SteveOH

 

Robert L. Glass

 

This month’s column is simply a collection of what I consider to be facts—truths, if you will—about software engineering. I’m presenting this software engineering laundry list because far too many people who call themselves software engineers, or computer scientists, or programmers, or whatever nom du jour you prefer, either aren’t familiar with these facts or have forgotten them.

I don’t expect you to agree with all these facts; some of them might even upset you. Great! Then we can begin a dialog about which facts really are facts and which are merely figments of my vivid loyal opposition imagination! Enough preliminaries. Here are the most frequently forgotten fundamental facts about software engineering. Some are of vital importance—we forget them at considerable risk.

 

Complexity

C1. For every 10-percent increase in problem complexity, there is a 100-percent increase in the software solution�s complexity. That’s not a condition to try to change (even though reducing complexity is always desirable); that’s just the way it is. (For one explanation of why this is so, see RD2 in the section “Requirements and design.”)

 

People

P1. The most important factor in attacking complexity is not the tools and techniques that programmers use but rather the quality of the programmers themselves.

P2. Good programmers are up to 30 times better than mediocre programmers, according to “individual differences” research. Given that their pay is never commensurate, they are the biggest bargains in the software field.

 

Tools and techniques

T1. Most software tool and technique improvements account for about a 5- to 30-percent increase in productivity and quality. But at one time or another, most of these improvements have been claimed by someone to have “order of magnitude” (factor of 10) benefits. Hype is the plague on the house of software.

T2. Learning a new tool or technique actually lowers programmer productivity and product quality initially. You achieve the eventual benefit only after overcoming this learning curve.

T3. Therefore, adopting new tools and techniques is worthwhile, but only if you (a) realistically view their value and (b) use patience in measuring their benefits.

 

Quality

Q1. Quality is a collection of attributes. Various people define those attributes differently, but a commonly accepted collection is portability, reliability, efficiency, human engineering, testability, understandability, and modifiability.

Q2. Quality is not the same as satisfying users, meeting requirements, or meeting cost and schedule targets. However, all these things have an interesting relationship: User satisfaction = quality product + meets requirements + delivered when needed + appropriate cost.

Q3. Because quality is not simply reliability, it is about much more than software defects.

Q4. Trying to improve one quality attribute often degrades another. For example, attempts to improve efficiency often degrade modifiability.

 

Reliability

RE1. Error detection and removal accounts for roughly 40 percent of development costs. Thus it is the most important phase of the development life cycle.

RE2. There are certain kinds of software errors that most programmers make frequently. These include off-by-one indexing, definition or reference inconsistency, and omitting deep design details. That is why, for example, N-version programming, which attempts to create multiple diverse solutions through multiple programmers, can never completely achieve its promise.

RE3. Software that a typical programmer believes to be thoroughly tested has often had only about 55 to 60 percent of its logic paths executed. Automated support, such as coverage analyzers, can raise that to roughly 85 to 90 percent. Testing at the 100-percent level is nearly impossible.

RE4. Even if 100-percent test coverage (see RE3) were possible, that criteria would be insufficient for testing. Roughly 35 percent of software defects emerge from missing logic paths, and another 40 percent are from the execution of a unique combination of logic paths. They will not be caught by 100-percent coverage (100-percent coverage can, therefore, potentially detect only about 25 percent of the errors!).

RE5. There is no single best approach to software error removal. A combination of several approaches, such as inspections and several kinds of testing and fault tolerance, is necessary.

RE6. (corollary to RE5) Software will always contain residual defects, after even the most rigorous error removal. The goal is to minimize the number and especially the severity of those defects.

 

Efficiency

EF1. Efficiency is more often a matter of good design than of good coding. So, if a project requires efficiency, efficiency must be considered early in the life cycle.

EF2. High-order language (HOL) code, with appropriate compiler optimizations, can be made about 90 percent as efficient as the comparable assembler code. But that statement is highly task dependent; some tasks are much harder than others to code efficiently in HOL.

EF3. There are trade-offs between size and time optimization. Often, improving one degrades the other.

 

Maintenance

M1. Quality and maintenance have an interesting relationship (see Q3 and Q4).

M2. Maintenance typically consumes about 40 to 80 percent (60 percent average) of software costs. Therefore, it is probably the most important life cycle phase.

M3. Enhancement is responsible for roughly 60 percent of software maintenance costs. Error correction is roughly 17 percent. So, software maintenance is largely about adding new capability to old software, not about fixing it.

M4. The previous two facts constitute what you could call the “60/60″ rule of software.

