Just for you: FREE 60-day trial to the world’s largest digital library.
The SlideShare family just got bigger. Enjoy access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, and more from Scribd.
Read free for 60 days
Cancel anytime.
Ethics in Information Technology
By: George W. Reynolds
Chapter 7: Software Development
Summary
• High-quality software systems are easy to learn and use. Such systems perform
quickly and efficiently to meet their users’ needs, operate safely and reliably, and
have a high degree of availability that keeps unexpected downtime to a
minimum.
• High-quality software has long been required to support the fields of air traffic
control, nuclear power, automobile safety, health care, military and defense, and
space exploration, among others.
• Now that computers and software have become integral parts of almost every
business, the demand for high-quality software is increasing. End users cannot
afford system crashes, lost work, or lower productivity. Nor can they tolerate
security holes through which intruders can spread viruses, steal data, or shut
down Web sites.
• A software defect is any error that, if not removed, could cause a software
system to fail to meet its users’ needs.
• Software quality is the degree to which a software product meets the needs of
its users.
• Software developers are under extreme pressure to reduce the time to market
of their products. They are driven by the need to beat the competition in
delivering new functionality to users, to begin generating revenue to recover the
cost of development, and to show a profit for shareholders.
• The resources and time needed to ensure quality are often cut under the
intense pressure to ship a new software product. When forced to choose
between adding more user features and doing more testing, many software
companies decide in favor of more features.
• Software product liability claims are typically based on strict liability, negligence,
breach of warranty, or misrepresentation—sometimes in combination.
• A software development methodology defines the activities in the software
development process, defines individual and group responsibilities for
accomplishing objectives, recommends specific techniques for accomplishing the
objectives, and offers guidelines for managing the quality of the products during
the various stages of the development cycle.