Software Engineering MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Software Engineering - Download Free PDF

The Correct answer is: Option 1 (D, B, E, A, C)

Key Points

• D: Level 1 - Initial: At this stage, the software process is characterized as ad-hoc, chaotic, and unpredictable. Success depends largely on individual heroics rather than stable processes.
• B: Level 2 - Repeatable: This level establishes basic project management discipline. The organization can repeat earlier successes on projects with similar applications by managing requirements, planning, and tracking.
• E: Level 3 - Defined: Processes for both management and engineering are standardized, documented, and integrated into a standard software process for the entire organization.
• A: Level 4 - Managed: The organization sets quantitative quality goals for both products and processes. Performance is measured using statistical techniques, making it predictable.
• C: Level 5 - Optimizing: The highest level focuses on continuous process improvement and innovation. The organization identifies process weaknesses and proactively strengthens them through defect prevention and technology change management.

Additional Information

• The CMM framework was developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) to benchmark the maturity of an organization's development processes.
• Each level serves as a foundation for the next; organizations must achieve the goals of one level before effectively maturing to the subsequent level.

The correct answer is: C, A, D, B

Key Points

• Information Extraction (C): This is the initial functional stage following the identification of the existing system. It involves analyzing the source code and existing artifacts to extract raw data and basic structural details of the legacy software.
• Abstraction Model (A): The extracted information is then transformed into higher-level abstraction models. These models represent the system's architecture and hierarchical components, moving away from low-level code details toward a conceptual understanding.
• Design Recovery (D): Using the abstraction models, this stage focuses on reconstructing the original design logic and intent. It identifies patterns and relationships to recover the software's underlying design documentation.
• Documentation & Analysis (B): The final stage involves formalizing the recovered knowledge into comprehensive documentation. This allows for detailed analysis to understand the system's vulnerabilities, maintenance needs, or requirements for potential re-engineering.

Additional Information

• Reverse engineering is a process of backward analysis to understand how a system works without changing its behavior or code.
• It is frequently utilized as the first phase of software re-engineering to modernize or restructure legacy systems that lack proper documentation.
• The process is often likened to opening a machine to see how it is built inside, facilitating knowledge recovery for future maintenance.

The correct answer is - Agile Methodology

Key Points

• Agile Methodology
  • It is a process that promotes continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the software development life cycle.
  • Development work is partitioned into small, flexible phases known as sprints, which usually last between two to four weeks.
  • This methodology emphasizes adaptability, allowing for changes in project requirements even at later stages.
  • It relies heavily on customer feedback and collaborative effort between cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality software.

Additional Information

• Waterfall Model
  • Follows a linear-sequential approach where each phase (Requirements, Design, Implementation, etc.) must be completed before the next begins.
  • It is rigid and does not easily accommodate requirement changes once the project has started.
• Spiral Model
  • A risk-driven iterative model that combines elements of both design and prototyping-in-stages.
  • It is specifically used for large, expensive, and complicated projects where risk assessment is critical.
• V-Model
  • Represents the Verification and Validation model, where for every development phase, there is a corresponding testing phase.
  • It follows a V-shaped path where the process executes in a sequential manner similar to the Waterfall model.
• Big Bang Model
  • An SDLC model where no specific process is followed; the development starts with the required money and efforts as input.
  • It is generally used for small projects where the requirements are not well understood or defined.

Concept

• Cause-Effect Graphing: It is a black-box software testing technique that graphically illustrates the relationship between given outcomes (effects) and the factors that influence them (causes).
• Causes: These represent the input conditions or combinations of input conditions.
• Effects: These represent the output conditions or system transformations resulting from the inputs.
• Cause-Effect Pairs: If every cause can lead to any of the effects, a "pair" is defined as a unique link between one specific cause and one specific effect.

Formula Used

To cover all possible unique cause-effect pairs where every cause is related to every effect, the total number of pairs (and thus the minimum number of test cases to cover each distinct pair) is given by:

\(\text{Total Pairs} = (\text{Number of Causes}) \times (\text{Number of Effects})\)

Calculation

Given:

Number of causes (\(C\)) = \(5\)

Number of effects (\(E\)) = \(3\)

The question states that each cause can lead to any of the effects. To ensure that every possible interaction (pair) between a cause and an effect is tested at least once:

\(\text{Minimum Test Cases} = C \times E\)

\(\Rightarrow \text{Minimum Test Cases} = 5 \times 3\)

\(\Rightarrow \text{Minimum Test Cases} = 15\)

By conducting 15 test cases, we can verify every unique combination of one cause leading to one specific effect.

