The power and perils of OBD-II In 2010, the Centre for Automotive Embedded Systems Security demonstrated the devastating consequences that could arise should malicious attackers gain access to the on-board diagnostics port (OBD-II) that has been fitted to most vehicles since the mid 1990s. This collaborative group of academic researchers from the University of California San Diego and …
An introduction to software product line engineering
This article is based on examinable work that I submitted for the postgraduate Open University module M813 – Software Development. Software components With the end of the 19th century came the introduction of the now ubiquitous form of transportation that is the automobile. Early models were mostly hand crafted by skilled operators and priced accordingly, which …
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Software project failure rates
In order for a project to be classified as successful, it must satisfy three criteria: its outputs must be of the agreed quality, they must be delivered in the agreed timescale, and they must be delivered at the agreed price. The two studies below show that around a quarter of the software projects involved failed catastrophically (i.e. cancelled or delivered …
Picking the low hanging fruit (or harvesting the easy seeds)
Yesterday as I was carrying a new set of car floor mats into the house they brushed against a small flower that had recently died due to the onset of winter, but which had not yet released its seeds. A handful of the seeds became stuck to one of the mats, leaving me with the task of trying …
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No comprende the non-functional requirements: Part 2
In a previous post I discussed my difficulty in understanding the concept of non-functional requirements and how I planned to attend a lecture on the subject provided by my local branch of the Chartered Institute for IT. Having now sat through this lecture, I am relieved to know that I was not alone in my confusion; and overjoyed that the concept …
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No comprende the non-functional requirements: Part 1
During my relatively short career so far, I have experienced what must be the full range of industry practices regarding requirements engineering. From working in organisations where requirements simply did not exist, through to my current role developing safety critical systems where massive resources are dedicated to ensuring requirements are accurate, verifiable and traceable. I …
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