1. What is Software Engineering?

Answer:

Software Engineering is a process of developing a software product in a well-

defined systematic approach. In other words, developing a software by using

scientific principles, methods, and procedures.

2. What is the need to learn Software Engineering

Concepts?
Answer:

Imagine a person, who is good at building a wall may not be good at

constructing a house. In a similar way, a person who can write programs does

not have the knowledge to develop and implement the software in a well-

defined systematic approach. Hence, there is a need for programmers to

adhere to software engineering concepts such as requirements gathering,

planning, development, testing, and documentation.

3. What is SDLC OR Software Development Life Cycle?

Answer:

SDLC defines a set of guidelines to develop a software product. SDLC has

different phases namely: Gathering Requirements, Analysis, Planning,

Development, Testing, Implementation, Maintenance, and Documentation.

The order of the phases mentioned in SDLC may vary depending upon the

model chosen to implement.

 Popular Course in this category

All in One Software Development Bundle (600+ Courses, 50+

projects) 600+ Online Courses | 3000+ Hours | Verifiable Certificates |
Lifetime Access
4.6 (3,144 ratings)
Course Price
$199  $1999
View Course

Related Courses
Programming Languages Training (41 Courses, 13+ Projects)C Programming Training (3 Courses, 2
Project)Selenium Training Certification (9 Courses, 4+ Projects)

Let us move to the next software Engineering Interview Questions.

4. What are the different types of models available in

SDLC?
Answer:

Many models have been proposed, to carry out the software implementation

efficiently. Some of them include the Waterfall Model, Agile Model, Spiral

Model, Iterative Model, V-Model etc.

5. Explain the role of a Software Project Manager?
Answer:

This is the common software Engineering Interview Questions asked in an

interview. Project Manager is responsible for driving the software project in a

systematic approach. Some of the key roles & responsibilities of a software

project manager include project planning, tracking the progress of the project,

risk management, resource management, execution of development activities,

delivering the project under cost, time and quality constraints.

6. What is a Software Project Scope?

Answer:

A scope is utilized to outline the activities performed to design, develop and

deliver a software product. In other words, scope contains information on

what project is intended to deliver and what it does not intend to. The scope

also outlines information on what software product developed contains and

what it does not contain.

7. What is Software Project Estimation?

Answer:

Project Estimation is a process utilized to calculate the development costs

such as effort, time and resources required to deliver a project. Project

Estimations are derived through past project experiences or with the help of

consulting experts or with the help of standard predefined business formulas.

Let us move to the next software Engineering Interview Questions.

8. Explain Functional Points?

Answer:

Functional points are used to measure the size of the software product. In

some business, scenarios play a key role in tracking and estimating the project

delivery.

9. What is a Baseline?
Answer:

Baselines are put forth by the project managers to track the overall project

delivery. Baselines are usually placed to track the overall tasks listed under a

phase or stage. Baselines help project managers to track and monitor the

overall execution of a project.

10. What is Software Configuration Management?

Answer:

Software Configuration Management helps users to track the overall changes

made in a software product delivery. Updates or changes made to the

software are tracked in terms of development and requirements gathering.

Let us move to the next software Engineering Interview Questions.

11. What is Change Control?

Answer:

Change control tracks the changes made in a software to ensure consistency

and updates are incorporated as per the enterprise standards.

12.Mention few project management tools?

Answer:

Many project management tools are utilized as per the enterprise standards

some of them include: Gantt Charts, PERT Charts, Milestone Checklists,

Histograms, MS project, Status reports etc.

13. What is a Software requirement?

Answer:

Requirements play a key role in providing a detailed description of the

software product being developed. Software requirements help the

developers and other support teams associated with project delivery, to

understand the proposed target system and their expectations on it.

 
Part 2 – software Engineering Interview
Questions (Advanced)
Let us now have a look at the advanced software Engineering Interview

Questions.

14. Explain the Feasibility Study?

Answer:

Feasibility Study is performed to assess the beneficial and practical attributes

of a software development Thorough analysis is performed by an organization

with the help of feasibility study to understand the economic, operational and

technical aspects involved in a software project delivery.

