CEN 5035Comprehensive Review Worksheet
Note: On all written work submitted for credit in this course, it is assumed that by that act of submission
you pledge to have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on the work submitted.
1. (5 pts.) Sommerville notes that a particularly difficult situation for professional engineers arises when
their employer acts in an unethical way. One example he gives concerns a company that is responsible for
developing a safety critical system and, because of time pressure, falsifies safety validation records.
What does Sommerville advise that a software engineer employed by such a company do in this situation?
(Circle ONE only.)
a. Since the example concerns a safety critical system with predefined validationcriteria, Sommerville
feels that the blatant falsification of records must always bereported to both development and
customer management, and if necessary, madepublic.
b. Sommerville argues that since the predefined validation criteria being falsified may be unnecessarily
strict, the software engineer should always defer to managementjudgment in such situations.
c. Sommerville notes that because the system may fail and cause an accident evenwhen properly
validated, it is not the responsibility of the software engineer to alertanyone of the situation.
d. Since the engineer is an employee of the development organization, his responsibility is to always
maintain confidentiality and resolve the situation in such a way that does not embarrass his
employer.
e. Sommerville argues that the software engineer must make up his own mind in such matters. The
potential for damage, the extent of the damage, and the peopleaffected by the damage should
influence the decision. But one should always try toresolve the situation while respecting the
employer’s rights.
f. He advises employers and employees to make their views concerning such issues known to each
other in advance (of offering or accepting a position in theorganization).
g. (None of the above.)
2. (5 pts.) One of the issues of professional and ethical responsibility for software engineers discussed in
class was that of "competence." Which ONE of the following, if any, describes the issue as discussed?
a. To maintain independence and sound judgement concerning ethical issues that may arise in a
project, software engineers should ideally have an ample competenceand minimal obligations.
b. Software engineers suspected of unethical behaviour must first be found competent to defend their
actions before being required to take part in any formal disciplinaryreview process.
c. Software engineers should be aware of local laws governing the legal authority (i.e., competence) of
courts or other bodies to deal with the intellectual property issues that may arise in software
development.
d. Software engineers should never knowingly accept work which is outside theircompany.
e. Licensed, professional software engineers are expected to demonstrate competencyin all aspects of
software development and for all application types.
f. Software engineers should never misrepresent their current level of compensation.
g. (None of the above.)
3. (10 pts.) Consider the following statements related to the CMMI process improvement framework.
Circle either "true" or "false" as (most) appropriate.
, a. CMMI assessments involve directly examining true false
the processes employed during a randomly
selected on-going project and rating these on
a six-point scale.
b. The CMMI identifies desirable organizational true false
states (goals) that are associated with each of
22 process areas relevant to software process
capability and improvement.
c. CMMI generic goals and practices are NOT true false
technical but are associated with the
institutionalization of good practice.
d. The result of a staged CMMI model assess- true false
ment is a capability profile showing each process
stage and its associated process capability
assessment.
e. The continuous CMMI model allows an organization’s true false
process capability to be assessed and assigned a
maturity level from 1 to 5.
4. (20 pts.) Match each description/image below to the SINGLE MOST APPROPRIATETERM
among the following. (Note: terms may apply to none, one, or morethan onedescription.)
A. Incremental DEVELOPMENT F. Cleanroom SE
B. Boehm’s Spiral Development G. RUP
C. Integration and configuration H. Waterfall
D. Incremental DELIVERY I. IDE
E. Throw-away Prototyping K. COCOMO II
__C__ Some control over system evolution is lost as new versions of some components are not
under the control of the organization using them.
__G__ Development phases are inception, elaboration, construction, and transition.
__B__ Each phase of development involves objective setting, risk assessment and reduction,
development and validation, and planning.
__I__ A framework within which tools are combined to work together in support of software
engineering process activities.
__E__ Can lead to the “Pressurizing the Developer” problem discussed in the text/notes.
__D__ A problem with this approach is that even though the software is used in real,
operational processes, it can be difficult to identify the common facilities that will be
needed by different parts of the system in advance.
__F__ There is no unit testing for defects in the process and the system testing is focused on
assessing reliability.
__A__ From a management perspective, a problem is that the process is not visible. Managers
need regular deliverables to measure progress.
__H__ In practice, the process is not a simple linear model but involves feedback from one
phase to another. Documents produced in each phase may then have to be modified to
reflect the changes made.
__D__ Usually results in faster delivery of software, but inevitable requirements compromises
may lead to a system that does not meet the real needs of users.
5. (28 pts.) Match each description/image below to the SINGLE MOST APPROPRIATETERM among the
following. (Note: terms may apply to none, one, or more than one description/image.)
