Software Engineering Tutorial - Assignment Example

Software Engineering Tutorial Here we are talking about a program for machinery for the monitoring of friction, temperature as well as pressure values. To start with, the system deals with sensitive machines and to develop a program for such a system, the program should be a good combination of various fundamental models and existing systems. Description For a program which deals with the above mentioned machinery we first talk of a system called Data-processing system. This system basically deals with a lot of data including numbers and characters which will only make sense, when they are well organized. Application Here, managing data being the prime task of Data-processing system, it is less applicable to the above system. All naturally happening systems are data processing systems, so that means what all we see is processed and interpreted by us so as to make it more relevant and useful. As far as our system is concerned, it is more of a spontaneous system rather than data related issues. The only information that needs to be kept is as the reference for examining values. Also, another useful thing is to make a log of all the different parameters such as pressure, temperature, etc, which can be really helpful in predicting the safe range for the above quantities. Generally, Data-processing system requires lot of storage capacity, but that’s not the issue here. What is important here is the speed. Real Time Systems Description Moving on to the next kind, Real-time Systems are the ones chasing the dead lines. They are called real time specifically because they work under a constrained environment, which deals with responsive attitude of the system. Real-time systems are designed for either real-time operating systems or other synchronous programming languages, which actually serve as a platform to build such immediate systems. These kinds of systems are really a challenge as they have a specific task to meet and if the software designed fails to deliver on time it’s not of any worth. In these kinds of systems, most of them are certainly mission critical but few systems also exist where the system can bear the consequences, though the performance suffers. Application Our system is one, which can be a healthy combination of few existing systems where a real-time system can play the role of an anchor. Our system deals with the naturally affecting factors such as pressure, friction, wear and tear and the work loss due to it. Such a system is definitely a real-time one. It has to take immediate care if any undue fluctuations are observed in the behavior of the system. For this to happen, a continuous monitoring is required. As described above, it is obviously a task to be performed in a constrained environment and it has a deadline and on missing the deadline the consequences can be expensive and destructive too. Moreover, when we are designing a system it should also take into account the pro and cons of it and then select the best combination for the product. This system would be an ideal one along with other ones working in the back up. (All the models of System Development Life Cycle) Decision Support System Description The next of the models is Decision support systems. This term is a very hazy one and this kind of system can be utilized variedly. Vaguely said, a Decision Support System is the one, which aids the process of decision-making. But, the developer, which actually designs it, only can define the clearer definition. Some of the explanations also suggest that Decision Support Systems or DSS can be used for the computer-based Information systems problems that are spontaneous or rather non-structured and deals with management issues. DSS can be of various characteristics based on the type of applications. A model-driven DSS would rather use the data provided by the users and it is an input to the system. Another of DSS is document-driven DSS which manages, gets back and manipulates unstructured information in different electronic formats. Finally there can be a DSS, which is based on artificial intelligence and knowledge based system. Application As described earlier, Real-time systems can be the pivotal one for developing such a system as ours. But, nevertheless Decision-Support systems can revolve around the base and can assist greatly in the venture. Real-time systems have been the choice for such kind of systems for a long time now, but certainly now field of artificial intelligence is dominating. Decision-support and Knowledge-based Systems though are good examples of that. Where these kinds of systems support the primary system, they also unburden the human user from many complications. Earlier it was not the case. Many things needed to be done manually. As far our project goes, the program can by itself decide what decision is to be taken if it is given such a freedom. It simply means that decision-making modules can be added for checking the upper limit of the parameters that cause problems to the system. (All the models of System Development Life Cycle) Knowledge Based Systems Description Closely connected to Decision Support System is Knowledge-based Systems. These systems are prominently considered to have intelligence. They are logical and though through a predefined program fed to it these systems are assumed to behave as they have their own thinking. The base of it is inference and knowledge base. These systems work along with decision support systems to support human users and so with these systems the quality of support given and the presentation of it is really important. The terms that can be associated to Knowledge-based systems are artificial intelligence and even Expert systems to an extent. All these have a primary job of providing human like capabilities of decision-making. Application Coming to our system, here as already stated before, the Knowledge-based systems are the future. They surely help in improving the effectiveness of the product though not the exactness. Knowledge-based systems help by inference i.e. “what to do next” approach. If a premeditated path is set for the system to react, then it will know by inference what to do next. For example, if a preset level is reached for the temperature or any other parameter. It will automatically generate a message for doing the needful. Program Structure & Application of Various Information Systems Now, we shall be describing the overall organization and structure of