•Economic: Economic study involves costs related to resource management,

training costs, tools utilized and project estimation costs

•Technical: Technical study helps the business to analyze the technical aspects

involved in software delivery such as machines, operating systems, knowledge,

and skills of resource allocated, tools utilized and training.

•Operational: Operational study help business to study the change

management and issues involved depending on the project needs.

15. What are functional and non- functional

requirements?
Answer:

Functional requirements are utilized to specify the functional features as per

the business requirements. For Example, adding a payment option to buy

content from a website. Whereas Non- functional requirements provide

insights into security, performance, user interface, interoperability costs etc.

16. What are Software Metrics?

Answer:

Metrics are utilized to guide the software product delivery as per the business

standards. Metrics can also be used to measure few features of software

product delivery. Metrics are divided into requirement metrics, product

metrics, performance metrics, and process metrics.

Let us move to the next software Engineering Interview Questions.

17. What is Modularization?
Answer:

Modularization divides the software system tasks in multiple modules. These

modules are independent to other modules and tasks invoked in each module

are executed independently.

18. Explain Concurrency and how is it achieved during

the software product delivery?
Answer:

This is the advanced software Engineering Interview Questions asked in an

interview. Concurrency is a process of executing multiple events or tasks

simultaneously. Concurrency can be achieved with the help of modules,

events, and tasks associated with the software project delivery.

19. What is Cohesion?

Answer:

Cohesion is utilized to measure the intra-dependability among various

attributes defined in a module.

20. What is coupling?

Answer:

Coupling is utilized to measure the inter-dependability of various elements

defined in a module.

21. Mention a few software analysis & Design tools?

Answer:

Some of the key software analysis & design tools are Data flow Diagrams

(DFD), Structured Charts, Data Dictionary, UML (Unified Modeling Languages)

diagrams, ER (Entity Relationship) Diagrams etc.

Let us move to the next software Engineering Interview Questions.

22. What is DFD Level 0?

Answer:

DFD (Data Flow Diagrams) Level 0 depict the entire data flow along with all

abstract details within a software information system. This type of DFD is also

known as Context level DFD.

23. What is Data Dictionary?

Answer:

A data dictionary is also known as metadata. Data Dictionary is utilized to

capture the information related to naming conventions of objects and files

utilized in the software project.

24. What is black box testing and white box testing?

Answer:

Black Box Testing: Black box testing is performed to validate the outputs

along with valid inputs given. But, it does not test the implementation part of

the program.

White Box Testing: White Box testing is performed to validate the inputs,

outputs and program implementation involved in its execution.

Let us move to the next software Engineering Interview Questions.

25. What are the various types of software

maintenance?
Answer:

Maintenance types are corrective, adaptive, perfective and preventive.

Corrective: This type of maintenance is used to remove the errors spotted by

business users.
Adaptive: This maintenance activity is performed to check the changes made

in the hardware and software environment.

Perfective: This type of maintenance is used to implement changes in existing

or new user requirements

Preventive: This maintenance activity is performed to avoid any issues in

future implementations.

26. Explain CASE tools?

Answer:

CASE (Computer Aided Software Engineering tools) are utilized to implement,

support, and accelerate various SDLC activities involved in a software project.

Top 50 Software Engineering Interview Questions and Answers
1) What are the important categories of software?
 System software
 Application software
 Embedded software
 Web Applications
 Artificial Intelligence software
 Scientific software.
2) What is the main difference between a computer program and computer software?

A computer program is a piece of programming code. It performs a well-defined task.  On

the other hand, the software includes programming code, documentation and user guide.

3) What is software re-engineering?

It is a process of software development which is done to improve the maintainability of a

software system.

4) Describe the software development process in brief:

The software development is a life cycle is composed of the following stages:

 Requirement analysis
 Specification
 Software architecture
 Implementation
 Testing
 Documentation
 Training and support
 Maintenance
5) What are SDLC models available?

Waterfall Model, Spiral Model, Big-bag model, Iterative Model, and V- Model are some of
the famous SDLC models.
6) What is verification and validation?
Verification:

Verification is a term that refers to the set of activities which ensure that software
implements a specific function.

Validation:

It refers to the set of activities which ensure that software that has been built according to
the need of clients.

7) In software development process what is the meaning of debugging?

