Software Evolution - Use Case Scenarios

A retail company has an order-fulfillment system that is heavily used every day and generates outputs critical to warehouse operations. A technical audit finds that the code is poorly structured, documentation is largely missing, and the original developers have all left the company, but no suitable off-the-shelf replacement exists yet. Which strategic option is most appropriate given these facts?

Over the past two years, a system's support team has noticed the average time to complete impact analysis has tripled, and the count of outstanding change requests has grown steadily each quarter. What does this combination of trends most likely indicate?

Which of the following are genuine drivers of software evolution discussed across the chapter? Select all that apply.

A live e-commerce checkout system suddenly starts rejecting valid customer payments due to a newly discovered software fault. The engineering team applies a quick direct code fix within two hours to restore checkout, without first updating the requirements or design documentation. Three weeks later, no one has gone back to update the documentation or refactor the patch. What risk has this scenario created?

Arrange the following stages of the general software evolution process in the correct order.

Match each concept to the broad topic area it belongs to within software evolution.

Match each concept to the broad topic area it belongs to within software evolution.

A logistics company's tracking system needs three changes: (1) fixing a defect that causes incorrect delivery time estimates, (2) updating the system to run on a newly mandated cloud infrastructure provider, and (3) adding a new feature to support a recently launched same-day delivery service. Classify each change into the correct maintenance type.

A logistics company's tracking system needs three changes: (1) fixing a defect that causes incorrect delivery time estimates, (2) updating the system to run on a newly mandated cloud infrastructure provider, and (3) adding a new feature to support a recently launched same-day delivery service. Classify each change into the correct maintenance type.

A startup built its product using agile development with minimal upfront documentation. The startup is acquired, and the new parent company's plan-based maintenance team takes over the product. What is the most likely difficulty this maintenance team will face?

Which of the following correctly distinguishes software reengineering from full system replacement?

While adding a new feature, a developer notices the same dozen lines of validation logic copy-pasted in five different files across the codebase. Following standard refactoring guidance, what would be the most appropriate action?

True or False: Across decades of industry studies, fault repair has consistently been found to consume a larger share of overall maintenance effort than adding or modifying functionality.

A hospital's patient-monitoring software still runs on hardware from a manufacturer that ceased operations five years ago, and no compatible replacement parts can be purchased. According to legacy system environment assessment factors, which two factors are most directly implicated by this situation?

Which combination of factors best explains why adding equivalent functionality during maintenance has historically cost more than implementing it during initial development?

A mobile app company writes, releases, and maintains its own app entirely with the same internal team across its lifetime, releasing updates every few weeks. A separate enterprise software vendor builds a custom payroll system for a client, who then hires a different consultancy to handle all future support. Which evolution model applies to each situation?

A mobile app company writes, releases, and maintains its own app entirely with the same internal team across its lifetime, releasing updates every few weeks. A separate enterprise software vendor builds a custom payroll system for a client, who then hires a different consultancy to handle all future support. Which evolution model applies to each situation?

A system has 40 external interfaces to other organizational systems, and many of its requirements are derived directly from frequently revised internal management policies rather than from stable industry regulations. Based on the factors used to predict the number of change requests, what should be expected of this system?

A company is choosing among four possible reengineering approaches for an old system, ranging from a simple automated language version upgrade to a full architectural migration with manual restructuring. Sort these four approaches from least expensive to most expensive.

A code reviewer notices that a class accepts five separate parameters together as a group in nearly every method - an order ID, a customer ID, a timestamp, a region code, and a status flag - and this same group of five parameters appears together throughout the codebase. What refactoring opportunity does this represent?

Classify each statement about software evolution as true or as a common misconception.

Classify each statement about software evolution as true or as a common misconception.