M5. Most software development tasks and software maintenance tasks are the same—except for the additional maintenance task of “understanding the existing product.” This task is the dominant maintenance activity, consuming roughly 30 percent of maintenance time. So, you could claim that maintenance is more difficult than development.

 

Requirements and design

RD1. One of the two most common causes of runaway projects is unstable requirements. (For the other, see ES1.)

RD2. When a project moves from requirements to design, the solution process’s complexity causes an explosion of “derived requirements.” The list of requirements for the design phase is often 50 times longer than the list of original requirements.

RD3. This requirements explosion is partly why it is difficult to implement requirements traceability (tracing the original requirements through the artifacts of the succeeding lifecycle phases), even though everyone agrees this is desirable.

RD4. A software problem seldom has one best design solution. (Bill Curtis has said that in a room full of expert software designers, if any two agree, that’s a majority!) That’s why, for example, trying to provide reusable design solutions has so long resisted significant progress.

 

Reviews and inspections

RI1. Rigorous reviews commonly remove up to 90 percent of errors from a software product before the first test case is run. (Many research findings support this; of course, it’s extremely difficult to know when you’ve found 100 percent of a software product’s errors!)

RI2. Rigorous reviews are more effective, and more cost effective, than any other error-removal strategy, including testing. But they cannot and should not replace testing (see RE5).

RI3. Rigorous reviews are extremely challenging to do well, and most organizations do not do them, at least not for 100 percent of their software artifacts.

RI4. Post-delivery reviews are generally acknowledged to be important, both for determining customer satisfaction and for process improvement, but most organizations do not perform them. By the time such reviews should be held (three to 12 months after delivery), potential review participants have generally scattered to other projects.

 

Reuse

REU1. Reuse-in-the-small (libraries of subroutines) began nearly 50 years ago and is a well-solved problem.

REU2. Reuse-in-the-large (components) remains largely unsolved, even though everyone agrees it is important and desirable.

REU3. Disagreement exists about why reuse-in-the-large is unsolved, although most agree that it is a management, not technology, problem (will, not skill). (Others say that finding sufficiently common subproblems across programming tasks is difficult. This would make reuse-in-the-large a problem inherent in the nature of software and the problems it solves, and thus relatively unsolvable).

REU4. Reuse-in-the-large works best in families of related systems, and thus is domain dependent. This narrows its potential applicability.

REU5. Pattern reuse is one solution to the problems inherent in code reuse.

 

Estimation

ES1. One of the two most common causes of runaway projects is optimistic estimation. (For the other, see RD1.)

ES2. Most software estimates are performed at the beginning of the life cycle. This makes sense until we realize that this occurs before the requirements phase and thus before the problem is understood. Estimation therefore usually occurs at the wrong time.

ES3. Most software estimates are made, according to several researchers, by either upper management or marketing, not by the people who will build the software or by their managers. Therefore, the wrong people are doing estimation.

ES4. Software estimates are rarely adjusted as the project proceeds. So, those estimates done at the wrong time by the wrong people are usually not corrected.

ES5. Because estimates are so faulty, there is little reason to be concerned when software projects do not meet cost or schedule targets. But everyone is concerned anyway!

ES6. In one study of a project that failed to meet its estimates, the management saw the project as a failure, but the technical participants saw it as the most successful project they had ever worked on! This illustrates the disconnect regarding the role of estimation, and project success, between management and technologists. Given the previous facts, that is hardly surprising.

ES7. Pressure to achieve estimation targets is common and tends to cause programmers to skip good software process. This constitutes an absurd result done for an absurd reason.

 

Research

RES1. Many software researchers advocate rather than investigate. As a result, (a) some advocated concepts are worth less than their advocates believe and (b) there is a shortage of evaluative research to help determine the actual value of new tools and techniques.

There, that’s my two cents’ worth of software engineering fundamental facts. What are yours? I expect, if we can get a dialog going here, that there are a lot of similar facts that I have forgotten—or am not aware of. I’m especially eager to hear what additional facts you can contribute.

And, of course, I realize that some will disagree (perhaps even violently!) with some of the facts I’ve presented. I want to hear about that as well.

Robert L. Glass is the editor of Elsevier’s Journal of Systems and Software and the publisher and editor of The Software Practitioner newsletter. Contact him at rglass@indiana (dot) education; he’d be pleased to hear from you.

Reprinted from IEEE Software, vol. 18, no. 3, 2001, pp. 112, 110–111.

