Deck 7: Ethical Decisions in Software Development

Question 1

The impact of software defects is always trivial.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Software product liability claims are typically based on strict liability, negligence, breach of warranty, or misrepresentation.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

In integration testing, special software programs called static analyzers are run against the new code.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

When software is well-designed, programmers make no mistakes in turning design specifications into lines of code.

Question 5

Under the doctrine of supervening event, the original seller is not liable if the software was materially altered after it left the seller's possession and the alteration caused the injury.

Question 6

Software quality is the degree to which a software product meets the needs of its users.

Question 7

In the context of developing safety-critical systems, the safety engineer's role is limited to producing a hazard log.

Question 8

User acceptance testing is performed by trained end users to ensure that the system operates as they expect.

Question 9

When developing safety-critical systems, a key assumption must be that safety will automatically result from following an organization's standard development methodology.

Question 10

When forced to choose between adding more user features and doing more testing, most software companies decide in favor of more testing.

Question 11

Software developers do not typically work closely with safety and software engineers.

Question 12

The first release of a software product typically meets all its users' expectations.

Question 13

Risk analysis is important for safety-critical systems, but is useful for other kinds of software development as well.

Question 14

A primary cause of poor software quality is that developers do not know how to design quality into software from the very start, or do not take the time to do so.

Question 15

Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) is a process improvement approach that defines the essential elements of effective processes.

Question 16

A successful defense against a product liability case is typically expensive in terms of legal fees.

Question 17

Software suppliers attempt to limit their liability by specifying that although software is warranted to run on a given machine configuration, no assurance is given as to what that software will do.

Question 18

From 2007 to June 2016, the percentage of organizations determined to be at a high-maturity level is 50.

Question 19

Software defects are commonly lethal and many personal injuries are related to software failures.

Question 20

There is no federal product liability law.

Question 21

Which of the following are defined as a set of interrelated components that include hardware, software, databases, networks, people, and procedures that collect data, process it, and disseminate the output?

A)Management information systems
B)Decision support systems
C)Business information systems
D)Data information systems

Question 22

Transference is the provision of multiple interchangeable components to perform a single function in order to cope with failures and errors.

Question 23

Which of the following can be oral, written, or inferred from the seller's conduct?

A)Indemnity
B)Strict liabilities
C)Warranty tolling
D)Express warranties

Question 24

When sued for which of the following, a software supplier is not held responsible for every product defect that causes customer or third-party loss?

A)breach of warranty
B)misrepresentation
C)strict liability
D)negligence

Question 25

In the context of Capability Maturity Model Integration, process is ad hoc and chaotic; organization tends to overcommit and processes are often abandoned during times of crisis in which of the following maturity levels?

A)quantitatively managed
B)managed
C)defined
D)initial

Question 26

In which of the following is a defendant held responsible for injuring another person, regardless of negligence or intent?

A)Contributory negligence
B)Misrepresentation
C)Strict liability
D)Breach of warranty

Question 27

Process-control computers enable the process to be monitored for variations from operating standards and to eliminate product defects before they affect which of the following?

A)quality
B)delivery
C)testing
D)development

Question 28

Risk mitigation involves the reduction in either the likelihood or the impact of the occurrence of a risk.

Question 29

Products, such as statements of requirements, flowcharts, and user documentation, are known as which of the following?

A)project systems
B)information systems
C)objects
D)deliverables

Question 30

Black-box testing treats the software unit as a device that has expected input and output behaviors but whose internal workings are known.

Question 31

A failure mode describes how a product or process could fail to perform the desired functions described by the customer.

Question 32

Risk is the potential of gaining or losing something of value.

Question 33

If the product fails to meet the terms of its written guarantee, the buyer or lessee can sue for which of the following?

A)breach of warranty
B)comparative negligence
C)contributory negligence
D)strict liability

Question 34

An airline's online ticket-reservation system and an electronic funds transfer system that moves money among banks, are examples of which of the following?

A)order-processing systems
B)decision support systems
C)software development systems
D)quality assurance systems

Question 35

Which of the following is true of software testing?

A)White-box testing involves viewing the software unit as a device that has expected input and output behaviors but whose internal workings are unknown.
B)Black-box testing treats the software unit as a device that has expected input and output behaviors but whose internal workings, unlike the unit in whitebox testing, are known.
C)Static testing involves software programs called static analyzers which are run against new code.
D)Integration testing involves independent testing that is performed by trained end users to ensure that the system operates as they expect.

