Ex 1.3
Q: What are the 4 most important attributes that all professional software should possess? Suggest 4 other attributes that may sometimes be significant.
A: Here are the 4 the book mentions: Acceptability, Dependability and Security, Efficiency, Maintainability
Here are 4 other ones that may be significant: Reusability, Correctness, Standardization, Documentazbility
Ex 1.8
Q: Discuss whether professional engineers should be licensed in the same way as doctors or lawyers.
A: I think professional engineers should be required to learn about their legal limitations and gain a certification to prevent legal cases. I do not think being an engineer should be valued the same as doctors since doctors have the control of someones life in their hands instantly. However an engineer could be programming some sort of medical case, like in the case study about the insulin pump, in which I would say the engineer should have some sort of medical licensing. I believe there should be some sort of standard testing each software engineer needs to go through which requires them to have learned their legal limitations for their own safety and the safety of the company that they are working for.
Ex 1.9
Q: For each of the clauses in the ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics shown in Figure 1.4, propose an appropriate example that illustrates that clause.
A:
1. Public: A software engineer should never be developing programs that would benefit themselves, but hurt the public. The engineer should never try to scam the public. Programs should be in the best interest of all.
2. Client and Employer: A software engineer should work diligently and be truthful in the amount of hours they spend working on a project get it done efficiently. They should slack off and take a longer amount of time to get a higher pay.
3. Product: A software engineer could alter the way a product works to make the customer come in multiple times for repairs in order to gain a hire profit off of them.
4. Judgement: A software engineer could sabotage a coworker's project because of some outside reason, like the coworker stole the engineer's girlfriend. This is an example of unprofessionalism in the workplace.
5. Management: A software engineer leader could promote someone on their team who did not deserve the promotion for their personal interest with their individual promoted.
6. Profession: A software engineer could corrupt a company's code in order to tank the company if they have already been paid and have no desire to continue the company's path.
7. Colleagues: Some software engineers could be looking to gain a higher position in the company they are working for. This may include spreading rumors about another canidate for the same position. The software engineer could also sabotage the other canidates interview or application by deleting their code or overwriting it with gibberish.
8. Self: A software engineer could become stagnant and not willing to learn about the technical advancements which would help them excel in their profession. They also might become intrigued by a high paying job that requires them to penetrate the security barrier of a governmental body which could result in breaking the law. This code could be applied to this specific scenario.
Ex 1.10
Q: To help counter terrorism, many countries are planning or have developed a computer system that tracks large numbers of their citizens and their actions. Clearly, this has privacy implications. Discuss the ethics of working on the development of this type of system.
A: I can understand how confidentiality would become a main concern for the citizens. There will always be a sense of insecurity. I hope that the countries are transparent with their citizens to maintain competence. Every citizen should be aware of their intellectual property rights, but would they be truly aware of the collection of their individual actions. When a citizen releases their information they should be sure the computer that is being used to derive this information is secured.
Chandler Long and I collaborated on this assignment.