3 types of application software you should know

July 2, 2018November 10, 2018Mohamed Sami

Software solution design process always targets the reuse of components and modules to speed up the development process, lower the project cost, and provide the customers with a faster valuable solution.

For any Software project initiation, mainly the solution architect think about if we already have a similar solution or application for the requested requirements or not. If it is possible to use some parts of the code or not. Maybe, we should search for ready-made products that we can use if a company or someone already developed this application and it satisfied our requirements.

Always, we will observe this kind of discussion for any project initiation and in solution architecture process.

In this article, we will discuss the 3 types of application software any software engineer, software project manager, technical sales, or architect should know.

The Waterfall Model, a different perspective

February 16, 2018November 10, 2018Mohamed Sami

What is the Waterfall Model (Waterfall Methodology)?

It is mostly known as the traditional software development process model, widely used until now, and the most popular SDLC model and the one you should avoid to use. Moreover, it was the first introduced presentation of the software lifecycle.

You can read this Wikipedia page to know the waterfall model history.

The Waterfall Model is a linear sequential flow. In which progress is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall) through the phases of software implementation. This means that any phase in the development process begins only if the previous phase is complete. The waterfall approach does not define the process to go back to the previous phase to handle changes in requirement.

In this article, we will discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the waterfall, should we avoid it? when to use it? and the waterfall model pitfall, and why I see it as the father of the SDLC models.

What do you need to know about the Software Development phases

June 13, 2017November 10, 2018Mohamed Sami

Software development lifecycle models have different strategies and methodologies for the software development process and I wrote about the different types of development models, please review this article for more information, we also discussed how to select the most suitable model based on your project context.

Regardless, what model you have selected, these models are sharing mostly the same development phases with different arrangements, a more or a less phase. Furthermore, they can be implemented in an iterative and incremental model.

In this article, we will discuss the most common phases across all SDLC models. I will add other articles to discuss each phase in details 🙂 Read more →

Database views for Rails performance optimization

May 27, 2017August 11, 2018Mohamed Sami

Rails Framework is one of the greatest supporters for Rapid Application Development (RAD) which tends to abstract and simplify the web architecture so that Rails abstracts away the database through the Active Record which is the Object-relational mapping (ORM) for rails.

The Active Record is the layer of the system responsible for representing business data and logic. Active Record facilitates the creation and use of business objects whose data requires persistent storage to a database.

So, It helps in a way to manage all relations consistency and mapping in the class model without the need to write SQL statement to retrieve any data or the usage of CRUD (create, read, update, and delete) methods in general. Read more →

The best SDLC model

May 5, 2017August 18, 2019Mohamed Sami

I received a lot of emails and comments regarding the best software development life cycle model. So, I had to write my opinion about that.

Actually, I think there is nothing called the best in absolute general, the best for me maybe not the best for you at this moment. Similarly, there is nothing called the best SDLC model in absolute general, you need to decide which one you need to use according to the software project context and what product or software you are developing, what about your competitors? And what are the team capabilities you have?

Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)

March 14, 2016August 11, 2018Mohamed Sami

I created consolidated slides to illustrate most of the popular software development models. I hope that you will like it. Read more →

Cloud Deployments Models

January 8, 2014November 10, 2018Mohamed Sami

I created consolidated slides to illustrate the cloud deployment models. I hope that you will like it.

White Box Techniques for Security Testing

May 1, 2012August 16, 2019Mohamed Sami

What is white box testing?

White box testing and analysis, by contrast with “black box” testing and analysis, that are mainly performed on the source code. Also known as glass box, structural, clear box, and open box testing.

White box analysis and tests include:

Static Analysis

It is known as “code review,” static analysis analyses source code before it is compiled, to detect coding errors, insecure coding constructs, and other indicators of security vulnerabilities or weaknesses that are detectable at the source code level. Static analyses can be manual or automated. In a manual analysis, the reviewer inspects the source code without the assistance of tools.

