Reading Module Sample 2

How important are software design skills to a programmer? Programmers, in the traditional, and perhaps most widespread, view of the software development process, are not themselves seen as designers but rather as people who implement the designs of other people. The job of the programmer, after all, is to write code. Code is viewed as a "construction" activity, and everyone knows you have to complete the design before beginning construction. The real design work is performed by specialized software designers. Designers create the designs and hand them off to programmers, who turn them into code according to the designer’s specifications. In this view, then, the programmer only needs enough design skills to understand the designs given to him. The programmer’s main job is to master the tools of her trade.

This view, of course, only tells one story, since there is great variety among software development projects. Let’s consider a spectrum of software development "realities." At one end of the spectrum we have the situation described above. This hand-off based scenario occurs especially on larger, more complex projects, and especially within organizations that have a longstanding traditional software engineering culture. Specialization of function is a key component on these kinds of projects. Analysts specialize in gathering and analyzing requirements, which are handed off to designers who specialize in producing design specifications, which are handed off to programmers who specialize in producing code.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, best represented by the example of Extreme Programming (XP), there are no designers, just programmers; the programmers are responsible for the design of the system. In this situation, there is no room for specialization. According to Pete McBreen, in his excellent analysis of the Extreme Programming methodology and phenomenon, Questioning Extreme Programming, "The choice that XP makes is to keep as many as possible of the design-related activities concentrated in one role—the programmer." [McBreen, 2003, p. 97] This reality is also well represented in a less formal sense by the millions of one or two person software development shops in which the same people do just about everything—requirements, design, construction, testing, deployment, documentation, training, and support.

Do the following statements agree with the information given in Reading Passage? From question No 16-20, Mark

True if the statement agrees with the information

False if the statement contradicts the information

Not Given if there is no information on this

16. Designers create the designs and hand them off to programmers, who turn them into code according to the designer’s specifications.

17. The Designer’s main job is to master the tools of her trade.

18. Programmers specialize in producing code.

19. In Extreme Programming (XP), there are no programmers, just designers; the programmers are responsible for the design of the system.

20. Pete McBreen is both a designer and programmer.

From question No 21-25, Mark the correct letter A, B, C or D

21. Traditionally, programmers were seen to (be)

A. Real designers