Topic 1.7 - Software Engineering

Question 1

What are CASE tools?

Answer 1

They are pieces of software used in the design or development of a computer system.
- Computer Aided Software Engineering

Question 2

What does and IDE stand for?

Answer 2

An IDE is an Integrated Development Environment

Question 3

What basic tools do IDEs offer in order to get the code up and running?

Answer 3

• Editor
• Compiler
• Interpreter
• Linker (Allows previous compiled code from libraries to be linked together)
• Loader
• Publisher

Question 4

What tools do IDEs offer in order to detect errors within code?

Answer 4

• Debugger
• Syntax error detection
• Error diagnostics
• Variable watch
• Memory inspection

Question 5

What tools do IDEs offer which help programmers edit code easily?

Answer 5

• Automatic colour coding of code
• Automatic formatting
• Statement completion
• GUI creation
• Breakpoints
• Variable watch
• Trace
• Emulator

Question 6

What tools do IDEs offer which help improve the efficiency of a program?

Answer 6

• Code optimisation

- Variable watch

Question 7

Why is it important to manage different version of a system?

Answer 7

If an update is made to a version which is not the most recent (another programmer has made an updated version), that means there isn’t going to be a version with both updates.

Question 8

What is the purpose of a compiler?

Answer 8

A compiler translates the source code into machine code

Question 9

What is the purpose of an interpreter?

Answer 9

An interpreter takes each line of source code one at a time, translates it and executes it before moving on to the next line

Question 10

What is the difference between high and low level programming languages?

Answer 10

High level programming languages are ones which humans are able to read whereas low level languages are readable by machines.