9.8
Briefly describe the three main types of software maintenance. Why is it sometimes difficult to distinguish between them?The three types of software maintenance are:
- Fault repairs to fix bugs and vulnerabilities (corrective maintenance)
- Environmental adaptation to adapt to the software to new platforms and environments (adaptive maintenance)
- Functionality addition to add new features and to support new requirements (perfective maintenance)
Sometimes it’s hard to distinguish each type of software maintenance because they overlap one another. For instance, new features may be might be added to a system when the software environment is updated, or an environment may be upgraded to easily fix a bug, and so on.
9.10
Do software engineers have a professional responsibility to develop code that can be easily maintained even if their employer does not explicitly request it?Of course software engineers should develop code that can easily maintain, regardless of whether or not it was explicitly requested. At the beginning of this course, we were required to read the ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics and Professional Practice. In the code of ethics, it states that software engineers should develop software in the best interests of the public, their employers, clients, and colleagues. To make software less costly to maintain, and make the lives of fellow software engineers and developers easier, software should be developed with maintainability in mind. Additionally, the code of ethics specifically states that “software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and maintenance.” Therefore, software engineers must develop code that can be easily maintained in order to adhere to the ACM Software Engineering Code of Ethics.