I wrapped up the Metrics section of the reading list today. This brings and end to looking through the question given on the test that I found difficult to remember because of the way it was asked. I was not clued into the author`s names. At any rate I moved on to software testing. There are two pieces of literature mentioned in this section. The 2 pieces are a book called "Testing Computer Software" and a paper called "The Evaluation of Program-Based Software Test Data Adequacy Criteria". The paper is obtainable only through the ACM portal from the DePaul Library. If you have never used this before you will need to use your campus connect password. I had to get the paper for the section I just finished on Metrics using this method also. In the current section of study Software Testing the exam has a question that asks you to describe the weaknesses of three approaches and then asks you to answer a few questions about a small algorithm. It has been very frustrating to try and provide definitions for these approaches. ``Mutation Analysis`` seems to be something easily found but the other two, "Random Testing" and "Equivalence Term Testing", are more difficult. It seems that the paper and the book don`t use the exact terms as used in the test. In the test it even makes a note to not confuse "Equivalence Term Testing" with "Equivalence Partitioning". I find this very ugly. If you cannot find reference to the exact term how do you know that you are describing what the author of the test really wants? I have looked at the citations to the paper mentioned and it has several. I looked at the ones that are by the author. Since this paper is from June 1988 some of the citations are not listed on the ACM portal or on the IEEE portal. So I cannot even look back at what the author might have said in previous papers... maybe using the terms mentioned. Looking in the book I find that the terms are not in the glossary. I looked through a couple of the sections and did not find them either. I guess my plan at this point is to review the paper thoroughly. I will then browse the book and try and get something. Looking into parts of the question may get me through if this is one of the questions I have to answer on the test because of avoidance of one of the others. So, what in the hell is this supposed to teach me? Does the frustration of the way this question is worded teach or "TEST" anything. Why ask about a specific term if it is not the commonly used term? Because, if it was common you would be able to find it in many places, for instance you could google for it or find it in Wikipedia. I think that this kind of question really points to a problem in the way DePaul tests their PhD students. It is not that someone won`t be able to pass the test it is that DePaul won`t be able to test the people that they want for PhD`s.

I have been looking at the paper `A Critique of Software Defect Prediction Models`. This is a paper mentioned in the reading list. It has been a good read. Since I was involved in the CMM effort at the Bank of America I can see many of the mistakes made then by reading this paper. Metrics about defect prediction are difficult. The unknown relationship between defects and failures makes this problem a pretty large one. The mistakes often made where ones I have seen being done at the Bank of America. The ones mentioned in the paper have all been done their. --the problems with `multivariate statistical approach, problems of using size and complexity metrics as sole predictors of defects, problems in statistical methodology and data quality, and false claims about software decomposition and the goldilock`s conjectures, are all problems exhibited in the Bank of America`s software process defect predictions. `Management by Fact` has a loose definition of the word `fact` in their process. At any rate I understand because this stuff is hard. One of the questions on the test is related to self experience with these problems. I think that I have the ammunition. I will just need to be ready to cover the right bullet points.

I have been eating to much. The holiday`s have kept me pretty stuffed. I have been going though the metrics part of the software engineering reading list. I have been through this part several times. I am going through it a bit more deeply this time. I have nearly read through the papers again an have been making notes along the way. One of the questions I missed on the exams was related to some author names in this section. I expect to be able to nail those questions this time around. I have the link to the authors names now in my memory. It should be easier to recall this information this time. This part of the present studying always stinks because it is painful for me to remember the memory of execution of the question on the past test and match it to the studied information prior to today, to late to exercise the previously learned information on the test that has already passed. I have this 20-20 hindsight problem frequently. The good part is new information gets linked in too.

I have been studying through this holiday season. I have been looking over the past exams and answering questions on them. I found a question that I remember from one of the past exams I took. I never remembered it on the reading list. The problem was that it was all in how the question was asked. The link to a past memory and recall was based on the authors names, year of publication and the content of the paper was on OO metrics. This was not enough to clue me in to the paper in question. I have since looked up the paper and have begun to read it. It is not a terribly seminal paper in my interpretation but that adjective used in the question. I am working through the paper now. This question will not be a stumbling block on the next exam. I have also added 2 new books to my reading list even though they are not on the official list. The "UML reference manual" as opposed to the UML reference guide and "The Object Constraint Language, Second Edition". I expect that these books will help with my study. I contacted the author of "UML for dummies" via email. He responded and gave me some good information. Thanks to "Michael Jesse Chonoles" for his incite.

It has been a bad couple of weeks. I have been to 2 funerals. My other relatives had a couple of more. It has been a rough Thanksgiving. Things are better now. I have a short week this week also. I will take a couple of days off and try to get a class to teach this winter to fund holiday expenses. I am learning in my studies of UML that it may have been difficult for the graders to understand my UML diagrams. From an inheritance and interface point of view I did not label some of my classes with stereotypes. This may have lead to some confusion on the part of the grader and it may have made my class diagrams look un-intelligible. At any rate the language for implementation may take a toll on UML. I may have to make adjustments to my design on the test because one or more of the graders may think in an implementation language that taints the interpretation of the diagram. If one thinks in C++ and the other thinks in Java a view of "realization" may be different. I have to be careful.

Not much has happend in recent weeks. I continue to study as much as I can. The possibility of a ZED question is still very real. It is such a large language. I will find it difficult to be successful with ZED. I have to spend more time on it but it will take away from other things I need to study. It may be better if I can just choose that question to skip. ...5 questions choose 4 on the test. I now have the dates. Exam Application Due Date is Friday, March 16, 2007. Examination Date is Friday, April 13, 2007 at 10:00 AM. I plan on taking vacation from work for preparation. The PLuS program director has been notified of the dates. He will be making requests about the exam and how it will be administered in the future closer to the exam dates. I believe he will be asking for a reader, no time limit, and a private exam room. All of which I think will help me succeed. I still believe that the ZED question should be thrown out but am not sure how to get that accomplished. I have requested it from the PLuS program director. ZED has never been taught in any depth at DePaul. I have either audited or taken the formal methods class a couple of times and ZED is only mentioned as a formal method. I think that it is not right that you have to know ZED in depth for a PhD exam at a school that does not think highly enough of ZED to teach it that way. Whether or not it is a specialty of you adviser should be no concern.

In my study I am starting to find more evidence that I did pass that last test reviewed with my adviser. The first question had to do with design patterns and UML. I remember that during the test I thought that I had seen the answer before. Not the exact answer but something very similar. So I used the exact same patterns and diagrams. The answer comes from the book "Applying UML and Patterns by Craig Larman." In that book on page 346 is where I took the data for my answer. It starts out with the Factory pattern and the book goes on and talks about how it may or may not be a concrete factory. It goes on to say that it returns an adapter. The adapter is an interface where you return the real type cast to the type of the adapter so that the object can be handled polymorphicaly. Later it talks about implementing the Factor as a singleton because you only need one of them. ...3 patterns portrayed to fulfill the requirements of the question. I believe that I used the exact same patterns and drew a very similar diagram. The answer is on page 346-348 of the book. I will have it perfect next time. It will not be a soft memory that I try to mimic but a hard one that I study just for this kind of question.