Question 36

A type of business system which is used to develop accurate forecasts of customer demand, recommend stocks and bonds for an investment portfolio is known as which of the following?

A)upgrade management system
B)decision support system
C)executive information system
D)data information system

Question 37

Software quality is defined as the degree to which a software product meets:

A)the needs of its users.
B)the standards of its competitors.
C)sustainability and environmental protection needs.
D)the minimum financial return standards.

Question 38

Which of the following is true of strategies for engineering quality software?

A)High-quality software systems are tough to learn and use because they perform slowly.
B)Software defects never lead to injury.
C)Developers develop high-quality software instantaneously without a set of principles.
D)The first release of any software rarely meets all its users' expectations.

Question 39

In an attempt to limit their liability in the event of nonperformance, software suppliers frequently write which of the following?

A)manuals
B)warnings
C)warranties
D)sureties

Question 40

Which of the following is a standard, proven work process that enables those involved to make controlled and orderly progress in developing high-quality software?

A)software guide
B)software development methodology
C)software manual
D)software project management

Question 41

Which of the following is an approach to minimizing the impact of software errors by independently implementing the same set of user requirements N times, where N could be 2, 3, 4, or more?

A)Acceptance programming
B)Risk management programming
C)N-version programming
D)Avoidance programming

Question 42

The safety engineer uses a logging and monitoring system to track which of the following?

A)standards
B)objectives
C)hazards
D)deliverables

Question 43

In the context of development of safety critical systems, if an undesirable event has a ten percent probability of occurring and a potential cost of $50,000, then the risk can be calculated as which of the following?

A)$5000
B)$7000
C)$2500
D)$9500

Question 44

Which of the following terms is defined as the potential of gaining or losing something of value?

A)Risk
B)Redundancy
C)Liability
D)Certainty

Question 45

At which of the Capability Maturity Model Integration maturity levels, are processes well defined, understood, and consistent across the organization?

A)Initial
B)Managed
C)Defined
D)Quantitatively managed

Question 46

What are the standards that the warranty of merchantability requires to be met?

Question 47

Which term refers to methods within the development process that guarantee reliable operation of the product?

A)Quality assurance
B)Software development methodology
C)Documentation
D)Software project management

Question 48

A complex system used in IT is a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), which is commonly used in which type of file servers?

A)high-volume data storage
B)low-volume data storage
C)unpredictable-volume data storage
D)irregular-volume data storage

Question 49

Discuss intentional misrepresentation.

Question 50

Define reliability.

Question 51

What type of programming is commonly found in airplane and spacecraft control systems?

A)Structured programming
B)Triple version programming
C)Object programming
D)Root programming

Question 52

Which of the following is true of the International Organization for Standardization?

A)It is an American organization founded in 2001.
B)The ISO 9000:2007 provides a set of standardized requirements for a quality management system.
C)It issued the 9000 series of business standards in 1987.
D)It is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from 161 countries.

Question 53

After an organization decides to adopt which of the following, it must conduct an assessment of its software development practices to determine where they fit in the capability model?

A)QA
B)software development methodology
C)software quality management
D)CMMI-DEV

Question 54

An important technique used to develop ISO 9001-compliant quality systems by both evaluating reliability and determining the effects of system and equipment failures is which of the following?

A)DO-178B/EUROCCAE ED-128
B)N-version programming
C)Failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA)
D)Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)

Question 55

What form of testing involves viewing the software unit as a device that has expected input and output behaviors but whose internal workings are unknown?

A)Integration testing
B)Black-box testing
C)User acceptance testing
D)Static testing

Question 56

After successful unit testing, the subsystems are combined to test the entire system as a complete entity using what form of testing?

A)system testing
B)black-box testing
C)integration testing
D)static testing

Question 57

Define the five maturity levels of CMMI.

Question 58

Discuss the failure of safety-critical software systems through an example.

Question 59

Which family of standards serves many industries and organizations as a guide to quality products, services, and management?

A)ISO 7498-4
B)ISO 9595/DAM 1
C)ISO 9596
D)ISO 9001

Question 60

One approach to quality assurance is to test the code for a completed unit of software by actually entering test data and comparing the results with the expected results in a process known as which of the following?

A)dynamic testing
B)user acceptance testing
C)integration testing
D)static testing