Software Development

  Assignment 1 Guide

Investigation Phase

Introduction

Task b. Describe what a program would have to do to solve the problem

Carry out the Task

Introduction

Objectives

This guide  will help you to: -   

·   Complete assignment 1 - task b

You should have a copy of  following two assignment documents.

Assignment Scenario

Assignment 1: Investigating the problem

Task b. Describe what a program would have to do to solve the problem

In order to complete Assignment 1 Task b, you need to describe what the program has to do. If you require a different example, you can read the Modern Carpets Case Study section, describing what the carpet program has to do.

Here is a the company scenario again:-

The Lawnsword Garden Design Company

Scenario: Lawnsword Garden Design specialises in designing and producing lawns and old-fashioned hay meadows for clients. Hay meadows, which contain mixtures of grass and wild flowers, are always produced by sowing seed. Lawns may be made by laying prepared turf or by sowing seed. It is the seed sowing which causes a problem, since different types of seeds cover different areas. Ms Jane Lawnsword, who is the proprietor of the business, spends many hours calculating the amount of seeds required for each job and she now feels that she should be able to enlist the help of a computer to ease her workload. You have volunteered to attempt to solve the “seed sowing problem” and Ms Lawnsword has passed you details of one of the pending jobs.

Before defining what a new program has to do to solve a company's problems, it is often useful to imagine how their current system works. This will help you figure out what parts of whole procedure the new program can do and what parts it cannot do.

~~Activity~~

Activity A

·   Describe the way the current system works Imagine someone contacts you and asks you to create a new lawn and a new hay meadow for them. What would you do first? List all the steps required to create a new lawn and hay meadow from start to finish. I'll start you off. Step 1:  Measure the lawn area Step 2: Measure the hay meadow area Step 3: Calculate the lawn area ... Last Step: Sow the seeds and water the area Fill in the steps from step 3 to the last step. Remember, at the end of the whole procedure you must know how much of each seed type should be sown, and how many whole bags of each seed must be purchased

Now that you know all the steps required to complete the job, you can look at all the steps and figure out which steps can be tackled by a new computer program. Some of the steps cannot be carried out by a computer program and must still be carried out manually.

~~Activity~~

Activity B

·   Describe what the program would do in the new system Looking at your steps from the previous activity, describe what the new computer program will have to do.

Carry out the Task

You should have completed most of this task by carrying out Activity A and Activity B.

Arrange your activities so you end up with a one-page word processed document that states what the the Lawnsword Garden Design program has to do. The structure of your document should be as shown below.

Write your name in the document header. The structure of your document should be as follows:-

 Assignment 1: Investigating the Problem:

      Task b: What the program will have to do 

• The way the current system works

Here you should put your description of how the current system works  - Activity A.

• What the program will have to do

Here you put your description of what the new computer system will have to do - Activity B.

Have you finished all the tasks and handed them in? 

If so - well done.