A. mockup H. “Wizard of Oz” prototyping
Note: On all written work submitted for credit in this course, it is assumed that by that act of submission
you pledge to have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on the work submitted.
1. (5 pts.) Sommerville notes that a particularly difficult situation for professional engineers arises when
their employer acts in an unethical way. One example he gives concerns a company that is responsible for
developing a safety critical system and, because of time pressure, falsifies safety validation records.
What does Sommerville advise that a software engineer employed by such a company do in this situation?
(Circle ONE only.)
a. Since the example concerns a safety critical system with predefined validationcriteria, Sommerville
feels that the blatant falsification of records must always bereported to both development and
customer management, and if necessary, madepublic.
b. Sommerville argues that since the predefined validation criteria being falsified may be unnecessarily
strict, the software engineer should always defer to managementjudgment in such situations.
c. Sommerville notes that because the system may fail and cause an accident evenwhen properly
validated, it is not the responsibility of the software engineer to alertanyone of the situation.
d. Since the engineer is an employee of the development organization, his responsibility is to always
maintain confidentiality and resolve the situation in such a way that does not embarrass his
employer.
e. Sommerville argues that the software engineer must make up his own mind in such matters. The
potential for damage, the extent of the damage, and the peopleaffected by the damage should
influence the decision. But one should always try toresolve the situation while respecting the
employer’s rights.
f. He advises employers and employees to make their views concerning such issues known to each
other in advance (of offering or accepting a position in theorganization).
g. (None of the above.)
2. (5 pts.) One of the issues of professional and ethical responsibility for software engineers discussed in
class was that of "competence." Which ONE of the following, if any, describes the issue as discussed?
a. To maintain independence and sound judgement concerning ethical issues that may arise in a
project, software engineers should ideally have an ample competenceand minimal obligations.
b. Software engineers suspected of unethical behaviour must first be found competent to defend their
actions before being required to take part in any formal disciplinaryreview process.
c. Software engineers should be aware of local laws governing the legal authority (i.e., competence) of
courts or other bodies to deal with the intellectual property issues that may arise in software
development.
d. Software engineers should never knowingly accept work which is outside theircompany.
e. Licensed, professional software engineers are expected to demonstrate competencyin all aspects of
software development and for all application types.
f. Software engineers should never misrepresent their current level of compensation.
g. (None of the above.)
3. (10 pts.) Consider the following statements related to the CMMI process improvement framework.
Circle either "true" or "false" as (most) appropriate.
, a. CMMI assessments involve directly examining true false
the processes employed during a randomly
selected on-going project and rating these on
a six-point scale.
b. The CMMI identifies desirable organizational true false
states (goals) that are associated with each of
22 process areas relevant to software process
capability and improvement.
c. CMMI generic goals and practices are NOT true false
technical but are associated with the
institutionalization of good practice.
d. The result of a staged CMMI model assess- true false
ment is a capability profile showing each process
stage and its associated process capability
assessment.
e. The continuous CMMI model allows an organization’s true false
process capability to be assessed and assigned a
maturity level from 1 to 5.
4. (20 pts.) Match each description/image below to the SINGLE MOST APPROPRIATETERM
among the following. (Note: terms may apply to none, one, or morethan onedescription.)
A. Incremental DEVELOPMENT F. Cleanroom SE
B. Boehm’s Spiral Development G. RUP
C. Integration and configuration H. Waterfall
D. Incremental DELIVERY I. IDE
E. Throw-away Prototyping K. COCOMO II
__C__ Some control over system evolution is lost as new versions of some components are not
under the control of the organization using them.
__G__ Development phases are inception, elaboration, construction, and transition.
__B__ Each phase of development involves objective setting, risk assessment and reduction,
development and validation, and planning.
__I__ A framework within which tools are combined to work together in support of software
engineering process activities.
__E__ Can lead to the “Pressurizing the Developer” problem discussed in the text/notes.
__D__ A problem with this approach is that even though the software is used in real,
operational processes, it can be difficult to identify the common facilities that will be
needed by different parts of the system in advance.
__F__ There is no unit testing for defects in the process and the system testing is focused on
assessing reliability.
__A__ From a management perspective, a problem is that the process is not visible. Managers
need regular deliverables to measure progress.
__H__ In practice, the process is not a simple linear model but involves feedback from one
phase to another. Documents produced in each phase may then have to be modified to
reflect the changes made.
__D__ Usually results in faster delivery of software, but inevitable requirements compromises
may lead to a system that does not meet the real needs of users.
5. (28 pts.) Match each description/image below to the SINGLE MOST APPROPRIATETERM among the
following. (Note: terms may apply to none, one, or more than one description/image.)
A. mockup H. “Wizard of Oz” prototyping