Debugging is the process that results in the removal of error. It is very important part of the
successful testing.

8) How can you make sure that your code is both safe and fast?

In the software, development security is always first. So if the execution of the program is
slow then, I will try to identify the reason out ways to its time complexity.

9) Name two tools which are used for keeping track of software requirements?

There many l ways to keep track of requirements.

Two commonly used are:

 Make a requirements specifications document to list all of the requirements.
 Create an excel sheet the list down the requirement, type, dependency, priority, etc.
10) What is the main difference between a stubs, a mock?

A stub is a minimal implementation of an interface which generally returns hardcoded data

while mock usually verifies outputs against expectations. Those expectations are set in the
test.
11) What language do you like to write programming algorithms?

Every developer has their views when it comes to the programming language choices.
Though, one should prefer high-level languages because they are dynamic. Like C and C++
languages.

12) What is computer software?

Computer software is a package which includes a software program, its documentation, and
user guide on how to use the software.

13) According to you which SDLC model is the best?

There, is no such ranking, as SDLC Models are adopted as per the need for the
development process. It may differ software-to-software.

14) Who is software project manager? What is his role?

A software project manager is a person responsible for managing the software development
project.

The project manager is doing the project planning, monitoring the progress, communication.
He or she also manages risks and resources to deliver the project within time, cost, and
quality constraints.

15) What is mean by software scope?

Software scope is a well-defined boundary. It includes all kind of activities that are done to
develop and deliver the software product.

The software scope defines all functionalities and artifacts to be delivered as a part of the
software. The scope also identifies what the product will do? What is not the part of the
project? What is project estimation?

This process is helpful to estimate various aspects of the software product. This estimation
can be decided either consulting experts or by using pre-defined formulas.

16) How to find the size of a software product?

The size of software product can be calculated using by following two methods

 Counting the lines of delivered code

 Counting delivered function points
17) What are function points?

Function points are the features which are provided by the software product. It is considered
as a most important measurement for software size.

18) What are software project estimation techniques available?

Most widely used estimation techniques are:

 Decomposition technique
  Empirical technique
19) What is Software configuration management?

Software configuration management is a process of tracking and controlling changes that

happen in the software.

Change control is a function which ensures that all changes made into the software system
are consistent and created using organizational rules and regulations.

20) How can you measure project execution?

We can measure project execution using Activity Monitoring, Status Reports, and Milestone
Checklists.

21) Tell me about some project management tools.

There are many types of management tools used as per the need for a software project.
Some of them are Pert Chart, Gantt Chart, Resource Histogram, Status Reports, etc.

22) What are software requirements?

Software requirements are a functional description of a proposed software system. It is

assumed to be the description of the target system, its functionalities, and features.

23) What is feasibility study?

It is a measure to find out how practical and beneficial the software project development will
prove to the organization. The software analyzer conducts a study to know the economic,
technical and operational feasibility of the project.

1. Economic: It includes the cost of training, cost of additional and tools and overall
estimation of costs and benefits of the project.
2. Technical: It evaluate technical aspect. Is it possible to develop this system?
Assessing the suitability of machine(s) and OS on which software will execute,
knowledge of the software development and tools available for this project.
3. Operational: Here the analyst need to assess that the organization will able to adjust
smoothly to the changes done as per the demand for the project. Is the problem worth
solving at the estimated cost?

After, studying all this the final feasibility report is created.

24) What are functional and non-functional requirements?

Functional requirements are functional features which are expected by users from the
proposed software product.

Non-functional requirements are related to security, performance, look, and feel of the user
interface.

25) What is software metric?

Software Metrics offers measures for various aspects of software process which are divided
into:

1. Requirement metrics: Length requirements, completeness

2. Product metrics: Number of coding Lines, Object-oriented metrics, design and test
metrics.
26) What is modularization?

Modularization is a technique which is used for dividing a software system into various
discreet modules. That is expected to carry out the tasks independently.

27) What is cohesion?

Cohesion is a measure that defines the intra-dependability among the elements of the
module.

28) Mentions some software analysis & design tools?

Some of the most important software analysis and designing tools are:

 Data Flow Diagrams

 Structured Charts
 Structured English
 Data Dictionary
 Hierarchical Input Process Output diagrams
 Entity Relationship Diagrams and Decision tables
29) What is mean by level-0 Data flow diagram?

