Software Testing Strategy
Computers and their applications have brought about waves of changes in various areas of science and technology. It is also gaining widespread prominence in the field of business and management. So the requirement of a quality oriented technological implementation, having a range of usage is the order of the day. The few gazillion dollars worth software industry is constantly evolving with the needs of people and organizations across the globe. Revolutionary changes have been observed in the computer software industry with time. A complicated computer automated software program is used to simplify the application it handles. It is written with great care. (System Analysis and Design) software program is made very carefully step-by-step, aiming at making the program user friendly and on the basis of the requirement of the user in general. Usually uniqueness, speed, reliability, flexibility and user friendliness are the basic elements for computing and application purposes. System Analysis and Design (SAD), a complex and careful process is implemented even before a software program is conceptualized. It involves a range of steps, from the inception to the implementation of a software program. Software developers make a note of the important features, attributes and actual requirements that are required by the system. Here they study the entire organization thoroughly and in detail understand its hierarchy, functional areas, levels, departments, interaction between personnel and departments, nature and style of reporting, methods employed in sourcing and storing data and other relevant issues. (System Analysis and Design)
Flowcharting is the premier procedure in the process of system analysis and design (SAD). A script for a software program involves a series of steps that are diagrammatically represented with several pre-determined symbols and charts for better understanding of the steps involved. Data collected at various stages are then analyzed and examined with expert opinions and a series of tests. System Analysis and Design plays a very prominent role in the conceptualization stages of a software program which helps in better understanding issues such as feasibility and application capabilities of a software program. (Software Testing Website) & (System Analysis and Design)
Software program are required to be well suited to organization that seeks its applicability. Most important is that the software requires to posses user friendliness and flexibility, which enables to perform under any given problem or circumstances. A few billion dollars are spent across the globe testing developing software’s that is aimed at being widely used by clients across borders. A series of procedures are involved in testing, designing and implementing software programs which are; an example- test series, the objectives and limits of testing, test types and their place in the software development process, software errors, reporting and analyzing bugs, the problem tracking system, test case design, testing printers and other devices, localization testing, testing user manuals, testing tools, test planning and test documentation, tying it together, legal consequences of defective software and managing a test group. (Software Testing Website) & (System Analysis and Design)
In the system analysis and design, a host of issues may arise that may outline the need for superior quality, increased stability and reliability, flexibility, performance and speed, security and so on. Prescribed sets of standards are required from time to ensure that the developers are on the right track. Different organizations require different software applications to suit their growing needs and management related issues. Some clients may require compact and easily manageable applications that are power driven, while a few others may require high-end material that needs to be very stable and reliable in the long run. Therefore developers are required to understand the nature of the client or the organization that they design software applications for. (Software Testing Website) & (System Analysis and Design)
Once the conceptualization stage is completed a rough draft or a code is written, which forms the building blocks of a software program. The code contains all necessary functions that are required to run the program. This rough draft is known as the ‘source code.’ At this stage a number of testing tools and methods are used to analyze software performance. Most prominent test among them is the usability testing method. It is a combination of various attributes and issues such as fitness, feasibility, ease of usage, flexibility, application and operational functionality and so on. It determines whether a software program is easy to use, compatible with other software programs, hardware components and so on. (Testing methods and tools)
It is an extremely essential test as it shows a clear and composite picture of the full functionality of the software program. The requirements of the users are also studied which covers the entire hierarchy of users ranging from the data entry operator to the administrator. Different privileges are allotted to different users. The users are grouped into different levels. The low-level users interact with the system the most but have very less privileges in administrations and control. Their job primarily involves data entry, collection and maintenance of information, sequencing and arranging the processed data and so on. The middle-level users who are assigned the task of functional responsibility, their job involves analyzing the collected information and putting them to use. Therefore, theirs is a job that involves a more comprehensive role than the low level users but they also have a little role to play in the maintenance and administration of a system. (Testing methods and tools)