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Steve O Hernandez .: Professional Resume :. I may be contacted directly either by the contact form or via email at My Current Resume – Plain PDF version of my resume skills and experience 5.08 – Present Nova Southeastern University North Miami Beach, Fl Senior Software Engineer (Programmer / Analyst III) Developed custom applications to increase efficiency and performance for internal use of employees. Streamlined operations using business process analysis to define functional requirements. Applications built utilizing ASP.NET (VB) 3.5 in the Visual Studio 2008 Professional Development Suite. ASP.NET Atlas (AJAX) implemented in all applications to increase user experience and application efficiency with a dynamic user interface (UI). Website, user interfaces and portals designed from scratch, utilizing such tools and technologies as CSS, XHTML, Photoshop CS3 and slicing, Dreamweaver CS3 and Flash CS3. Reported directly to the Director of Emerging Technologies, a division of the Office of Information and Communications. 8.2006 – Present Daily Management, Inc. Weston, Fl Network Administrator Maintained diverse network infrastructure of Windows 2000 and 2003 servers, Windows 2000 and XP workstations, Cisco and LinkSYS routers, and a variety of other intricate hardware. Network consisted of 35 Windows Server 2000 and 2003 servers, including several Citrix Servers, email and web servers, SQL 2000 server, and over 350 Windows 2000 and XP workstations in 6 states. Administered the 8 existing domains and their Active Directories, as well as user privileges. Implemented security procedures and feature to ensure network secutiry, such as hardware and software firewalls (ie. FortiGate, etc), virus protection (Symantec, Sunbelt), spam, spyware, etc. using enterprise software. Coordinated day-to-day operations, maintenance, monitoring, software installation, protocol configuration, and problem resolution. 7.2006 – Present Lambda Theta Phi Hollywood, Fl National Director of Information Technology Created and maintained several event and organizational websites, including design, layout, functionality, programming and database driven applications using ASP.NET, ASP and PHP connected to mySQL, MSSQL and Access databases, including Membership Directory, Request and Response system, a tracking system, etc. Oversaw a team of 10 members responsible for IT infrastructure development for the national organization as Project Manager and Team Leader.. Created policies and procedures for the membership, including training and governance material for over 100 entities in over 20 states. Worked in a diverse environment with superiors and coworkers via email, teleconference and video conference. Sat on the Board of Directors and oversaw daily operations of the operations of the national non-profit entity, in conjunction with 10 other directors and various committee members. Developed a private member intranet (web accessible) to foster information flow and relationship development which included a bulletin board, job board, member directory, permission flexibility and many other useful and productive features. 6.2006 – 6.2007 SmartSource, Inc. Fort Lauderdale, Fl Network and Systems Engineer Workstation troubleshoot, installation and calibration: Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows 98. Windows 2000 and 2003 server installation and calibration based on client specifications. Complete network installation, including preconfigured Cisco routers, SonicWall Firewalls, 3COM switches, etc. Printer maintenance, troubleshooting and installation: HP LaserJet Series, Brother, Canon. Cisco VoIP Phone installation and calibration. Network troubleshooting and implementation. - ValCom / Grainger: 5/06 - InSight / VLAX: 6/06 – Present 1.2006 – 6.2006 Fast Train, Inc. Fort Lauderdale, Fl Instructor of Information Technology Taught several classes of students, ranging from four to ten students each, covering topics related to becoming a Computer Repair Technician or Network Technician. Courses focused on preparation for the CompTIA A+ Hardware, CompTIA A+ Software, CompTIA Network+ and several MCSE 2003 certification examinations. Successfully maintained a 75% passing rate for students. Designed, planned and implemented curricula, tests, lectures and laboratories where students were ensured hands on experience for the field. 10.2003 – 12.2005 S&R Processing, Inc. Miramar, Fl Vice President / Technology Manager Implemented company’s network infrastructure, of: ten workstations and three Server 2003 servers. Designed and implemented company’s intranet using ASP.NET and provided full documentation of plans and codes. Completed hardware and software support for all users, including clients. Set up inner-office procedures for optimum workability and efficiency, allowing the company to double it’s 1st, 2nd and 4th quarter revenues in 2004. Managed four to six employees, dictated assignments and projects. Assisted the company to reach goals of attaining the greatest market share for out-sourced mortgage processing in the State of Florida, only one year after the founding of the firm. Trained new and current personnel with computer systems, website, intranet and company protocol. 