UGC NET Computer Science Software Engineering Syllabus

What is an SRS document and what qualities must it have?

The Software Requirements Specification is a complete description of system behavior to be developed. It must be correct, complete, consistent, unambiguous, verifiable, modifiable, traceable, and ranked by importance/stability.

List the core software design concepts.

Abstraction, architecture, patterns, separation of concerns, modularity, information hiding, functional independence, refinement, refactoring, and design classes.

What is abstraction in software design, distinguishing its two main types?

Suppressing low-level detail to focus on essentials. Procedural abstraction = a named sequence of instructions hiding the steps; data abstraction = a named collection of data describing an object, hiding its representation.

What does 'separation of concerns' mean?

A design principle stating that a complex problem should be subdivided into pieces (concerns) that can be solved and optimized independently, making the problem easier to handle.

Define modularity and the concept of an optimal number of modules.

Dividing software into separately named, addressable components (modules). Cost decreases per module as count rises but integration cost rises; total cost is minimized at an optimal region of module count (avoiding over- and under-modularity).

What is information hiding and why is it beneficial?

A principle where modules conceal their internal design decisions and expose only necessary interfaces. Benefits: reduced ripple effects of changes, easier maintenance, and lower coupling.

What is functional independence and how is it measured?

Designing modules that address a single, well-defined function with minimal interaction with others. It is measured by two qualitative criteria: high cohesion and low coupling.

Rank the levels of cohesion from worst to best.

Coincidental (worst), Logical, Temporal, Procedural, Communicational, Sequential, Functional (best). Higher cohesion means a module does one well-defined task.

Rank the levels of coupling from worst (highest) to best (lowest).

Content (worst), Common, External, Control, Stamp, Data (best), No coupling. Lower coupling means modules are more independent and changes propagate less.

What is the goal regarding cohesion and coupling in good design?

Maximize cohesion (modules perform a single, focused task) and minimize coupling (modules are loosely interconnected), yielding high functional independence and maintainability.

List the design models/elements in object-oriented and conventional design.

Data design (data structures/database), architectural design (overall structure/style), interface design (UI and internal/external interfaces), and component-level (procedural) design—data, architectural, interface, and component levels.

What is architectural design and name common architectural styles.

It defines the overall structure of software—components and their relationships. Styles: data-centered, data-flow (pipe-and-filter), call-and-return (layered, main program/subroutine), object-oriented, and layered architectures.

What is a design pattern? Name the three GoF categories.

A reusable, proven solution to a recurring design problem in a context. GoF categories: Creational (e.g., Factory, Singleton), Structural (e.g., Adapter, Decorator), and Behavioral (e.g., Observer, Strategy).

What are the golden rules of user interface design (Mandel)?

1) Place the user in control; 2) Reduce the user's memory load; 3) Make the interface consistent. These guide good UI/UX design.

What is component-level design?

The lowest level of design that transforms structural elements of the architecture into a procedural description of software components, defining data structures, interfaces, and algorithms for each component.

List McCall's three quality factor categories.

Product Operation (correctness, reliability, efficiency, integrity, usability), Product Revision (maintainability, flexibility, testability), and Product Transition (portability, reusability, interoperability).

What are the six quality characteristics defined by ISO 9126?

Functionality, Reliability, Usability, Efficiency, Maintainability, and Portability—each further broken into sub-characteristics.

Differentiate Quality Assurance (QA) from Quality Control (QC).

QA is process-oriented—preventing defects by improving processes (audits, standards, reviews). QC is product-oriented—detecting defects in the actual product through inspection and testing.

What are the main strategies for risk mitigation, monitoring, and management (RMMM)?

Mitigation: avoid the risk/reduce its probability. Monitoring: track factors indicating whether a risk is becoming more/less likely. Management: contingency plans to handle the risk if it materializes (RMMM plan).

How is risk exposure (impact) computed in risk projection?

Risk Exposure (RE) = Probability of the risk × Cost (impact) if the risk occurs. It quantifies the overall impact for prioritization.

Distinguish project risks, technical risks, and business risks.

