CISSE Intermediate Level

Programming and Systems Analysis and Design flashcards

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Complete Flashcard Reference

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What are the five components of an information system?

Hardware: the physical computing equipment. Software: the programs that process data. Data: the raw facts stored and processed. People: users, analysts, developers and administrators. Procedures: the documented rules for how the system is used and operated.

What are the seven phases of the SDLC, in order?

1. Planning 2. Requirements and analysis 3. Design 4. Implementation 5. Testing 6. Deployment 7. Maintenance A maintenance change of any size restarts the cycle from planning for that change.

What are the four types of feasibility, and what does each assess?

Technical: does the technology exist, and does the team have the skill to build it? Economic: do the benefits justify the cost? Operational: will the organisation be able to use and support the system? Schedule: can it be delivered within the needed timeframe?

What are the four system changeover strategies, and the trade-off of each?

Direct: old stops, new starts at once. Fast and cheap, highest risk. Parallel: both run together for a period. Safest, but expensive and effort-intensive. Phased: new replaces old in stages. Lower risk than direct, more manageable than parallel. Pilot: trialled in one location or department first. Contains risk before wider rollout.

What are the four pillars of object-oriented programming?

Encapsulation: private data reached only through methods such as getters and setters. Abstraction: expose the essential details, hide the internal complexity. Inheritance: a class reuses and extends another (an is-a relationship). Polymorphism: different classes answer the same method call in their own way.

How does a compiler differ from an interpreter, and where does Java fit?

A compiler translates the whole source program ahead of execution. An interpreter translates and executes source code line by line as it runs. Java compiles source code to bytecode, which the JVM then interprets or compiles just in time, combining aspects of both.

What is the difference between black box and white box testing?

Black box: tests behaviour against inputs and expected outputs, with no knowledge of the code. Naturally suits acceptance testing. White box: tests the internal logic and structure of the code, so needs knowledge of how it is implemented. Naturally suits unit testing.

What are the four types of software maintenance?

Corrective: fixing defects found after release. Adaptive: adjusting to changes in the environment, such as a new operating system version. Perfective: improving performance or adding minor enhancements. Preventive: changing things now to prevent a future problem, such as refactoring code that is becoming hard to maintain.

How does Java pass arguments to a method?

Always by value. Primitive: a copy of the value is passed, so changes inside the method do not affect the caller's variable. Object: a copy of the reference is passed, so the method can change the object's fields, but reassigning the parameter does not change what the caller's variable refers to.

In Scrum, what are the Product Owner, the Scrum Master and a sprint?

Product Owner: represents stakeholder interests and prioritises the backlog. Scrum Master: facilitates the process and removes obstacles for the team. Sprint: a fixed, short, time-boxed period in which a defined set of work is completed.

What is an information system?