The top-level users are the administrators or the supervisors who are responsible for managing and running the system. They attend to the complex issues of the organization that are often responsible for high-end functions like designing and implementing security policies and so on. Their interaction with the system is on a lesser frequency basis, but they play a very prominent role in their designation. A number of users and a number of levels of users exist in interaction with the system; therefore the software designed is required to have accommodating features that provide high-end solutions to all complex requirements. Thus an evolution and widespread application of software testing labs and simulation labs better known as Usability Labs has come about. There are various usability tests, prominent among them are; discount usability engineering and competitive usability testing. (Testing methods and tools) few of the tools that can be grouped in the above stated classifications are DRUM, WebCAT and WebSAT. DRUM is actually a software tool that was developed because of the partnership of Human factor professionals and the software engineers. It is actually premeditated to be able to give a wide-ranging support for the video assisted observational studies. Commonly known as the WebSAT, the Web Static Analyzer tool is actually a cutting edge tool that verifies the hypertext markup languages or the HTML of a specified web page against a database of usability guidelines. The main advantage of using that software is that it actually offers very easy and quick outputs that actually identify and mention potential usability problems. This also allows further investigations in the form of rigorous user testing under varied situations. Individuals who are disabled use another web-based public service called the ‘Bobby’ who is presented by The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) for analysis of WebPages. There are a lot of other tools for the purpose of usability like the automated testing tools that help us understand the concept better. Testing methods and tools)
Many of the multi-national software giants like IBM, Red Hat systems, Sun Microsystems, Apple, Java, Netscape and various others make use of these testing tools and applications to be able to create better software that can be used as an application all over the world. The various software programs that are used currently provide all the comfort and options that help in high speed processing and along with the combination of modules of security, connectivity, and integration with other software programs etc. The basic idea behind the whole concept is to bring about an augment in the level of compatibility to make it more operational on all the platforms not concerned about the speed and resources available
Testing methods and tools)
After developing the source code the software that needs to be worked on is put through meticulous and large scale testing to be able to identify its functionality and performance. Most engineers and developers go to great extents to perfect their programs to avoid any bugs or errors. These individuals put in a lot of time and effort to locate the errors and to try and fix them. To be able to perform this it is essential that the programmer have great extensive knowledge about the software, about its functions, process, operating modules, optional performance and its application. The main idea behind it is to maximize the level of efficiency and minimize the possibilities of there being errors and bugs. There are a lot of test situations that act as barometers and error detecting tools. (RSP&A Software Testing methods and resources)
After detecting for error, a report is prepared that explains the various levels of operation. This report helps in understanding the functions of the software and also in details about how the software can be fine-tuned and applied to gain better performance and results. The Testing stage itself comprises of numerous stages within itself. A lot of simulations and models are premeditated to be able to solve any sort of case that will help to optimize the performance of the software. The flexibility, user-friendliness and feasibility are continually studied to maintain the effective level. A lot of individuals and business organizations and governmental organizations make use of the software systems during their operation. In order to be able to reach the satisfaction level of the different types of clientele it becomes important that software be tested on all the possible levels to reach the standards required by the clients. To be able to reach the level expected a number of industries take up deep and rigorous testing techniques. (RSP & A Software Testing methods and resources) software program is not something that can be felt, it is just a set of programs and it cannot give a feedback about the various issues that are influencing it, in relation to its performance, impediments, functionality, etc. The process of running the software and testing its functionality and correctness is called as Software testing. There are two primary reasons to perform software testing, they being to detect defection and reliability estimation. The one problems faced in terms of defect detection is that by the help of it we can actually just find out about the error present in the software and cannot really identify the missing defect. At the same time, while applying software testing to reliability estimation is that input distribution that may be used for selecting test cases may have errors in them. In either of the cases, it is difficult to decide upon as to if the mechanism used to resolve the program output is correct is usually difficult to build up. (RSP&A Software Testing methods and resources)
