Question

1. Assuming you are the head of the software development unit at Cyber.Soft, explain and justify why you will prefer four (4) out of eight (8) below listed models to aid your team in developing the required system.

1. Waterfall model
2. Rapid Application Development model
3. Component-based development
4. The formal methods model
5. The unified process or Rational Unified Process (RUP)
6. Agile model
7. Spiral model
8. Prototype model

NB: Support your literature with articles indexed in Scopus using journal articles such as Journals in IEEE xplore, ACM digital library, IET library, Engineering Index of Elsevier, BCS computer Journals etc. it is expected that a minimum of 5 peer-reviewed academic articles are cited as part of your explanation and justification.

Answer 1

As a head of software development unit i will suggest the 4 models which the 4 best and top models methodology in the development which are

• Waterfall Model
• Agile model
• Rapid Application Development model
• prototype model

let us know what these models are and why these are 4 best and top models

1. Waterfall model: It is the basic process model which was introduced first for the software development life cycle model .It was the most popular model earlier but It plays an important role as other software development life cycle model are based on it. It illustrate the development process of software in linear and sequential flow and divide the cycle into phases. In this model each phase must be completed before the next phase without overlapping. the output of one phase is input of the next phase thus it is considered as sequential flow

Advantages of waterfall model:

• Before the next phase of development,each phase must be completed
• suited for smaller projects where requirements are well defined
• They should perform quality assurance test before completing each stage
• Elaborate documentation is done at every phase of the SDLC
• Project is dependent on project team with minimum client intervention
• Changes in software is made during the development process.

2. Agile model: It is the combination of iterative and incremental process models. it was designed to help a project to adapt changes quickly for completing this aim agility is required which is achieved by fitting the process to the project,removing activities that may be essential for specific project.It breaks product into small incremental builds which provides iterations that lasts about one to three weeks.

Advantages of Agile model:

• Realistic approach to software development
• Promotes teamwork and cross training
• good for steadily changeable environments
• Resource requirements are minimum
• Gives flexibility to developers
• no planning required
• Easy to manage

3. Rapid application development (RAD)model: It was first proposed by IBM in 1980’s. This model is based on prototyping and iterative development with no specific planning involved and focuses on gathering customer requirements through workshops. RAD model can be implemented if the project can be broken down into small modules wherein each module can be assigned independently to separate teams.

Advantages of RAD model:

• Feedback from the customer is available at initial stages
• reduces development time and cost as fewer developers are required
• Progress can be measured
• Easier to accommodate changing requirements due to the short iteration time spans.
• Increases reusability of components

4. Prototype model: Prototype model is the most popular software development model as it is a type of method in which a prototype of the end product is build,tested and reworked until the acceptable outcome is achieved.It offers a small scale facsimile of the end product and is used for obtaining customer feedback.It  is used when the customers do not know the exact project requirements beforehand. An iterative, trial-and-error process that takes place between the developers and the users.

Advantages:

• The customers get to see the partial product early in the life cycle. This ensures a greater level of customer satisfaction and comfort.
• Missing functionality and errors are detected easily.
• Increased user involvement in the product even before implementation
• Reduces the time and cost as the defects can be detected much earlier
• It emphasizes team communication and flexible design practices.
• Flexibility in design.
• Users have a better understanding of how the product works.