Software Engineering » Software Engineers

What is the Difference Between a Forex Trading Platform and a Forex Software Trading System?

admin — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:30:03 +0000

A Forex Trading platform is supplied by the Forex brokerage firm you select and is the software that is used to actually execute a trade in a currency. A Forex software trading system is a piece of software you utilize to help analysis data with the end purpose of making profitable trade in a specific currency. Although they are separate pieces of software supplied by different companies it is possible to integrate the software’s so it is fully functional as a single structure.

The Forex trading platform, for the most part comes in two distinct categories which each type offers its advantages and disadvantages. The first type of software is a web based platform that allows you to trade anywhere in the world on any computer without needing to download the software, which if you travel frequently is certainly a plus. The negative of a web based Forex trading platform is that it does not permit integration with a Forex software trading system.

The other major category is a META4 type of system which offers a seamless integration of a Forex software trading system and functions as one piece of software. The disadvantages is that you need a specific computer to trade with that both pieces of software have been downloaded to.

Forex trading software systems come in an almost endless variety of styles based on the passed experiences of the professional currency traders whom instructed the software engineers of there design. The two principle types of software used by most professional FX traders are a trend based system and a signal based system. The majority of professional traders have both of these systems functioning simultaneously at as a minimum system requirement for successful trading.

The other major category of Forex trading software systems is a formula based approached, based on the past experiences of the developer that has been proven to be a profitable method of trading. These can be and often are used in conjunction with the trend and signal based systems.

The Forex trading platform and the Forex trading software system are two separate packages required to trade the currency markets. The platform actually makes the trade and the software system advices the user on when, where and how to trade. Individuals first entering the currency markets mistakenly attempt to get by with either a trend or a signal system which has been proven the second biggest mistake the beginning trader makes. The number one largest mistake they make is not learning how to use the software before trading with real funds. There are many inexpensive currencies trading systems available for commercial use that offer the trader a real upper hand on the markets if utilized properly.

By: William R. Alheim, Jr.

Industrial Training Or Industrial Draining?

admin — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 01:20:40 +0000

Are you a B.Tech. student or an MCA planning to have your 6 months or 2 months industrial from some training institute? Or are you in an illusion that free industrial training is a reality?

Think again!

I have met dozens of IT students who went through such training, with dreams of becoming Software Engineers only to end up in some operational jobs with the likes of technical support executive in some BPO company or a computer operator in some retail store just to keep up their living expenses or working on SEO projects which can be done without any technical skills.

It has a huge disappointment when I have attended technical interviews of fresh IT students claiming to be IT Engineers, only to realize how a faulty choice in their industrial training has turned their careers upside down. What could have been a smooth take off turns out to be a crash and burn situation at the start of their careers.

The 70% attrition rate can be attributed to this one reason. The 6 months when students are to be taken though the actual thing that they would do as Software professionals, they are put on work that is completely irrelevant.

While in training institutions, there is no exposure to Live Projects, I have interviewed so many students who got trained from there that I am convinced about their incapacity to create Software Engineers.

As they say, NOTHING IN THIS WORLD COMES FOR FREE, the myth of free training is truly a myth!

There are a lot of phonies out there claiming to provide free training to IT students promising to turn them in Professional Engineers, only to end up using these students in their revenue generation activities. These students are in no way trained to make software, so they are put on company work that is not so technical. The half hearted effort of these companies to show the trainees that they are actually training them, does not make them EXPERTS in the they field they so desired to be in the first place be it an Expert in .NET, Java, C/C++ or other IT fields.

And when they are dumped out of the IT industry in the form of attrition, they could lose their career! They may end up losing direction or years to actually start on their careers.

The bottom line…

These 6 months are a Gigantic element in shaping your career. If you are concerned about this one thing, YOUR CAREER, make the right decision. Find the right place.

By: Aamir Mir

Test Case Design For Software Testing

admin — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:20:08 +0000

The design of tests for software and other engineered products can be as challenging as the initial design of the product itself. Yet, software engineers often treat testing as an afterthought, developing test cases that may “feel right” but have little assurance of being complete. Recalling the objectives of testing, we must design tests that have the highest likelihood of finding the most errors with a minimum amount of time and effort.

A rich variety of test case design methods have evolved for software. These methods provide the developer with a systematic approach to testing. More important, methods provide a mechanism that can help to ensure the completeness of tests and provide the highest likelihood for uncovering errors in software.

Any engineered product (and most other things) can be tested in one of two ways:

1. Knowing the specified function that a product has been designed to perform, tests can be conducted that demonstrate each function is fully operational while at the same time searching for errors in each function.