The entire process of software testing depends on many parts that combine together to perform the function and if any of these parts are not in proper working condition then the entire process is dismantled. Oracle is the procedure of applying software testing to reliability estimation. One of the biggest problems faced by a lot of software professional has to deal software program failures. Putting back a physical system that has crashed would not constitute of even half the amount of effort that would be required to get a software program right. Moist frequently it gets even impossible to actually identify the main reason behind the entire fault. This can be considered as one of the major issues that has not been solved by the industry, although every other passing day a new technical system is configured to portray better performance (RSP&A Software Testing methods and resources)
Software testing does not always refer only to testing the software and stating whether we can use it. The main idea behind software testing actually involves trying to figure out the various failures. It actually deals with exhaustive testing of the source code on the various inputs. But this is not actually possible for a lot of programs computationally. As a routine as many tests as possible are conducted on the source program. The method adopted if uses as much of the code as possible is called as the white box software testing techniques, and the ones that do not consider the code’s structure during the test cases are called as the black box techniques. These software systems can be considered to be one of the most tedious and difficult object ever created by human in the field of science and technology. But ironically the fact that these software programs are not perfect and lead to a lot of problems does not allow it to be credited to the standard that it deserves. This is so because of the complex nature of the programs. (Software Testing and Quality Assurance)
Software that had a failure during its preliminary test was changed after it; it may work for that test case that it did not work on previously. But this new code may not assure us that the software would work for the same purpose that it was created initially for. This is because the simulation environment of the software does not change. To ensure this it is important that the testing be performed again. But this would involve a lot of costs, manpower and other technical resources. But whatsoever the costs incurred the changes that need to be made should be attended to immediately. When rectifying the software our main focus should be on the quality and the behavioral aspects of it. It is because of this that the pressure on a lot of developers and engineers has doubled, as it is no Childs play to provide software that is flawless. Most software failures occur because of there being a fault in the logic of the program or some wrong data entry or probably both and most of these errors are troublesome to handle and solve. (Software Testing and Quality Assurance)
There may be a lot of reasons as to why the source code can be said to be logically wrong but the most obvious reasons are that either the program was not coded properly or that there was an error in the requirements of the system. The main reason as to why the correct data was not entered into the computer is because either there was a human operator error or a break down of some hardware or software system that has the duty of inputting the information into the system. Most of the time the logical defects in the software does not cause a lot of problem but still it confuse the developer and stagnates work until the situation is solved, and it does not even let the developer understand about the resources and the potential of it to make use of those resources. (Software Testing and Quality Assurance)
Most software programs are categorized as operating systems and system software’s. The operating system is the one that is actually the nerve center of the firm and handles all the functions of the system. The system software programs are those that are installed to perform specified functions and operations. The system software’s are installed on the operating system and are dependent on it for directions. When there is an instance that the system software is not in tune with the operating system there the system generates errors.
At times, system software programs are not compatible with the operating system thus generating a host of errors. Most of the time, such an error occurs when the issue of compatibility has not been decided upon. (Software Testing and Quality Assurance)
The process of rectifying the identified error that is found in the software program is called as debugging. This process requires great skill and intelligence. To be able to perform it firstly we require identifying the errors that are present in the program, in order to do this we have specialized software programs called as debuggers that are used to detect, identify and rectify the errors in the program. Before detecting the errors a process called as inspection is done. Inspection or Software Inspection as it called is the process of reading the source code manually to be able to detect if there are any errors present in it. This process is neither automatic and nor do machines perform it. An individual usually does it and they are mostly engineers who read the source code and try to identify the flaws in it if any. These engineers are trained specially for this purpose and are not those individuals who write the program. It is because of this that it is felt that the flaws are found more easily. This process of software inspection has been used since years and is considered as a process that can actually identify the error and rectify it more efficiently than any other present method.