our system. Our system would be a combination of the above-described models. Each of the models described above have a part to play in the development of our system. The basic program would be the one of the Real-time System and the other models would be attached as the support. The prime aim of developing a program here is to receive information relevant enough to keep records and also to detect major troubles if and when they occur. Thus, Real-time System fits in. It is basically task oriented and has high value for time, which is actually required. Also, a database needs to be maintained for the values noted down which helps in further processes. So, a data-processing system works in the background. Based on the data processed, our Real-time System sets the values for factors that can be affected and the machinery malfunctions in anyway. These values are fed to a module or program using the Decision Support System and Knowledge-based System. With the inputs received these systems behave as an intelligent system whenever any chaotic situation occurs. This is the general overview how the system should be working harmoniously with each of its modules. It should be a foolproof system as it deals with sensitive machinery and the losses incurred would be devastating. The Life Cycle Model Description The life cycle model to be chosen for our system is Spiral Model. This model is successor of Waterfall-the basic model for Software Development Life Cycle. The spiral model has more emphasis on risk analysis. This model is divided into four different phases: Planning, Risk Analysis, Engineering that includes coding & testing and Evaluation. Just as the spiral works, the project phases work repetitive in manner. Here we shall start with the basic spiral that performs the primary task of project specification, requirements gathering and risk analysis as an additional task. So, the first wound of the spiral makes the base for the coming spirals i.e. further development. Requirements once gathered the risk analysis phase looks for risks and thus alternate solutions to it. After all this is done, a prototype is produced as the end of this phase. Software is produced in the Engineering phase and is tested for errors at the end of this phase. The Evaluation phase allows the consumer to evaluate the product to date before the actual project is further build in the next spiral. This statistics go like this, the angles represent the advancement in project and radius shows the cost. (Spiral Model of SDLC) Working This was an overview how the spiral model works. The actual working goes as below. The system requirements are defined in as much particular as possible. This includes taking interviews of a quite a number of people which are anyways connected to the system. It includes the end user to the people of top authority. Also a study of the existing system is needed to understand what’s required to be built. Taking into account all the details gathered a introductory design is shaped. A basic prototype of the new system is developed from the introductory design. This is actually a miniature version of the desired system and has approximate features of final product. This ends the first spiral wound here. A four-stage process starting with evaluation of the first model on merits of assets, flaws and risks involved evolves a second prototype. The second step is to define the requirements of next prototype and the third step is to plan and design according to the requirements gathered. The fourth step is to actually code and test the prototype and the final step would be to provide the prototype to the end user for further enhancements and corrections. One issue left untouched is risk analysis. It is carried out in every stage and if the customer finds greater risk project can be aborted too. Risk factors might absorb over cost or anything that result in customer dissatisfaction. The process of developing prototypes is continued until the customer is pleased. Once that is done a final system is developed on the latest prototype. The final system is meticulously evaluated and tested and thus final product is delivered. (Spiral Model of SDLC) Application of Life Cycle Model Our system here deals with very sensitive machinery and thus appropriate care should be taken while selecting a model for developing a real-time system. As there was a lot of risk involved as this system deals with susceptible areas, Spiral model was selected for developing our system. Now, to start with first of all requirements need to be gathered from the customer that what kind of system they are hoping to be designed. In these interviews the general working of their existing system should be known and based on that what kind of system is to be designed is decided. Also, what betterment they want in the existing system is also known. Once the requirements are gathered, they are well organized to remove redundancies. Now the system to be designed is a Real-time System and other systems as its backup. Thus, a prototype is to be developed taking into account, a well mingled system of the models and the requirements gathered. But, before developing a prototype simple risk analysis is to be done based on the information available. Thus cost and other insightful issues needs to be taken care of while developing a prototype. Once the prototype is built it is evaluated by the end user. If our product stores the values of the features such as temperature and pressure then it is worth. Also, based on the collected data if the decision-support systems work well in the prototype, the prototype is approved for the final development. If not then another version of the prototype is to be developed based upon the outcome of the first version of software. This continues till the consumer approves the project or risk increases beyond a range to shelve the project. But, this is necessarily to be taken care of, as the system is a crucial one. Finally our real project is developed and not the prototype. Thus Spiral model might increase our product development cost but surely decreases other risks to an extent and most importantly a product of user’s requirements is developed. Bibliography/references 1. All the models of System Development Life Cycle: available from www.wikipedia.org retrieved on 8th September 2007. 2. Spiral Model of SDLC: available from http://codebetter.com/blogs/raymond.lewallen/archive/2005/07/13/129114.aspx retrieved on 8th September 2007. Read More