SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT 4TH MARCH 2012 EXAMINATION PAPER

SECTION A Answer all questions from this section. Each question requires ONE answer only. SECTION B Answer all questions from this section. Each question requires THREE answers. SECTION C Answer any THREE questions from this section. Clearly cross out surplus answers. Failure to do this will result in only the first THREE answers being marked.

Time Allowed: 2.5 Hours

Any reference material brought into the examination room must be handed to the invigilator before the start of the examination.

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SECTION A ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION ALL QUESTIONS ARE WORTH 1 MARK

Question 1 A specialised program together with documentation which performs a particular function to meet a specific user need, such as stock control. This is a definition of A. C. firmware a system B. D. an application a utility

Question 2 The person in an organisation who has full budgetary and line management responsibility for the Information Systems department is? A. C. the chief executive the IS manager B. D. the project manager the analyst

Question 3 Which of the following stages of a system life cycle is likely to occupy the greatest time A. C. maintenance investigation B. D. coding implementation

Question 4 The largest positive decimal integer that can be stored in eight binary bits is: A. C. 127 256 B. D. 255 512

Question 5 Which of the following is a LIFO data structure? A. C. a queue a linked list B. D. a binary tree a stack

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Question 6 The difficulty of producing a software solution to a problem varies with its complexity. Which of these graphs best shows the relationship between the complexity of the product and the difficulty of producing it? A.

B.

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C.

D.

Question 7 Which of the following constructs is found in all programs? A. C. initializing messaging B. D. parameter passing sequencing

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Question 8 The following is a data flow diagram.

The number of external entities shown is A. C. 1 3 B. D. 2 4

Question 9 When designing a system, data is usually normalised. The reason for this is to: A. C. ensure it is complete avoid redundancy B. D. ensure it is accurate reduce access times

Question 10 Testing a module to ensure that it satisfies its specification is A. C. system testing package testing B. D. unit testing integration testing Total for Section A: 10 Marks

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SECTION B ANSWER ALL QUESTIONS IN THIS SECTION ALL QUESTIONS ARE WORTH 3 MARKS

Question 11 Defining the requirements for a new system is often a difficult process. Which THREE (3) of the following are common reasons for this difficulty? A. B. C. D. business managers often do not understand their own requirements clearly the business manager often has little experience of programming the analyst may have little experience in the relevant business field the analyst may have been trained to use a different programming language from the programmers E. the language used to describe a project is often unfamiliar to a business manager F. the testing of the system may be inadequate

Question 12 Convert the decimal number 34 to: A. eight bit binary B. hexadecimal C. octal

Question 13 Which THREE (3) of the following are reasons for carrying out a feasibility study when planning a new project? A. B. C. D. E. F. to determine the features required in the system to provide some risk analysis to produce some initial designs to perform cost / benefit analysis to assess the time frame for producing the system to determine the data required by the system

Question 14 Which THREE (3) of the following are examined during the stage of logical design? A. B. C. D. E. F. dialogue design update processes enquiry processes test plan development implementation processes requirements analysis
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Question 15 Which THREE (3) of the following activities take place during the implementation of a new system? A. B. C. D. E. F. new data entered alpha testing users trained interfaces developed coding bugs fixed parallel running

Question 16 The following shows the waterfall model of system development. Identify the stages A, B and C.

Question 17 Which THREE (3) of the following are stages in the Jackson Structured Programming methodology? A. B. C. D. E. F. define input / output data structures merge the input / output structures determine variables to be used describe objects needed compile the program determine the processes needed in the code

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Question 18 Which THREE (3) of the following help to make documentation accessible? A. B. C. D. E. F. an index use of acronyms great length structured replaced regularly pointers to other documents

Question 19 Which THREE (3) of the following are useful standards to impose on a team of programmers? A. B. C. D. E. F. functions must be of a limited length all documentation must be internal all variables must be global functions must have a single entry and exit point variables must be named according to a convention recursion should be avoided

Question 20 Which THREE (3) of the following are characteristics of black box testing? A. B. C. D. E. F. logical structural functional tests internal processes data-driven tests input/output Total for Section B: 30 Marks

Section C on next page

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SECTION C ANSWER ANY THREE QUESTIONS FROM THIS SECTION

Question 21 a) i. ii. Define the term real number.

(2 marks)

Explain what a floating point number is.

(5 marks)

b) A computer has eight bit storage locations. Explain what happens if the decimal integers 136 and 120 are added together and the result stored in one of the locations.
(5 marks)

c) i. ii. In terms of a computer program, define the term variable.

(2 marks)

In terms of a computer program, explain what an array is.

(6 marks)

Total: 20 Marks

Question 22 a) i. ii. iii. iv. v. In terms of software development, define the term object.
(2 marks)

Distinguish between an objects properties and methods.

(4 marks)

In terms of objects, explain the term encapsulation.

(2 marks)

Explain the advantages of encapsulation by objects.

(2 marks)

Explain how inheritance in objects can reduce the effort needed to develop software.
(6 marks)

b) Explain what pseudocode is.

(4 marks)

Total: 20 Marks

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Question 23 a) i. ii. In software development, describe the purpose of the requirements analysis.
(2 marks)

State THREE (3) aspects of a new system that are defined in the requirements specification.
(3 marks)

b) i. ii.

Describe the assumptions made by the waterfall life cycle model.

(4 marks)

Explain why the waterfall model of systems development may often not reflect reality.
(6 marks)

iii.

Explain how the V-model of systems development can lead to a better product.
(5 marks)

Total: 20 Marks

Question 24 a) i. Explain why common standards are important in the development of computer systems.
(4 marks)

ii.

Explain why it is necessary to keep close control of the products and documentation that are produced in a project.
(4 marks)

iii.

Describe TWO (2) methods that can be used to keep control over the products and documentation of a project.
(4 marks)

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b) i. ii.

Explain the purpose of testing a system.

(2 marks)

Explain why testing is better carried out by people not involved in writing a system.
(2 marks)

iii.

Explain why most software products contain errors even after extensive testing.
(4 marks) Total: 20 Marks

Total for Section C: 60 Marks

END OF EXAMINATION PAPER

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