Hence, the minimum number of test cases needed to cover all cause-effect pairs is 15.

Concept

• The Fault Detection Rate (FDR) is a metric used in software testing to determine the efficiency of a testing phase or the proportion of faults found in a specific stage relative to the total number of faults.
• In the context of a retest, the rate is calculated by taking the number of new faults identified and dividing it by the total cumulative number of faults (initial faults plus new faults).

Formula Used

Fault Detection Rate after retest is given by:

\(\text{Fault Detection Rate} = \left( \frac{\text{New Faults Found}}{\text{Total Faults Found}} \right) \times 100\)

Where:

\(\text{Total Faults Found} = \text{Initial Faults} + \text{New Faults}\)

Calculation

Given:

Initial faults detected = \(150\)

New faults found after retest = \(30\)

First, calculate the total number of faults found:

\(\text{Total Faults} = 150 + 30 = 180\)

Now, calculate the fault detection rate after the retest:

\(\text{Fault Detection Rate} = \left( \frac{30}{180} \right) \times 100\)

\(\Rightarrow \text{Fault Detection Rate} = \left( \frac{1}{6} \right) \times 100\)

\(\Rightarrow \text{Fault Detection Rate} \approx 16.67\%\)

Hence, the fault detection rate after the retest is 16.67%.

The correct answer is Application software

Important Points

• MS Office, Photoshop, and Animagic are examples of Application software
• MS Office is a software bundle provided by Microsoft.
• It includes software like MS Word, MS Excel, MS Powerpoint, MS Outlook, MS Access, MS One Note, and others.

Additional Information

• Photoshop is a powerful photo editing tool by Adobe.
• An Operating System (OS) is an interface between a computer user and computer hardware.
• An operating system is software that performs all the basic tasks like file management, memory management, process management, handling input and output, and controlling peripheral devices such as disk drives and printers.

Concept:

Software development life cycle is the logical process of developing a system that satisfies customer needs and can be developed within the predefined schedule and cost.

Explanation:

Various phases of the software development life cycle are : 

1) Analysis: First thing is to gather and analyze the requirements of the system. The information domain, function, behavioral requirements of the system are understood. These requirements are then well documented.

2) Design: After collecting and analyzing all necessary requirements, design architecture is prepared.

3) Coding: After the design, one can develop the code for the system using some programming language. During this, design is translated into a machine-readable form.

4) Testing: It is done to uncover the errors and fix the bugs.

5) Maintenance: Sometimes errors may get produced after system installation and sometimes the requirements get changed. At that time, the maintenance of the system is needed.

The correct answer is option 2.

Key PointsUML (Unified Modeling Language) diagrams can be categorized into two main types: structural diagrams (which present a static view of the system) and behavioral diagrams (which represent the dynamic aspects).

• Collaboration diagram – Represents interactions between objects or parts in terms of sequenced messages. It is a kind of behavioral diagram.
• Use-Case diagram – Represents the functionality provided by a system in terms of actors, their goals represented as use cases, and any dependencies between those use cases. It is a kind of structural diagram, providing a static view of the system's functionality.
• State chart diagram – Shows how an object changes its state in response to events. It is a type of behavioral diagram.
• Activity diagram – Represents workflows of stepwise activities and actions with support for choice, iteration and concurrency. It is considered a behavioral diagram.

Therefore, the diagram that represents a static view among the options listed is the Use-Case diagram.

Proprietary Software:- Any program that is copyrighted and has restrictions on usage, distribution, and modification imposed by its publisher, vendor, or creator is considered proprietary software. Microsoft Windows, Adobe Flash Player, PS3 OS, iTunes, Adobe Photoshop, Google Earth, macOS (previously Mac OS X and OS X), Skype, WinRAR, Oracle's version of Java, and several Unix versions are examples of proprietary software.

Key Points

Disk defragmenter:- Windows Disk Defragmenter reorganizes fragmented data so that your disks and drives run more effectively.

