Higher Computing Science Evaluation

1. Evaluation

2. The evaluation stage of the software development process
requires the client and developer to review the software.
Broadly speaking, they evaluate against the following
questions:
1.Does this software meet the user
requirements?
2.Is it fit for purpose?
Evaluation

3. To answer these questions, the original aims of the
software must be evaluated against the following criteria.
1.Correct
2.Robust
3.Reliable
4.Efficient
5.Readable
6.Maintainable
7.Portable
Evaluation - criteria

4. Correct
Does the program meet the software specification?

5. Robust
The program responds to unexpected input and does
not crash
Which is robust…?

6. Reliable
The program does not have any logic errors and
produces output which can be relied upon to be
correct
This program is correct and robust. But is it reliable?

7. Efficient
The program makes efficient use of resources eg
processor, memory, external devices
Size and speed should be proportionate to the
problem being solved

8. Readable
A program should be readable to another programmer.
This means using:
meaningful variable names
meaningful subprogram names
whitespace
internal commentary

9. Maintainable
It should be possible to easily carry out future changes
to the program:
Readable code
Full documentation
Version control
Design process with maintenance in mind

10. Portable
The program can be adapted to run on a different
Operating System

11. The software should be evaluated by client and developer
at all stages in the process, not just when the software is
complete.
e.g.
How well the client’s problem has been understood
should be evaluated at the analysis stage
The HCI should be evaluated at the design stage
Evaluation - when