Page 94 - DCAP305_PRINCIPLES_OF_SOFTWARE_ENGINEERING

Principles of Software Engineering

Notes 4.5 Summary

• Function Points used to size software applications accurately. Sizing is an important
component in determining productivity (outputs/inputs).
• They can be counted by different people, at different times, to obtain the same measure
within a reasonable margin of error.
• Function Points are easily understood by the non technical user. This helps communicate
sizing information to a user or customer.
• Function Points can be used to determine whether a tool, a language, an environment, is
more productive when compared with others.

• Client/Server Architecture indicated a graphical desktop UI application that communicated
with a database server containing much of the business logic in the form of stored
procedures.
• Client-Server Architectural (CSA) style is most common in enterprise systems, and is also
applied for integrating edge and enterprise systems.
• A “service” a discretely scoped business or technical functionality, and is offered by a
“service provider” or server to “service requestors” or clients.

4.6 Keywords

3-Tier: This is architectural deployment styles that describe the separation of functionality into
segments in much the same way as the layered style.

Application Servers: A specialized architectural style where the server hosts and executes
applications and services that a thin client accesses through a browser or specialized client
installed software.
Client-Queue-Client Systems: This approach allows clients to communicate with other clients
through a server-based queue.

Measurement: In the most general sense, is the mapping of numbers to attributes of objects in
accordance with some prescribed rule.
N-Tier Architectures: It has at least three separate logical parts, each located on a separate
physical server.

Software Metrics: These are therefore quantitative measurements of product (system or
component), process, or even project (in this case software projects) indicating the quality of a
desired attribute.

Software Validation: It has always been problematic in software engineering unlike many
other engineered products; software often cannot be visualized, thus, in many cases, resulting
in software validation being a reactive last minute process.
Traditional 2-Tier Client/Server: This is architectural style has numerous disadvantages, including
the tendency for application data and business logic to be closely combined on the server.

Validation: It is “the steps and the process needed to ensure that the system configuration, as
designed, meets all requirements initially specified by the customer.”

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