The Importance Of Software Engineering

The ticket distributor will include a touch screen for displaying instructions and inputting commands. The only other control will be a cancel button for aborting a transaction.

The ticket distributor should be at most one and half meters tall so that the traveler can easily operate the ticket distributor i.e. the traveler can easily insert the request for the desired ticket and the money. If it is very tall it will be difficult to operate.

So that the ticket distributor is available to the traveler at least 95% of the time. If one computer crashes the other twin can take over. Other than this two computer systems might also be used for dividing the tasks. One could manage the money transactions while the other one could take care of the GUI and providing the travelling options and the amount etc.

This is because a touch screen system is more interactive and it also occupies less space. Plus all the functionality can be easily implemented using the touch screen so there is no requirement of a keypad or any such device.

Question:

Specify which of the following decisions were made during requirements or system design:

• “The ticket distributor is composed of a user interface subsystem, a subsystem for computing tariff, and a network subsystem managing communication with the central computer.”

• “The ticket distributor will use PowerPC processor chips.”

• “The ticket distributor provides the traveler with an on-line help.”

Answer:

This decision should be made during the system design process.

This decision should also be made during the system design process.

This decision is part of the requirements gathering process.

Question:

A passenger aircraft is composed of several millions of individual parts and requires thousands of persons to assemble. A four-lane highway bridge is another example of complexity. The first version of Word for Windows, a word processor released by Microsoft in November 1989, required 55 person-years, resulted into 249,000 lines of source code, and was delivered 4 years late. Aircraft and highway bridges are usually delivered on time and below budget, whereas software is often not. Discuss what are, in your opinion, the differences between developing an aircraft, a bridge, and a word processor, which would cause this situation.

Answer:

An aircraft or a bridge no matter how complex, are examples of physically tangible products. Software on the other hand is not physically tangible. Any such thing requires excessive brainstorming and thinking. In case of the above mentioned examples the end product that is an aircraft or a bridge is known while in case of software the customer and the creator are never too sure of the complete end product. During the course of development of software the requirements of the user might change. The user might want to increase or decrease the functionality. Other than this the creator has to think of all the aspects and scenarios in which the software will be used, which is not possible. All the possibilities can never be taken into account; the developer can only come up with the most effective solution. And that solution might not be valid after sometime.

SECTION B

Question:

Why Software Engineering is important? What is the role of SE in Telecom and System engineering?

Answer:

Software engineering (SE) is the profession, practiced by software engineers, concerned with specifying, designing, developing and maintaining software applications by applying technologies and practices from computer science, project management, and other fields. SE technologies and practices improve the productivity of developers and the quality of the applications they create.

Software engineering plays a major role being the backbone of software systems by applying technologies and practices not only technically from computer science and engineering, but also with management issues such as project management, plus the telecom and other fields.

[Reference: wiki.answers.com, google.com]

Software engineering is the discipline of designing, writing, testing, implementing and maintaining software. It forms the basis of operational design and development of virtually all computer systems. The discipline extends to application software on personal computers, connectivity between computers, operating systems and includes software for micro-controllers, small computers embedded in all types of electronic equipment. Without software engineering, computers would have no functionality. Although hardware is just as important, no software means no computers. It is a fundamental part of today’s information systems and engineering and our lives would be very different without it.

[Reference: essays.se, google.com]

Importance in Telecom Industry:

In the telecom industry mere hardware is never enough for the process of communication to take place. It works at its best when the hardware is used to its fullest by using software along with it. In the telecom industry, software engineering is used right from the core of the communication network to the top most level. SE in telecom is used in the following three categories:

Mobile applications and services implementation and development.

Custom application development specifically for telecom operators.

Custom embedded linux platform development for the functioning of servers, switching towers etc.

Importance in Systems Engineering:

Systems engineering include all sorts, shapes and sizes of communications systems, embedded systems, DSPs etc. SE is important not only for these systems to work but also for their design and development phases. SE is used for their functionality, maintenance, testing and execution. SE in systems engineering include the development and usage of the following products:

Firmware

BSP

Device drivers

Protocol stacks etc.

It also includes the application of leading embedded hardware and software platforms such as VxWorks, Embedded Linux, pSOS, OSE, Win CE, XP Embedded, and diverse processors such as Intel, PPC, ARM, Freescale MPC and network processors.