Software Testing Resources)
This method was very common in practice in the 1960’s and 1970’s when it was pretty much difficult to actually get an easy access to computers and during this period it was common practice to submit their programs in the form of punched cards and then wait for a couple of days for it to be inspected. It was because of this time that was consumed that the programmer would take extra effort to check his programs before submitting it. Considering the fact that most of these programs were small in size and the non-availability of computers easily, the programmer usually carefully checked up his program before compilation and execution. This was not absolutely perfect since it was mostly manual and had a lot of human errors. Even though the size of a lot of programs now are much more bigger in size than he ones earlier still even today software inspection has not lost its importance although now the system is much more automated than what it used to be a couple of decades ago..(Software Testing Resources)
This method of software inspection is conducted at different levels. It is important that an individual who is well versed with the practices and procedures of the code teach the other inspectors the code. There are a lot more presentations where the code itself is used as a subject matter. Most of these inspections not only work towards error detection but also try to work on other issues like compatibility, flexibility, portability and user-friendliness. But the basic fact remains that testing along with technological resources also requires manpower. To perform any quality assurance test a lot of manpower is primarily required. For efficient software testing it is important that we employ individuals who know the testing methods, processes and procedures in relation to applying them to various project scenarios. To put it simply it can be said that software testing and inspecting is a tedious labor-intensive process. A lot of organizations wait for quite some time after the software enters its development cycle to test new software. (Software Testing Resources)
But this method causes a lot of loss as there a lot of cost overruns, over lacking completion dates, overlooked requirements, undetected errors and a lot of dissatisfaction among its customers. It is important that we decide upon as to how to amalgamate the testing process in the entire process of development to be able to find out errors, improve quality, ensure performance and also to reduce the costs. At the same time it is important that we gain all the knowledge required to train, develop, document and execute a comprehensive, ongoing software testing program and to get the specific tools needed to get reliable outcomes. It is important that we give our best to ensure quality at all time in our work, because it is quality that would reduce the chance of errors to the minimum. Also quality works in favor of developing the general functionality and aims at achieving over all compatibility and to take care of all sorts of inconsistencies. (Software Testing Resources)
When in its developing stage the software program needs to be tested at all levels and not only after one particular level of development. It is very important to keeping testing the document constantly and not just before the software is handed over to the client. If this is done then there is surety that the functionality, performance and trouble shooting in relation to the program can be identified and rectified. This system should be able to make more progress and testing should be made a part of both the unit and functional part of the development process. This leads to prove that testing is a process that needs to be conducted simultaneously with growth and not at a stage much later after the development has been completed. (Software Testing Resources)
Mostly testing is of two kinds, one being the Unit testing and the other the Functional testing. A unit testing is one that indicates that to a developer that the source code is performing in the required manner. The functional test, at the same time, tells the developer if the source code is performing as it has been programmed to perform. The unit tests are conducted from the point-of-view of the programmer’s perception. This sees to it that the specified method of application performs a given set of tasks. Each of these tests proves that when a program is given a known input it produces the expected output. The functional tests are done with the user’s point-of-view. This test sees to it that the user does what it is expected to do. But at the end of it there is not much difference between unit testing and functional testing. Because of the fact that the software program in view is concerned the programmers and the developers don’t assign boundaries and specified areas for testing. The main aim of conducting the process of testing is to the various solutions to actually make software apposite for its ultimate application. (Software Unit Test, Coverage and Adequacy)
Software testing can be classified as black box testing and white box testing. In the black box testing, the system is considered as a black box and hence the internal environment is not taken into notice largely. This system of testing actually concentrates on testing of functional requirements and is also known as behavioral, functional, opaque and closed box testing. The white box testing allows the developer to have a look at the module under construction even before it is constructed. This type of testing sets its aim on usage and the application of internal knowledge of the concerned software. The main use of it is to help in the selection of the appropriate data.
It is also known as structural, glass box and clear box testing. Although the terms black box and white box testing are still applied the more technical terms used are behavioral and structural. The behavioral test design although is a little different from the black box testing technique as it does not as much emphasis on the use of internal knowledge. But practically it would be more advisable to sue both the test designs. It has to be a mixture of both the methods so that there is no problem caused because of the use of one particular method that has certain drawbacks. It is essential that we understand that two different methods are primarily used in the test design phase. But once the software has been executed it becomes pretty much difficult to realize the difference. Structural test design is very similar to Unit test design and is often connected to it. This is mostly so because at the unit level the developers do not have a specified requirement.
Software Testing for Programmers)
The entire software industry is in a situation where a lot of technological mass cut down seems to be in the wings, along with newly developed revolutionary skills. The advantage of this being that there has been mass scale production and an increase in software systems. To be able to cope with the increasing number of errors and huge length of problems testing has been made more automatic than earlier. Since the increase in the market and the number of users of systems, the testing equipments were made more automatic and from the slow process that would involve labor-intensive methods it became a faster automatic testing approach. Automatic software testing is a broad, step-by-step guide to the most efficient tools and techniques. This technique has proved to be very successful after the success of a lot of industrial firms that opted for it, and it has even cut down the human intervention, which was required earlier in a large scale. This technique concentrates on the automated test Life Cycle methodology or the ATLM.
The Automated Test Life Cycle Methodology or the ATLM is a planned process that is used for designing and The Automated Test Life Cycle Methodology (ATLM) is a structured process for designing and accomplishing testing that is equivalent to the rapid Application Development (RAD) technique that is used most frequently these days. Automated Software Testing is premeditated to help the user through the various steps line by line of a software program. The process aims at the initial decision making to be able to put into practice the automated software testing with the help of test planning, execution, and reporting.