8.2004 – 2.2005 Luxury Yacht Group Fort Lauderdale, Fl Web Programmer Visual Basic .NET web based programming for a multi-million dollar yacht chartering company with four websites servicing over 2000 users a day. Responsible for MSSQL 2000 relational database design and implementation, as well as documentation and reporting for all current and future projects. Responsible for testing and maintenance of the organization’s websites and intranets. Created dynamic web pages with client-side and server-side technologies, specifically HTML, ASP.NET, JavaScript, VBScript and SQL relational database interfaces using DreamWeaver as primary development tool, and integrated multimedia components for a dynamic experience. Upgraded all ASP 3.0 to ASP.NET 1.0 to ensure a quality end-user experience, as well as increase efficiency and usability. This upgrade was completed two months before deployment deadline. 6.2003 – 8.2004 Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, Fl Part-Time Computer Technician Supervise and manage the proper use of equipment in computer labs. Assist end-users with technical questions and problems regarding hardware and software installation. Maintain and test all laboratory equipment periodically, ensuring proper function and operation. Responsible for the repair and calibration of lab equipment, including desktop computer and network components, and printers. Upgraded and serviced desktop workstations, as well as routine maintenance on all systems in the facility. Education 3.2008 – 6.2010 Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, Fl Doctor of Philosophy in Computer Science Research topics: Artificial Intelligence, Communication Networks, Information Security, Data Mining and Machine Learning. 1.2007 – 3.2008 Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, Fl Masters of Science in Computer Science 8.2002 – 5.2005 Nova Southeastern University Fort Lauderdale, Fl Bachelors of Science in Computer Science Minor: Business Administration For more information please click here   Extra Curricular Activities Activities: Lambda Theta Phi, Latin Fraternity Inc: National Director of Information Technology Regional Director of Operations – FLS2 Beta Gamma Chapter President Beta Gamma Chapter Webmaster Nova Southeastern University’s Student Government Association: Executive Board Secretary Leadership Committee Chair person Inter-fraternity Council Senator Spanish and Latin Student Association (SALSA): Treasurer The Inter-Fraternity Council of NSU: Vice President of Recruitment Interim Vice President of Operations and Internal Affairs Scholarships: Florida Bright Futures Gold Scholarship Recipient Nova Southeastern University’s Honors Scholarship Award Florida Student Access Grant Recipient SMART Grant Recipient Honors and Awards: “Who’s Who” of High School Students: 2002 Dean’s List: Fall / Winter 2002 Neophyte (New Member) of the Year for Beta Gamma Chapter: Winter 2003 Office of Greek Affairs Greek God Award: Winter 2004 Most Campus Involvement: Winter 2004 Philadelphia (Brotherhood Cup Winner: Winter 2004 Broward County High school Programming Competition 2001 and 2002 Second Place Winner hosted at Nova Southeastern University , University School, High School Affiliations: Lambda Theta Phi, Latin Fraternity Inc. IEEE – Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers ACM – Association for Computing Machinery SPHE – Society of Professional Hispanic Engineers Member ASEE – American Society of Engineering Education Member NFL – National Forensic League Life Time Member ARC – the American Red Cross, Broward County Chapter Miscellaneous: Coordinator of various community service events including: Boys and Girls Club of Davie Mentoring and Fundraising, Camilla’s House Soup Kitchen, the American Red Cross Donation Drive, the Salvation Army food and clothing drives, as well as other projects dealing with battered women, breast cancer and underprivileged children. The American Red Cross Volunteer for the Hurricane Katrina Relief Effort in Gulfport, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana for 3 weeks: September 23rd to October 14th, 2005 Skills Detailed understanding of Microsoft’s Office Suite, including but not limited to Visio, PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Access Programming experience with various computer-programming languages and Object Oriented programming, design and implementation. High Level Language (HLL) experience: ASP.NET: 2yrs, VBScript: 3yrs, SQL (MS Access, MSSQL Server, MySQL): 2yrs, DHTML: 1yr, JavaScript: 4yrs, CSS: 4yrs, HTML: 5yrs, VBA: 1yr Experience with various applications: Adobe Professional Suite, Symantec / Norton Application Suite Desktop publishing knowledge: Adobe Acrobat Professional 8.0, Microsoft Publisher, and Adobe Photoshop CS3 image manipulation. Experience with various operating systems: Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP Home / Professional, Windows 2003 Server Web Application Design and Management, Database Design and Management, Information Systems Analysis, Internet Research, Helpdesk, Networking, Customer Service Full Hardware support, including but not limited to troubleshooting and diagnostics, upgrades, maintenance and optimization. Working knowledge of UNIX /LINUX and related systems FreeBSD Unix Ubuntu Linux (Server and Workstation) Red Hat Linux SUSE Linux Apache Web Server MySQL Database Fluent in both Spanish and English, learning Italian Typing Skills: 70 WPM

