short answers (450 words)

To read These are "classics" in this subfield, but are important for your background knowledge.

• [required] D.L. Parnas. On the criteria to be used in decomposing systems into modules

Communications of the ACM, 15(12):1053-1058, Dec. 1972.

• [required] David Garlan, Gail E. Kaiser, and David Notkin. Using tool abstraction to compose

systems. IEEE Computer, 25(6), June 1992.

• [required] Shruti Sannon, How Personification and Interactivity Influence Stress-Related

Disclosures to Conversational Agents

To turn in Prepare a brief (no more than one page) written answer to the following three questions. Write up your answer using MS Word or LaTex. One well-presented paragraph for each question is sufficient.

1. From Parnas' paper, what system properties does he believe are critical to high-quality designs?

2. The "tool abstraction" approach addresses some weaknesses in the system design in Parnas' paper. What are the key weaknesses or disadvantages of the tool abstraction strategy?

3. From Sannon’s paper, do you think that people are more willing to talk about their stressors with anonymous forms online than with their friends/family? Less willing?