Exercises and Discussion Topics

  1. Propose ways to quickly determine whether a given project follows one of the design or implementation techniques we described. Test your proposal against one of the major projects available in the course's reference source code .
  2. Locate recommended design and implementation practices in a software engineering book. Explain how these are reflected in a project's source code.
  3. How can a standardized directory structure be utilized for automating aspects of the software development process?
  4. Examine and describe the directory structure of an installed version of Microsoft Windows.
  5. Configure a program from the course's reference source code to compile and run in a supported environment. Examine the configuration process output files and manually verify four different configuration options.
  6. Read the source code of a configuration script, explaining how two different configuration options are determined.
  7. How do you track revision histories in your environment? If you are not using a revision control system, consider adopting one.
  8. How is the build process managed in your favorite integrated development environment? Discuss the advantages and shortcomings of the employed approach.
  9. Locate two different test cases in the course's reference source code and explain how their execution is, or could be, automated.
  10. The Perl test cases suggest that

    ``A good test case has most of these attributes: fewest possible number of lines; few dependencies on external commands, modules, or libraries; runs on most platforms unimpeded; and is self-documenting.''

    Locate test cases in the course's reference source code and judge them against the above standard.

Creative Commons License  Last change: Sunday, June 6, 2004 11:52 am
 Unless otherwise expressly stated, all original material on this page created by Diomidis Spinellis is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Greece License.