Software Engineering Essay - Critical Review of Article

THE BRIEF

This individual assignment contributes to the assessment of Intended Learning Outcomes 4, 5 and 6

of the unit.

Task

Estimates of software development costs are usually based on an estimate of the size of the

software

to be developed. A commonly used measure of software size is Lines of Code.

Read the article titled The Conservation of Uncertainty by Philip Armour, which was a column in the

series “The Business of Software” in Communications of the ACM in September 2007. The full

reference is:

Armour, P.G., 2007. The Conservation of Uncertainty. Comms. ACM [online], 50 (9), 25-28.

In your own words, critically review the article by summarising the key points presented in this

article

and discussing their strengths, weakness and limitations, drawing on evidence to support your

review.

Such a critical review is known as a critique.

Present your critical review as an essay, maximum 1200 words excluding references. State the word

count at the end of the essay.

Marking Scheme

ade in the article. (20%)

within the specified limit. (10%)

To achieve a Pass (at Third Class level): A reasonable attempt will be made to summarise the

article, identifying some of the key points. Some attempt will be made to identify the strengths and

limitations of the article, with evidence that some additional reading has been undertaken. There

will

be some discussion, although much of the critique may be descriptive. The presentation of the

critique is likely to contain some errors but most of the critique is understandable. The critique is

original work with minimal use of quotations. Referencing will be sufficient to identify the sources

cited.

To achieve a First Class Mark: There will be a clear, accurate summary of the article, identifying the

key points. The critique will be perceptive, thorough and original, with excellent justification for the

points raised in the review, drawing on several appropriate sources with evidence that critical

judgement has been used when assessing the importance of these sources. The critique is original

work with minimal use of quotations. It is presented well and is a pleasure to read. Citations and

references conform to guidelines.

Resources

Estimation of software development cost and time is discussed in many text books on Software

Engineering, including the books by Sommerville and by Pressman which have been referred to in

lectures and are referenced in the lecture slides. There are also many relevant online sources

including journal articles.