This process on the whole has a broad scope and includes various sub-processes like, Acquiring management support, test tool evaluation and selection, the automated testing introduction process, test effort and test team sizing, test team composition, recruiting, and management, test planning and preparation, test procedure development guidelines, automation reuse analysis and reuse library and accepted practices for test automation. This has made easy the process of testing and analysis tasks. Another advantage of using the automation process is that the tasks are speeded up and the errors are detected faster. Even the chance of human errors like oversight is reduced therefore increasing the quality of the software program that is developed. Moreover the software developed though this process is also more flexible, more practical in terms of operation, and it is also integrated with resources and free from logical and structural errors that may be the cause for it to function with out any hindrance.
What is Software Testing?)
The ultimate product of a company will decide upon its growth or fall, and this has the same level of application in the software industry too. But the sad part is that in the software industry not many companies realize the importance of quality and their products are usually sub-standard. For the software to be successful along with the fact that it should have any bugs it should also let the user understand it easily. If the software is of high quality it will meet the needs of both the user and the business. Most users require features like smart features, good performance and efficient workflow whereas businesses require on-time and under-budget delivery. To be successful a product needs to meet all the above needs both he users and the businesses. Without the above features there is no question of the product to be a success in the market.
Along with lacking the required features there is also a chance that the product may face a hi-profile technological failure. But at the same time if the product is too expensive and costs the company a fortune during its development, the company may never be able to recover its costs. But at the same time an already established market leader, a company, which has a name and recognition in the market, may be able to come up with such a product and pass of with it not being such a financial disaster.
Sadly, this is the major reason that it is very rare that a new company in the market will be able to gain sufficient space in the market with cheap duplicates of the product. In today’s current world quality can be divided into two types, internal quality and external quality. External quality refers to the measurement of the value paid by the end user, whereas internal quality refers to measuring the amount of time and costs incurred in its production. The fact that most of the software companies are not able to identify the actual quality fault in the product that makes it not possible for them to make changes in that field for their products to be successful.
The external quality actually evaluates the values of a product to its user. It has two different characteristics, perceived quality and workflow. Perceived Quality actually deals with the reliability, performance, and stability of a software product. It basically deals with a specific problem taking for example, the acceptable performance and reliability of a web-based application to find out the interest rate for a consumer asking about a loan will not be easily tolerable for a customer service executive who probably handles thousands of loans processing in a day. (Vector Software: Automated Testing)
Another important aspect of external quality is as to how a software product elucidates a workflow problem. Along with this the advertised features set passably, the application should aim at making the job of the user much simpler and faster. This goes to indicate that the application must keep in mind the target market and as to how to find out the external quality. A lot of the fast and reliable products are not of much use to the customers, as they do not perform any function that is of use to them. The UI must clearly state as to how a user must act next. Most frequently it has been observed that user Interface, which are prepared for a large market are of usually very poor quality.
A lot of organization mistake quality assurance for high quality. Most of the QA organizations only measure the quality in terms of the product specifications. At the end of it the entire load is on the business and the marketing organizations to decide upon proper feature selection. It is true that having too many features is also of no good as having very few. The internal quality of a program measures as to how easily the program can be changed without actually breaking the existing features. Most of these changes consist of bug fixes, new features and the current requirements. (Vector Software: Automated Testing)
The internal quality is mostly in relation to the quality of design, appropriateness of the programming languages keeping in mind the programs size and domain. The low level of internal quality makes it virtually impossible for the developers to be able to decide upon the amount of effort that would be required to add a new feature. Along with this the imminent changes will cause many errors. Because of the fact that internal quality is poor the cost of maintaining the exponential changes is very expensive. As the cost of adding a feature increases in value, the product gets more and more delayed. These costs at the end of it are too huge to be of the actual value of the product. (Vector Software: Automated Testing)
It is important that a product has good external quality for the customer to adopt it. The internal quality sees to it that the company can actually preserve the market lead and go ahead giving excellent products. Companies that are good at their work can most frequently give a good release to their product and also continue to be in the same position. Companies’ that sustain a high standard of quality are the only ones who can keep their customers, as this is what recognized at the end of it. Internal quality and external quality are interrelated and failure in one field leads to an ultimate disaster. But at the same time if we had high internal quality we can easily make changes to the flaws present. And moreover testing and analysis would also not be performed on a regular basis. (Software QA and Resource testing Center)
In these testing and analysis is done at a much later stage and although at this stage they are really careful about it is never sufficient enough to build the source codes on these. If there is high external quality that goes to indicate that the base on which the code is constructed is strong and correct. The developers are ultimately going to be able to make additions that are going to be more appropriate. By working really hard on the quality of the product the engineers can in a way replace the poor internal quality. But this is not usually possible. This can be counted as to be one of the reasons as to why the first versions of the product are of excellent quality and then it degrades down the lane. Most developers wanting to just get their product in the market ignore its internal quality.
