UCLA Computer Science 130 (Winter 2005) midterm
100 minutes total, open book, open notes


Name:_______________________    Student ID:_______________

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1 (5 minutes).  During which parts of this quarter (if any) will
your software project most likely to be exempt from Brooks's Law?  Why?

2 (10 minutes).  Give some good examples of the application of the
Pareto Principle to software construction.

3 (5 minutes).  Which integration strategies are tinderboxes (i.e.,
smoke and build tests) inappropriate for?  Explain.

4 (5 minutes).  What abstract layout rule is violated by the
following code, and why?

   if ( ( ( '0' <= inChar ) && ( inChar <= '9' ) ) ||
      ( ( 'a' <= inChar ) && ( inChar <= 'z' ) ) ||
      ( ( 'A' <= inChar ) && ( inChar <= 'Z' ) ) )

5 (10 minutes).  Critique the following proposed coding style rule:

  Lay out methods of a class in the order that they are typically invoked.

How well does this proposed rule achieve the overall objectives of
good layout?

6 (10 minutes).  Is debugging a wicked problem?  Explain.

7 (5 minutes).  If routine names are supposed to start with verbs,
then do sqrt(), abs(), and main() have poorly-chosen names?  Explain.

8 (10 minutes).  Code that is written in a strictly functional style can
ignore approximately half of McConnell chapter 14.  Which half, and why?

9 (10 minutes).  Does refactoring typically make code shorter or
longer?  Faster or slower?  Why?

10 (5 minutes).  Which technical problems occur with optimistic
version control systems but not with pessimistic ones?  Which
problems occur with pessimistic ones and not optimistic ones?

11 (10 minutes).  Give brief, concrete code that should not be
rewritten to avoid hybrid coupling.  Explain why it should not be
rewritten.

12 (15 minutes total).  How do the following construction
heuristics affect the ease of adherence to the Liskov
Substitution Principle?  Explain.

   12a.  the Law of Demeter
   12b.  Avoid classes named after verbs.
   12c.  Use a consistent level of abstraction.
   12d.  Avoid base classes with more than ten subclasses.
   12e.  Use classes to model real-world objects.