Freeware:- Freeware is software that is accessible for free or for a small fee, but it is usually (but not always) closed source and has one or more limited usage rights. This is an example for open source software.

Shareware:- Shareware is commercial software that is offered to users for free with the intention of eventually demanding or encouraging users to pay for the product's continuous support. This is an example for open source software.

Concept:

Cloud computing provides a flexible environment to use resources at low cost. Cloud computing is a web based, distributed computing using which information, resources and software are distributed among different users. All the resources are on web, so this is the reason that there come various ways to provide services.

Explanation:

Cloud computing is internet-based computing where customers do not own the physical infrastructure. All services are on internet. Various services in cloud computing model are as follows:

SaaS – It stands for software as a service. In this, application is hosted as a service to customers who access it via internet. It provides packaged business process offerings that live in cloud. In this, cloud contains stack such as operating system, application software etc.

IaaS – It stands for infrastructure as a service. It is responsible for providing virtualized computing resources, network resources with IaaS users assemble their own virtual cluster on which they are responsible for installing, maintaining, and executing their own software stack.

PaaS – It stands for platform as a service. It supplies all the resources required to build applications and services completely by using internet without having to download or install software. It includes application design, development and hosting. 

Concept:

System development life cycle (SDLC) is a process followed for a software project, within a software organization. It consists of a detailed plan describing how to develop, maintain, replace and alter or enhance specific software.

The life cycle defines a methodology for improving the quality of software and the overall development process.

Phases of SDLC

Therefore, all options are correct

Regression testing is a type of maintenance testing. Maintenance testing encompasses all testing activities that are performed to identify and fix defects in an existing software system, and regression testing is a specific aspect of this process.

Key Points Maintenance testing is generally divided into two categories:

Corrective Maintenance Testing: This involves testing to identify and fix defects or issues in the software after it has been deployed.

Adaptive Maintenance Testing: This type of maintenance testing is carried out to adapt the software to changes in the environment, such as changes in hardware, software, or regulatory requirements.

Regression testing falls under both corrective and adaptive maintenance testing. When new code is added or existing code is modified, regression testing is performed to ensure that the changes do not negatively impact the existing functionality. This helps in maintaining the reliability and integrity of the software over time.

Concept:

Mutlimedia means combination of text, audio, video, graphics, and animation. Mutlimedia project are the multimedia materials which are presented on computer screen.

Explanation:

Phases of a multimedia project are : planning, designing , testing and delivering. 

Some points about multimedia project : 

• Interactive mutlimedia gives the navigational controls to the user. It control what elements are to be delivered.
• It requires creative skills, tools and organization talent to create mutlimedia projects.
• There are two categories in multimedia : linear and non - linear.
• Linear multimedia is without any navigational control example cinema.
• Non - linear provides user interactivity to control progress. Example : computer game.
• Mutlimedia system must be integrated, handled digitally and usually interactive.
• Mutlimedia can be delivered using optical disk, web or distributed network.

Data flow diagram (DFD) - In software engineering, it is a way of representing the flow of data of a process or a system. It uses defined symbols like circles, arrows and rectangles to represent data input, output, storage points and routes between each destination.

There are four basic symbols to represent elements in DFD -

1. External Entity - It is an object outside the system with which the system communicates. These are the sources and destinations of the system inputs and outputs. They are also known as terminators, sinks, sources or actors.
   It is represented by a rectangle - 
    
2. Data Store - These are repositories of data in the system. They are sometimes also referred to as files. Each data store receives a simple label such as Orders.
   It is represented by two parallel lines -  
    
3. Output - It represents the output of the data flow. 
4. Process - It receives input data and process output data with a different form or content. Every process has a name that identifies the function it performs.
   It is represented by a circle - 

NON-FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENT (NFR)

It specifies the quality attribute of a software system. They judge the software system based on Responsiveness, Usability, Security, Portability, and other non-functional standards that are critical to the success of the software system

Product requirements

Requirements specify that the delivered product must behave in a particular way, e.g. execution speed, reliability, etc.

Organizational requirements

Requirements which are a consequence of organizational policies and procedures, e.g. process standards used, implementation requirements, etc.

External requirement

Requirements which arise from factors which are external to the system and its development process, e.g. interoperability requirements, a legislative requirement