Choosing the right Software development life cycle model

March 21, 2012December 16, 2020Mohamed Sami

Selecting a Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) methodology is a challenging task for many organizations and software engineers. What tends to make it challenging is the fact that few organizations know what are the criteria to use in selecting a methodology to add value to the organization. Fewer still understand that a methodology might apply to more than one Life Cycle Model. Before considering a framework for selecting a given SDLC methodology, we need to define the different types and illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of those models (please see the Software Development Life Cycle Models and Methodologies).

Software Development Life Cycle Models and Methodologies

March 15, 2012December 29, 2021Mohamed Sami

Introduction

Software development life cycle (SDLC) is a series of phases that provide a common understanding of the software building process. How the software will be realized and developed from the business understanding and requirements elicitation phase to convert these business ideas and requirements into functions and features until its usage and operation to achieve the business needs. A good software engineer should have enough knowledge on how to choose the SDLC model based on the project context and the business requirements.

Therefore, it may be required to choose the right SDLC model according to the specific concerns and requirements of the project to ensure its success. I wrote another article on how to choose the right SDLC, you can follow this link for more information. Moreover, to learn more about Software Testing life cycles and SDLC phases you follow the links highlighted here.

In this article, we will explore the different types of SDLC models and the advantages and disadvantages of each one, and when to use them.

Software Security Testing in SDLC

March 2, 2012August 16, 2019Mohamed Sami

When to perform Software security analysis and tests?

Most of the software security practitioners would agree that the common practice of postponing security analysis and tests after the software implementation phase and even after it has been deployed (i.e., during its acceptance phase), makes it extremely difficult to address in a cost-effective, timely manner any vulnerabilities and weaknesses discovered during the analysis and testing process.

What is the software security testing?

February 28, 2012August 16, 2019Mohamed Sami

In the Software industry, Most of the clients have a main requirement which is

“We want the system to be secured”.

Security is a non-functional property of the system, the main goal for securing the system to make this system dependable. So, we can depend on this system and it can perform its excepted functions as required and specified.

Therefore, it is mandatory to run the security testing procedures to ensure that we can depend on this system, but we need also to consider some functional requirements on writing requirements specifications document that help to obtain this goal.

The Software Security Testing

February 26, 2012August 16, 2019Mohamed Sami

What did they say about Software security testing?

“Over 70 percent of security vulnerabilities exist at the application layer, not the network layer” Gartner.

“Hacking has moved from a hobbyist pursuit with a goal of notoriety to a criminal pursuit with a goal of money” Counterpane Internet Security.

“64 percent of developers are not confident in their ability to write secure applications” Microsoft Developer Research.

“Losses arising from vulnerable web applications are significant and expensive – up to $60 billion annually”IDC/IBM Systems Sciences Institute.

“If 50 percent of software vulnerabilities were removed prior to production use, enterprise configuration management and incident response costs would be reduced by 75 percent each.”Gartner.

Interviewing Techniques and Practices

February 24, 2012May 19, 2023Mohamed Sami

Interviewing is one of the most important and popular requirements elicitation and requirements discovering techniques. Therefore, before making any interview, we should prepare for it. The preparation of the interview is an important factor for increasing the chance of making a successful interview and successful business analysis.

Best Practices listening Skills for analysts

February 23, 2012August 16, 2019Mohamed Sami

“We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” Epictetus quotes (Greek philosopher associated with the Stoics, AD 55-c.135)

In human natural life, we are listening most of the time more than we speak, while this is called discriminative and passive listening which you are listening to voices with different level of sound and including the body language, but we need to control how to listen and when to concentrate on listening by managing and understanding listening skill especially on a career like analyst.

5 Core competencies every Business Analysts MUST have

February 21, 2012August 16, 2019Mohamed Sami

The Business Analyst is a key role in any software project and he is responsible mainly for the output from the analysis which phase is critical for the software project success, in this article we will discuss 5 core competencies that business analyst should have. let us go through them.

Creative thinking

Creative thinking is the process by which we generate new ideas, imagine possibilities, and find relationships among seemingly unrelated concepts.