Here is one of the questions from my Programming Languages homework which took me a bit of thinking to figure out.  The answer, is of course, surprisingly simple and straightforward (as most correct answers are).  I hope this helps someone.  Don’t cheat, make sure it makes sense to you before just copying it.

Q:  Write a grammar for the language consisting of strings that have n copies of the letter a followed by the same number of copies of the letter b, where n > 0.  For example, the strings ab, aaaabbbb, and aaaaaaaabbbbbbbb are in language but a, abb, ba, and aaabb are not.

A:
        <S> -> <A>
        <A> -> a<A><B> | a<B>
        <B> -> b 

Proof:
aaaabbbb
<S>                -> <A>
                      -> a<A><B>
                      -> aa<A><B><B>
                      -> aaa<A><B><B><B>
                      -> aaaa<B><B><B><B>
                      -> aaaab<B><B><B>
                      -> aaaabb<B><B>
                      -> aaaabbb<B>
                      -> aaaabbbb

aaabb
<S>          -> <A>
                      -> a<A><B>
                      -> aa<A><B><B>
                      X -> aaa<A><B><B><B> OR aaa<B><B><B>

Edit: 7.27.2007

So the simpliest correct answer is:

<S> -> a<S>b | ab

NiCE!  It seems I over complicate even the easiest things

I’m currently on the track to earn two masters degrees (Information Security and Computer Science) and a doctorate in Computer Science.  Well, I’ve decided that I would like to earn a certification as well.  There are a few reasons for my choice, but the main reasons are 1) programming is my passion, 2) I have web programming experience and would like to validate it with a certification, 3) the potential work oppurtunities will increase with the certification, and 4) I chose this certification as opposed to an MCSA or MCSE because it only requires 2 exams and because I feel that the experiences I already have can validate my Network Administrator experience.

The certification is the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist (MCTS), particularly the MCTS: .NET Framework 2.0 Web Applications using VB.NET.  My initial goal was to earn it within 6 months from today as I continue my traditional education, however, since the books I purchased won’t be here until the end of August and the other at the end of December.  The two books I ordered from Amazon are the much awaited books byAmit Kalani.

“MCTS 70-536 Exam Prep: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Foundation Exam (Exam Cram 2)”
Amit Kalani; Hardcover; $40.79

“MCTS 70-528 Exam Prep: Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Web-based Client Development Exam (Exam Cram 2)”
Amit Kalani; Paperback; $40.79

So my goal has evolved to 6 months from the reciept of the first book should be arriving at the end of August, and at 3 months per exam that gives me from Sept – Nov for the first and Dec – Feb for the second, all while I continue schooling.

This will be interesting… I will keep you updated!

In the age where most of society has to make a living (including me; I started working when I was 13) I continously find myself in the conversation of whether someone in the IT field should go for their certs or go to school.  This especially became the issue while I worked as a teacher at a certifcation ’school’ (and I use that term loosely), where my students expected the world upon graduation, only to find out that they simply moved up a notch on a very long ladder.

 I once read in a magazine about 4 years ago “An MCSE without experience is like having a submarine with screen doors”, and to this day I think it’s brillant.  It encapsulates the idea that, either way, experience rules above all else (when it comes to getting a job, not advancing, which is a totally different story all together.

To get a job, I say get the Certifications.  Why? Because they train you in a specific task on a specific software set on a particular system (say, an MCP in Windows XP).  You become a specialized robot, and therefore, are perfect for a specific task.  I said task, not tasks, because again you’re a working robot, not someone who can readily advance into management (unless you have tons of experience and/or tons of certs [ie. knowledge]).

To get a career, definitely get the degree.  Why? Because degrees don’t expire.  The market for an MCSE in NT Server is dwindling and long overdue for a certification upgrade.  Not so for a Bachelors in Computer Science.  The assumption that comes with the degree is the ability to learn new things, to critically think, problem solve, and to understand the inner workings of computer systems, programming, computer architecture, etc.  I, having experience in management, would more readily give new and challenging tasks to my college graduate, than to my cert holding employees.  When was the last time you saw a robot learn something without having to be manually programmed?

So the market for IT professionals with certs is huge, and degrees equally competative.  How do you get ahead?  Either you get really lucky, have a good resume and do awesome at your interview.  Or you know someone who’s in the industry already and has some pull, or you know the boss and get an entry level position.  Or, you blow them all out of the water and you show your resume with certifications and degrees (and if you have less experience, you accept a lower pay than expected to build your resume, because of course, experience is king [I can't tell you how many times I've seen IT directors and managers with no degree, no cert, but with 10 years experience in the same position with the same company]).

In summation, the answer to the question all depends on what you want to do.  Certs are great for people who are looking for a career change, but at the end of the day I would have to say that a degree is worth it’s weight in gold, many times over.

Added: Not exactly on the same subject, but an interesting read.

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