But as internal quality suffers, the development takes more time, which leads to exponential cost of change and this turns out to be very expensive to make right. There have instances where the source code would have to be rewritten because they are of poor quality. Most of the time low internal quality is not seen in external quality but it is first evident in small schedules or small bugs. By the time the actual affects are seen it is too late. So it important that organizations that wish to improve their products must make sue of a process that measures and address internal quality. A quality assurance group is important to product quality but along with it are other factors of marketing like, business development and engineering effort. To check on the quality does not just indicate fixing the flaws present. It is important that we check up on the product features also to make it in constraint of what is required of the market. If the quality issues like bugs and schedule slips are not taken care of immediately that the organization may have to pay a great consequence for it that would ultimately affect the developmental issues. (Software QA and Resource testing Center)
To be able to properly determine the customer problem that arises from the product issues or problems is actually challenging for a lot of individuals in the software industry. In order to be able to properly evaluate a product companies could conduct a survey to ask their clients questions as to where they missed out on their perfection, this in one way could prove to be beneficial as the company may make contact with its old clients who it may lost contact with but at the same time this may also gain a negative response from its customers.
Also to be able to evaluate the actual number of resources that are required to identify the product issues and keeping the resources found in a particular direction needs a continuous evaluation of the customer queries.
Currently it is very important that we perform testing in software development very quickly and more effectively. The impact of e-business and e-commerce is at large in many businesses and so it has become very essential that the business tests their programs to reduce the risks they would be facing. Come what may quality should not be compromised on, as that is what will keep the customers loyal to the business. It is obvious that an error free and easy computing is what a customer is looking for this shall ensure long lasting loyalty of the customers for whom the software system has been developed. Easy computing while handling the software system is also equally important to impress the clientele that an organization possesses. (Software QA and Resource testing Center)
Like new product development even new software development is also equally difficult. Considering the fact that a lot of research has been out into new software development they still seem to be facing the same problems that they had at the initially stages specifically when it comes for them to meet their goals. As a matter of fact one form of research even goes to indicate that new software development is actually difficult because it needs to solve a group of multifaceted problems. The fact is that a lot of the software systems are actually full of flaws and do not meet the required standards. It is often felt that the investment in tools and infrastructure is also not sufficient enough. It is felt that the tools are usually very archaic and that the infrastructure is very insufficient. (Problems in Software development productivity) single part of the system usually develops without being checked upon and this lack of infrastructure for it and the lack of architecture slowly allow the problems in one part of it to wear out and ultimately affect the other portions in and around it. This is said to cause a lot of problems to the developer and the user and as the system is closer to completion its end users may actually be working on it for the first time. This experience may inspire changes to data formats and the user interface that undermine architectural decisions that had been thought to be settled. The design of the software being flexible ahs to bear the grunt of the architectural mishaps that happen much alter in the development cycle. Even the hardware and the software may not be compatible and the data structures may not be constructed properly or may just not be present. There are even chances that the variable and function names be deceptive.
Most of the functions themselves make a broad use of the global variables and also the long lists of the badly stated parameters. Most of these functions are long and perform various tasks that are actually not even connected.