Project risks threaten the schedule/resources/cost; technical risks threaten the quality/timeliness of the product (design, implementation); business risks threaten the viability of the software (market, budget, strategy).

What is software reliability and how is MTBF expressed?

The probability of failure-free operation for a specified time in a specified environment. MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) = MTTF + MTTR; Availability = MTTF / (MTTF + MTTR) × 100%.

What is Function Point (FP) estimation based on?

Measuring functionality from the user's view using five information domain values: external inputs, external outputs, external inquiries, internal logical files, and external interface files—weighted and adjusted by 14 complexity factors.

State the Function Point formula.

FP = Count Total × [0.65 + 0.01 × Σ(Fi)], where Count Total is the weighted sum of the five information domain counts and Σ(Fi) is the sum of the 14 value adjustment factors (each rated 0-5).

What is LOC-based estimation and a key drawback?

Estimating size/effort using Lines of Code as the metric. Drawbacks: language-dependent, penalizes concise code, hard to estimate early, and not suitable for non-procedural languages.

State the Basic (Organic) COCOMO effort and time equations.

Effort E = a(KLOC)^b person-months; Time D = c(E)^d months. For organic: a=2.4, b=1.05, c=2.5, d=0.38. Persons = E/D.

Name the three modes of the COCOMO model and their meaning.

Organic (small, simple, experienced team), Semi-detached (intermediate size/complexity, mixed experience), and Embedded (large, complex, tight constraints). Each has different coefficient values.

What are the levels of the COCOMO model family?

Basic COCOMO (rough estimate from size), Intermediate COCOMO (adds 15 cost-driver multipliers), and Detailed/Advanced COCOMO (applies cost drivers per phase). COCOMO II updates these for modern practices.

What does a timeline (Gantt) chart show in project scheduling?

A bar chart plotting project tasks against time, showing start/end dates, durations, task overlap, milestones, and resource assignments, used to track schedule progress.

Differentiate verification from validation.

Verification: 'Are we building the product right?'—conformance to specifications (reviews, static analysis). Validation: 'Are we building the right product?'—conformance to user needs (testing, acceptance).

Distinguish error, fault/bug, and failure.

Error: a human mistake during development. Fault/Bug/Defect: the manifestation of the error in code/artifact. Failure: the observable incorrect behavior when the fault executes.

Differentiate unit testing from integration testing, and top-down from bottom-up.

Unit testing checks individual modules in isolation; integration testing checks interactions between combined modules. Top-down integration uses stubs (tests upper modules first); bottom-up uses drivers (tests lower modules first).

Differentiate white-box from black-box testing.

White-box (structural/glass-box) tests internal logic and code paths knowing the implementation. Black-box (functional) tests inputs/outputs against specifications without knowledge of internal structure.

What is basis path testing and how is cyclomatic complexity computed?

A white-box technique deriving a basis set of independent paths from the control flow graph. Cyclomatic complexity V(G) = E − N + 2 = P + 1 (P = predicate nodes); it equals the number of independent paths and minimum test cases needed.

Name common black-box test case design techniques.

Equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, cause-effect graphing, comparison testing, orthogonal array testing, and error guessing.

Differentiate alpha testing from beta testing.

Alpha testing is conducted by users at the developer's site in a controlled environment. Beta testing is conducted by end users at their own sites without the developer present, in a real environment.

What is regression testing and when is it performed?

Re-executing a subset of previously passed tests to ensure that recent changes (bug fixes, enhancements, integration) have not introduced new defects or broken existing functionality.

Differentiate performance testing from stress testing.

Performance testing measures responsiveness, throughput, and resource usage under expected load. Stress testing pushes the system beyond normal capacity (abnormal/peak loads) to find breaking points and recovery behavior.

Differentiate change control from version control in SCM.

Change control is the formal procedure to evaluate, approve, and track changes to configuration items. Version control manages and records different versions/revisions of artifacts, enabling retrieval and parallel development.

Differentiate reverse engineering, re-engineering, and software reuse.

Reverse engineering recovers design/specification from existing code. Re-engineering examines and alters an existing system to reconstitute it in a new form (restructure + forward engineer). Reuse builds new software from existing components/assets.