activity diagrams are a high-level view that captures the dynamics and role structure of an organization.

RAD: Library Transaction

Gantt Charts
Gant charts used in project planning as they provide a visual representation of tasks that are scheduled along
with the timelines. The Gant charts help to know what is scheduled to be completed by which date. The start
and end dates of all the tasks in the project can be seen in a single view.

Gantt Chart
Gap Analysis
Gap analysis is a technique which helps to analyze the gaps in performance of a software application to
determine whether the business requirements are met or not. It also involves the steps that are to be taken to
ensure that all the business requirements are met successfully.

Gap Analysis