A lot of time the source code itself is duplicated. There are instances when the flow of control is also difficult to comprehend and the code is absolutely difficult to understand or follow. The code usually stands for the unmistakable signs that are shown and there are times when these codes are impossible to decipher or even understand. A lot of analysts, designers and architects have an overstated feeling that they get the things right up front even before implementation. It is this particular approach that ultimately leads to the various inefficient resources being utilized and the analysis paralysis and also designs confusion. (Problems in Software development productivity)
In relation to software architecture, form is always after the function, which goes to indicate that the identity of the system’s architectural elements is not emerged usually until after the coding. The quality of the tools used also affects the systems architecture. If the aim of the system is not properly stated to its team members then there are chances that it will more difficult to adapt to as the system is designed and constructed. Numerous engineers have different levels of skills. But most of the time this architecture is usually wrongly rated too low. Most of these software systems need to modified to be able to meet the stated requirements and some of these include, making changes to a new feature of the software system. Most of the software engineering projects usually have different problems that are related to management practices and differences in well being. This is why not all the projects can be called as technical.
A lot of problems are caused because of working with software systems. The quality control systems that consume a lot of time and effort more frequently are not able to identify the customer and regulatory problems. But this is of not much use in terms of customer satisfaction and also there are a lot of chances that the software projects may not perform as expected or a lot of backend time expenses, software deadlines not being met causing various other internal like staff related trouble or external like customer related problems, a lack of communication and project management skills of software contractors that actually cost a lot of time and money and increasing the time and expenditure, missed market chances and not having appropriate software solutions. One of the most common problems in the software industry is that it has a lot of defiance in nearly finished products. A lot of companies even release their products knowing that it has bugs and errors on it.
Unsolvable Software development problem)
There are a lot of problems like in the most recent times the one with Windows where a virus spread so fast across the Internet that actually was harmful to a lot of individuals who were using the network. There are also some other cases in which the errors even go to the extent of threatening the lives of people. There are legal restrictions on companies that actually sell or produce duplicated software. Though a lot of effort has been taken to try and maintain these issues of quality still it is better that we actually protect ourselves from the litigation and it is always better to have one or more copies of the processes. This is also done to see to it that the product is in terms of the level of quality that is required. When a fault is found in it is usually checked up on immediately. A lot of companies come to terms with the fact that software with bugs may be given to the customer and hence try and remove the main critical ones. It is very essential that we work towards our software quality as it not only gives the customer more protection but is also gives the developer more protection form legal action.
Computers have now become an essential part of society, and non-quality software is just acceptable to individual these days. The new software’s seem to be just getting better and a lot of individuals run their lives on the basis of these software’s. Errors, problems and flaws have become a common part of working life and in software production the actual work of recognizing the errors and solving them has started to play a very important role. In some terrible cases, software’s that have a lot of errors in them can be the cause for threats to security, economic health, and even lives. But mostly they are just time consuming and trouble some. Individuals who are actually working with software tools need to reconcile their difficulties, keeping thinking of new inventive ways and also try to find a way out for the problems that are faced during day-to-day computing. These developers need to identify and parley about what they consider as the important issues and how to be able to assign the limited resources that are available and finally as to how to be able to meet the requirements of the client covering their balancing processes. (Unsolvable Software development problem)
The efforts by the team members work on the time, energy and the resources too and affect the provider-client relationship in the software development teams. As the software programs become even more complex the cost of debugging these programs imminently has more chances to inflate. Essentially we have understood that errors and flaws in the program have affected the software systems so it has become highly important for us to understand as to how bugs come about, how they can best be managed, and how people who build and use advanced software systems can organize their work to avoid, conquer, manage the problems raised because of them. A lot of software design methods and processes are concerned with the issue of being able to judge the future.
The software process literature and the commercial software management tools hint that the historical data on development times are actually in a way helpful to judge the future projects. Most of the problems found in software are usually related to technical flaws of design and usability. This leads us to believe that better design; prototyping and thorough need analysis would be of sufficient help. But the real fact behind it is that there is much more to it than stated, like the reliability of a software artifact is related in terms of the structure of the technical and organizational processes it and also in relation to the technical and organizational factors that are kept in mind while building it. Another problem faced is that of time lag, as software’s never seem to be delivered on time and it is because of this that the software gets logged up. But this does not necessarily mean that the software is of poor quality or that it is fault of the programmer. Ironically, poor estimation of software development time can be counted as the largest problem of the software industry.