2. knowing the internal workings of a product, tests can be conducted to ensure that “all gears mesh,” that is, internal operations are performed according to specifications and all internal components have been adequately exercised. The first test approach is called black-box testing and the second, white-box testing.

When computer software is considered, black-box testing alludes to tests that are conducted at the software interface. Although they are designed to uncover errors, black-box tests are used to demonstrate that software functions are operational, that input is properly accepted and output is correctly produced, and that the integrity of external information (e.g., a database) is maintained. A black-box test examines some fundamental aspect of a system with little regard for the internal logical structure of the software.

White-box testing of software is predicated on close examination of procedural detail. Logical paths through the software are tested by providing test cases that exercise specific sets of conditions and/or loops. The “status of the program” may be examined at various points to determine if the expected or asserted status corresponds to the actual status.

At first glance it would seem that very thorough white-box testing would lead to “100 percent correct programs.” All we need do is define all logical paths, develop test cases to exercise them, and evaluate results, that is, generate test cases to exercise program logic exhaustively. Unfortunately, exhaustive testing presents certain logistical problems. For even small programs, the number of possible logical paths can be very large. For example, consider the 100 line program in the language C. After some basic data declaration, the program contains two nested loops that execute from 1 to 20 times each, depending on conditions specified at input. Inside the interior loop, four if-then-else constructs are required. There are approximately 1014 possible paths that may be executed in this program!

To put this number in perspective, we assume that a magic test processor (”magic” because no such processor exists) has been developed for exhaustive testing. The processor can develop a test case, execute it, and evaluate the results in one millisecond. Working 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, the processor would work for 3170 years to test the program. This would, undeniably, cause havoc in most development schedules. Exhaustive testing is impossible for large software systems.

White-box testing should not, however, be dismissed as impractical. A limited number of important logical paths can be selected and exercised. Important data structures can be probed for validity. The attributes of both black- and white-boxing can be combined to provide an approach that validates the software interface and selectively ensures that the internal workings of the software are correct.

By: D V Suresh

Why a Degree in Software Development Could Land You the Hottest Job in America

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:59:29 +0000

Money Magazine rated Software Engineering as the number one, best job in America to have. I hope to shed some light on this career and provide some insight into why this particular job is so highly coveted. From job growth rates, pay, and flexibility, the job of software engineer gets high marks.

If you are thinking of becoming a Software Engineer, or Software Developer as it is also referred, you must be the type of person who doesn’t mind working alone without a lot of interaction with the public. While there is some interaction with your development team, you must be content working individually writing and testing code. In addition, you must be an innovative “out of the box” thinker who can quickly adapt to new programming languages and the rapidly evolving technology landscape. You must be able to apply knowledge of mathematics and computer science together in order to create software. Once the software is created, there is the testing phase. Once the testing phase is complete, it is time for implementation. While there is often a team of people working on a project, you must be able to see the programs you design through these phases. If you have the basic skills and predispositions to a scientific and analytical mind combined with a passion for computer science, becoming a software engineer could be a good fit for you.

Flexible Hours

Software Engineers are increasingly reaping the benefits of working from home or having a hybrid type schedule in which they work from a home office for designated days, then come back to the office for meetings with the rest of the team to collaborate. The flexibility of working from home and setting a loose, hybrid schedule lends itself to a more balanced lifestyle and a healthier more content workforce.

High Level of Compensation

In addition to the flexible hours, the skills of a Software Engineer typically come with a high level of compensation, relative to other jobs in the IT industry. The median wage for Software Engineers, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics was $93,740 per year as of May 2008. The middle 50% earned between $73,200 and $113,960. The salaries vary depending on the type of employer you work for. Professional and commercial equipment wholesalers as well as software publishers tend to pay the highest salaries.

High Job Demand

Another reason Software Engineering jobs are considered among the hottest in America is because of the demand for these highly trained individuals. The Bureau of Labor Statistics describes the job prospects to be excellent. If you have at least a bachelor’s degree in a computer related field, you will usually have good prospects for finding a job. Some choose to achieve a master’s degree and others move into highly coveted positions simply based on their work experience and a portfolio of projects

It is no wonder, the job of Software Engineer has earned its reputation of being the hottest. If you are both mathematical and computer savvy, this is a job that could provide a flexible and lucrative career as well as a balanced lifestyle.

By: Jonathan Conrad

The Best Software Downloading Website

admin — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 06:16:15 +0000

If you are looking for open source software then SourceForge is the place to go. I have used SourceForge to search and download a lot of software and I find it to be one of the best sites available.

If you look up SourceForge on Wikipedia you will be quick to learn that it is a storehouse for source codes maintained by Sourceforge Inc. Software engineers use the site as a centralized location to deal with open source software development.

