NPTEL Online Certification Courses

Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Software Engineering
Assignment- 1

TYPE OF QUESTION: MCQ/MSQ

Number of questions: 10 Total mark: 10 X 1 = 10

For each of the following questions one or more of the given options are correct. Choose the correct
options.

QUESTION 1:
Which of the following is not a software service type of project?
a. A project for customization of an educational institute automation software
b. Development of a new feature for an existing office automation software
c. A project for maintenance of a generic accounting software package
d. A project for testing of a generic accounting software package
e. A project undertaken by a vendor to develop from scratch a novel plant automation
software for a client
Correct Answer: e. A project undertaken by a vendor to develop from scratch a novel plant
automation software for a client
Detailed Solution:
Project developed form scratch does not belong to service class of software, rather it is a product.
Please see slide 47 of week 1 lecture material.

QUESTION 2:

Which one of the following characteristics of a complex system makes is necessary to develop it
with both hardware and software parts, rather than realizing it using entirely hardware?
a. High system reliability
b. Low development cost of the system
c. Easy to change the system to meet changing customer requirements
d. Low operating cost
e. Low power consumption
f. Low weight of the system
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Correct Answer: c. Easy to change the system to meet changing customer requirements
Detailed Solution:
The complex systems should make it easy to change the system to meet customer requirements.
Please refer slide 7 of week 1 lecture material.

QUESTION 3:

Which one of the following are not factors contributing to the present day software crisis?
a. Larger problems,
b. Poor project management
c. Lack of customer commitment
d. Lack of adequate training in software engineering
e. Low reliability of the hardware platforms

Correct Answer: c. Lack of customer commitment

e. Low reliability of the hardware platforms
Detailed Solution:
Lack of customer commitment and low reliability of the hardware platforms do not contribute to
present day software crisis. You can refer slide 9 of week 1 lecture material.

QUESTION 4:

Which one of the following types of software development process most closely resembles the
exploratory style of software development?
a. First specify the software, then design the test cases, then develop the software, and
keep on modifying it until it passes all the test cases
b. First specify the system, then develop the software, and finally test the developed
software
c. First develop the software, then test it, and then keep on modifying the software
until it passes all the test cases
d. Keep on specifying a little, designing a little, and testing a little until the full
software is developed
e. First write the test cases, then develop the software, then keep on modifying the
software until it passes all the test cases.

Correct Answer: c. First develop the software, then test it, and then keep on modifying the
software until it passes all the test cases
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Detailed Solution:
Exploratory style of software development resembles to: first develop the software, then test it, and
then keep on modifying the software until it passes all the test cases. You may refer slide 13 of
week 1 lecture material for more information.

QUESTION 5:

Which one of the following is FALSE about developing a large software by deploying the
exploratory style of development?
a. Difficult to use exploratory style in team development environment
b. For large-sized project, use exploratory development style leads to cost and time
overruns
c. Development toy programs such as introductory programming assignments using
exploratory style, leads to poor quality software and unreasonably large
development time.
d. Development of large projects using the exploratory style, often leads to project
failure
e. It is difficult to complete even simple projects using exploratory style of
development

Correct Answer: c. Development toy programs such as introductory programming assignments

using exploratory style, leads to poor quality software and unreasonably large development time.
e. It is difficult to complete even simple projects using exploratory style of development

Detailed Solution:
Toy programs do not lead to poor quality as it is small in size. Therefore, simple projects are easier
to follow exploratory style of development. For more information, please refer slide 14, and 15 of
week 1 lecture material.
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QUESTION 6:

It is observed that while using the exploratory development style, the effort required to develop a
software grows exponentially with the size of the software. Which one of the following is a
possible reason behind it?
a. Cost of requirements gathering increases exponentially
b. Code size becomes exponentially large
c. The number of independent variables in the monolithic program increases, leading
to exponential increase in the effort to understand the program.
d. As the size of any program increases, it becomes exponentially more difficult to
correct compilation errors.
e. Design effort increases exponentially

Correct Answer: c. The number of independent variables in the monolithic program increases,
leading to exponential increase in the effort to understand the program.
Detailed Solution:
The effort required to develop a software grows exponentially with the size of the software
because as the number of independent variables in the monolithic program increases, it quickly
exceeds the grasping power of an individual and requires an unduly large effort to master the
problem.

QUESTION 7:

Which one of the following is justified by the magic number 7?

a. Number independent variables in a function should not exceed 7.
b. A function should not call more than 7 functions
c. A function should not be called by more than 7 functions
d. Number of decision statements in a function should not exceed 7.
e. Number of members of a team should not exceed 7

Correct Answer: a. Number independent variables in a function should not exceed 7.

b. A function should not call more than 7 functions
d. Number of decision statements in a function should not exceed 7.

Detailed Solution:

If a person deals with seven or less number of items, these would be accommodated in the short
term memory. So, he can easily understand it. For more information about magic number 7, please
refer slide 24 of week 1 lecture material.
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QUESTION 8:

Which one of the following terms is a synonym for the abstraction technique?
a. Model building
b. Decomposition
c. Modularization
d. Mapping
e. Elaborating

Correct Answer: a. Model building

Detailed Solution:

Abstraction is also called as model building. Please refer slide 29 of week 1 lecture material.

QUESTION 9:

Which one of the following statements concerning the principles of abstraction and decomposition
is false?
a. A geographical map is an abstraction of a country
b. Organization of the contents of a book into chapters is an example of application of
the decomposition technique
c. Constructing a model of a building is an application of the principle of abstraction
d. For a given system, only a single and unique model can be constructed
e. A unique decomposition is possible for any given problem

Correct Answer: d. For a given system, only a single and unique model can be constructed
e. A unique decomposition is possible for any given problem
Detailed Solution:

Abstraction is possible where there is a possibility for creation of multiple instances capturing
different aspects of a system.
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QUESTION 10:

Which one of the following statements are FALSE?

a. A job is a repetition of a set of well-defined and well understood tasks with very
little uncertainty.
b. A software development project consists of only a set of explorations
c. An exploration is a set of tasks whose outcome is uncertain
d. A software project consists of a mixture of jobs and explorations
e. A software development project consists of only a set of jobs

Correct Answer: b. A software development project consists of only a set of explorations

e. A software development project consists of only a set of jobs
Detailed Solution:

A software project consists of a mixture of jobs and exploration. Please refer slide 43 of week 1
lecture material.

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