Most software professional are not really trust worthy. A lot of projects that may gain good return are cancelled most of time because of the fear that the companies are defenseless. But the fact that software predictability is not very accurate is just one of the major hindrances. But since the cost models are actually a function of a size or the convolutions measures the main issue behind this is to be able to evaluate as to the size of the company or the project. (Software Program Managers Network)
There are a lot of software methods that supposedly give the most benefits on a large scale over the lifetime of a project. Considering the he amount of investment required in a software development, the effect of programmer variability, the demands may be too expensive to check up in an experiment. A lot of organizations have a lot of difficulty trying to finish individual software packages and they do not seem to have the resources to improve on the same package with the help of different methods. Keeping in mind the amount of money being currently spent on software development it may not be too bad an investment to have a small sized project to check its worth. Software as such is compared to the stream of engineering and a lot of its problems solution is found in these streams. The concept that software engineering follows is to have a set of principles to solve a class of problems that are in codes.
There are a lot of doubts that arise in our minds as to whether software engineering can achieve the maturity that is imposed on it. It is a fact that a lot of problems seen in software development seem to be more related to the social sciences than to engineering. An excellent example of it is that self-evident reasoning or appeal to scientific laws cannot be used to decide on the factors that affect software productivity. Similarly the characterization of the software using codes like metrics also resembles the definition and the measurement of psychological characteristics like intelligence.
There is no particular or definite way to be able to measure intelligence but intelligence on the whole can be defined to be the ability measured with the help of an intelligence tests. The actual merits of particular intelligence can be discussed by actually taking into consideration all the correlation of measurable things that are counted as intelligence. Reliability of the customers cannot be attained by just vague promises that say that software quality and predictability shall be improved in the near future. It is important that we indulge in the idea that software development has a lot of fundamental uncertainties and risks. The world is getting more increasingly dependant on computerized systems like computerized vehicle control systems, citizen databases etc. And in such a situation it is increasingly important that we take a frank appraisal of our current software risks and limitations.
Artificial Intelligence is made use of to help in solving a lot of problems that are faced in software development. A lot of success has been found in the field of removing problems in relation to software development by artificial intelligence. The various techniques can be classified as the application of genetic algorithms and other search techniques to aid the automatic generation of structural test data, the application of genetic algorithms to the testing of real-time systems, the use of influence diagrams to aid the management of software change; and improvement of the cost estimation of software projects. Artificial intelligence has proved to be useful in improving the quality and functional ability of a software. (Using Artificial Intelligence to solve problems related to software quality management)
Quality of any computer software program is its most important factor. Thought its feasibility, flexibility, user-friendliness, compatibility, portability and so on brings about success to the software. Fulfilling the requirement and needs of the clients should be the aim of the software. The software should be all-inclusive, programmed with a range of features to solve the most complex and unusual of problems. Clients do not accept software programmers of poor quality and other flaws. Therefore care should be taken and standards should be set to maintain and improve quality and performance of software programs. A great deal of skill and an over all understanding is required in designing the software for it to be accepted and widely used.
Conclusion:
The fast growing technology is the basis for software packages. The industries of today are constantly engaged in spewing out software that run enterprises and manage huge conglomerates. They provide effective and comprehensive solutions to a multitude of complex and challenging problems. A great degree of skill is used in designing and understanding the software. The initial stages begin with conceptualization. The client and all the requirements of the users are thoroughly studied. Then flowcharting is done. Flowcharting is a diagrammatic and sequential representation of various steps involved in software development.
Special symbols that depict in a very clear and comprehensive manner the various steps involved are made use of. The primary aim is to put together an understandable format of various steps involved in software development from its conceptualization to its implementation. It also shows the various steps involved and the other problems and issues that may be encountered during the process. Therefore the developer gets an over all picture of the scenario of the process in the future stages. The source code is written keeping all the components involved in mind. It is the raw version of the software that has to be worked upon before execution. Case studies and tests are carried out to analysis the source code.
Programs such as Drum, WebCAT, and WebSAT etc. are used in testing and simulation of software programs. Debugging is the primary aim here. Debugging is a process that locates, identifies, studies and rectifies errors in the source code. This is a long and cumbersome process that consumes lots of time and resources such as of manpower and technological time. Still it is an important quality-maintaining factor, failing which the final software suffers. Testing and debugging is an ongoing procedure in software development. Technological improvements have brought about a need for faster, reliable, flexible and user-friendly software’s. The computer revolution has created an urgent need of a complete all-inclusive software package that gives value for the clients’ money.
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