UNIVERSITY EXAMINATIONS 2017/2018
EXAMINATION FOR THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF SCIENCE
IN INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY/ BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN
INFORMATION COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY/
BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN APPLIED COMPUTING
BIT 2106/BCT 2104/BAC 2103: SOFTWARE ENGINEERING
PRINCIPLES
FULL TIME/PART TIME/DISTANCE LEARNING
DATE: DECEMBER, 2017 TIME: 2 HOURS
INSTRUCTIONS: Answer Question One & ANY OTHER TWO questions.
QUESTION ONE: 30 MARKS (COMPULSORY)
a) Define the term software 2 Marks
b) Describe two types of software products 4 Marks
c) Every software design approach has its benefits and costs. Illustrate the benefits of
designing a system using the distributed systems approach. 5 Marks
d) Discuss the following approaches to software testing 6 Marks
i. Functional testing
ii. Structural testing
iii. Integration testing
iv. Component Testing
e) Suppose you are in charge of the inspection team of your organization’s software
development project. Discuss the various team members and their respective roles
that you would invite to the team. 6 Marks
f) Suppose you are charged with the responsibility of gathering and analyzing the
requirements for the KCAU LIBRARY SYSTEM using the viewpoint approach.
Describe the viewpoints approach to requirements discovery, giving the types of
viewpoint from the KCAU LIBRARY STSTEM perspective. 7 Marks
QUESTION TWO: 20 MARKS
a) Explain the goals of the following testing strategies 4 Marks
i. Validation testing
ii. Defect testing
b) Any software systems have two sets of requirements: the user requirements and the
system requirements. Define the system requirements and describe all the types of
system requirements. 5 Marks
c) Describe the Interview method of discovering the software requirement, highlighting
the following areas: tools used to capture data, types, advantages and disadvantages.
8Marks
d) State and explain the three key challenges facing software engineering in the 21st
century. 3 Marks
QUESTION THREE: 20 MARKS
a) With the aid of a diagram describe the Component Based Software Engineering
(CBSE) process. 8 Marks
b) Define the term software maintenance. 2 Marks
c) Describe four types of maintenance stating when each is appropriate 4 Marks
d) Describe the contents of a software requirements specification (SRS) document
6 Marks
QUESTION FOUR: 20 MARKS
a) Discuss five system characteristics that must be considered in architectural design.
5 Marks
b) Software projects under development will always consume resources, e.g. costs.
Describe the various cost items needed in a software development project.
5 Marks
c) Differentiate between static and dynamic verification. 4 Marks
d) Discuss four characteristics of good software. 6 Marks
QUESTION FIVE: 20 MARKS
a) You are a systems engineer involved in the development of an inventory management
system. During installation you discover that this system will make a significant
number of people redundant. The people in the environment deny you access to
essential information to complete the system installation.
i. To what extent should you, as a system engineer, become involved in making
a decision on an implementation that will make the workers redundant?
4 Marks
ii. What is your professional responsibility as contracted software engineer?
8 Marks
iii. Should you simply abandon the work until the procuring organization has
sorted out the problem? Justify your answer. 3 Marks
b. Explain why it is important to produce an overall description of systems
architecture at an early stage in the system specification process. 5 Marks