Highest abstraction level is called Level 0 of DFD. It is also called context level DFD. It
portrays the entire information system as one diagram.

30) What is the major difference between structured English and Pseudo Code?

Structured English is native English language. It is used to write the structure of a program
module. It uses programming language keywords. On the other hand, Pseudo Code is more
like to the programming language without syntax of any specific language.

31) What is structured design?

Structured design is a conceptualization of problem. It also called solution design and which
is based on ‘divide and conquer’ strategy.

32) What is functional programming?

It is a programming method, which uses the concepts of a mathematical function. It

provides means of computation as mathematical functions, which also produces results
irrespective of program state.

33) What is Quality Assurance vs. Quality Control?

Quality Assurance checks if proper process is followed while developing the software while
Quality Control deals with maintaining the quality of software product.
34) What are CASE tools?

CASE means Computer Aided Software Engineering. They are set of automated software
application programs, which are used to support, enhance and strengthen the SDLC
activities.

35) Which process model removes defects before software get into trouble?

Clean room software engineering method removes defects before software gets into
trouble.

36) Solve this problem

There are twenty different socks of two types in a drawer in one dark room. What is the
minimum number of socks you need to take to ensure you have a matching pair?”

If you pick up three socks, they may be of the same type even if the odds are 50%. Odds
never an equal reality. Therefore, the only way to ‘ensure you have a matching pair’ is to
pick up at least 11 number of shocks.

37) How you can make sure that your written code which can handle various kinds of
error situation?

I can write tests that define the expected error situations.

38) Explain the differences between a Thread and a Process?

A process is instance of  the computer program.In a single program it is possible to have
one or more threads.

39) Tell me the difference between an EXE and a DLL?

An exe is an executable program while a DLL is a file that can be loaded and executed by
programs dynamically. It is an external code repository for programs.  As both are different
programs, reuse the same DLL instead of having that code in their file. It also reduces
required storage space.

40) What is strong-typing and weak-typing? Which is preferred? Why?

Strong typing checks the types of variables at compile time. On the other hand,  weak
typing checks the types of the system at run-time. Among them, Strong typing is always
preferred because it minimizes the bugs.

41) Describe the difference between Interface-oriented, Object-oriented and Aspect-oriented

programming.
 Interface programming is contract based.
 Object-oriented is a way to write granular objects which have a single purpose.
 Aspect Oriented Programming is to segregate the code in such a manner that
various objects carry the main tasks, and the subsidiary tasks are carried by
independent objects.
42) Why using catch (exception) is always a bad idea?
It is a bad idea because:
  As there is no variable defined, it is not possible to read the exception
 It’s good to use an exception when you have known exception types.
43) What type of data is passed via HTTP Headers?

Script and metadata passed via HTTP headers.

44) How do you prioritize requirements?

First, you need to design a system by evaluating data structure. Then you should move on
to the code structure needed to support it.

45) Give me differences between object-oriented and component-based design?

Object-oriented design can easily be encapsulated to some degree in component-based

design.

46) When do you use polymorphism?

Polymorphism is used when there is a need for override functionality when inheriting class.
It’s about shared classes and shared contracts.

47) What is the difference between stack and queue?

 Queue is always First In, First Out
 Stack is always Last In, First Out
48) What is essential for testing the quality of the code?

According to me, the unit testing framework is essential for testing the quality of the code.

49) Do you think that the maintenance of software is expensive?

According to me, maintenances of software will never be expensive if we are using proper
development process.

50) Give me differences between tags and branches?

Tags are for versioning releases which are temporary holding places for doing such thing.
However, branches are deleted when those changes are merged into the trunk.

51) Where is a protected class-level variable available?

Protected class-level variables are available to any sub-class derived from the base class.

52) Is it possible to execute multiple catch blocks for a single try statement?

Yes. Multiple catch blocks can be executed for a single try statement.

53) When do you need to declare a class as abstract?

We should declare a class as abstract in the following situations:
1. When the class is inherited from an abstract class, but not all the abstract methods
have been overridden.
2. In the case when minimum one of the methods in the class is declared as an
abstract.