SourceForge gives open source developers the opportunity to post and host their products for no cost. This means the software displayed are open source and free. It is not necessary, but will I point out anyway that there are some conditions to comply with; one of the most important is that developers and Sourceforge will not be responsible for any damages made by the software to the users system. In my book this is a fair deal.

The site consists of more than one million registered users according to Wikipedia and 169281 projects. All thanks to the software developers who are at work. All the programs are arranged in their specific categories for easy browsing and searching.

If you are a casual computer user then you can find all your software here. I have found most of the programs I currently use here for the past few years. Also the quality of the programs are great, I have never encountered a major bug in any of them that I used. Full credit goes to the programmers.

Also all the software has readme file which gives the users information, on all the known issues and bugs the program is known to produce. This it to ensure the user understands any risks in using the said program. Thus, all you need to do is pay keen attention to these instructions.

Technically speaking you can define “open source” of SourceForge as meaning the codes from all the programs on the site is available to everyone. This is great for experienced developers or learners who are fond of experimenting with the codes.

Also, all the programs contain a log that has all the developmental stages of them inclusive of all bugs and other problems.

What I also like about SourceForge is that help is available from all the other users in addition to all the downloads. Most of these users are experienced programmers who are friendly and willing to help in anyway. I have gained a lot of insights from them.

If your budget is low and you somewhat have the patience and time to figure out stuff or simple like open source software then SourceForge is the place to visit.

By: Musa Aykac

IT Careers – Technology at Its Best

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 00:10:55 +0000

Information Technology or IT careers are one of the most popular career fields available. Technology is all around us with millions of people employed in a variety of IT-related fields. If you’ve ever wanted to do something innovative for a living, information technology is definitely your means of doing this.

If you want IT career success, you’ll find it in the following careers in IT:

Software Engineer: Software engineering is probably one of the most creative IT careers. This is because software engineers literally design and build a program from the ground up. Software engineers enjoy a lot of success. They are responsible for determining what the program will do and how it will be coded. Software engineers create most of the programs that are running on your computer. Because software engineers are responsible for “engineering” a program, they are also paid very well. The median earnings for software engineers are around $70,000 a year, with some software engineers making close to $120,000 a year. The typical degree requirement for software engineers is a Bachelors degree in Computer Science. Systems Analyst: Systems analysts act as middleman between a business and a programmer. They are able to understand the needs of the business and then convey this information to the programmer. Systems analysts are proficient both in business and programming. Like software engineers, systems analysts are paid well, with average earnings around $60,000 a year. Degree requirements include a Bachelors degree in Computer Information Systems or Computer Science. Database Administrator: A database administrator holds a very important job: keeping track of the data. Most businesses have data stored in computer databases. These databases require maintenance, security and occasional upgrades. Database administrators take care of these routine operations and also provide support for the business. They make sure everything is running smoothly for the business. Database administrators earn $55,000-$85,000 a year. A database administrator may have an associates degree in Computer Information Systems or a Bachelors degree. Network Administrator: If you’ve ever been interested in how things work in a network of many computers, network administration might just be your way to IT career success. Network administrators are responsible for taking care of a business’ network. They deal with problems related to the network of computers. They install new network technology and secure the network. Network administrators must have a good knowledge of current network technology and be willing to change with the times, as networking is constantly improving. To become a network administrator, you will need at least an associates degree in network administration/computer science and possibly certification. A salary of $45,000-$75,000 a year can be expected.

The four careers above represent the many opportunities available to you in an information technology career. Take some time to do your research and determine what you will enjoy doing the most. If you do this, you will be well on your way to IT career success.

By: Jeff Melvin

How to Manage People – Keep Up With the Changes!

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:27:31 +0000

Over the years, we have seen dramatic changes and evolution in the types of skills that a manager should possess in order to be successful. The business world is more competitive and fast paced than ever before, and a great manager can make a major difference in the amount of success experienced by any organization. The biggest change that managers have had to adapt to over the years is that it has become increasingly important that they understand how to manage people. A manager who knows how to develop good relationship, inspire, and motivate other members of his or her organization will not only have a great advantage over many of their competitors, but will also have a much more promising future than those managers who fail to understand how to manage people.

Not long ago, a manager of a success software company called together his team of software engineers to discuss the purchase and use of a new software program to help with certain types of analysis that needed to be performed. The manager had chosen a software program that he felt would meet the needs of the team after researching the different options available on his own. The software was very expensive, but it worked well and performed the analysis that the team of engineers needed. However, the manager noticed a great deal of resistance from his team members when it came to using the software.

Wisely, the manager called the team together to address their reluctance to use the new software program. He invited them to research the available programs and choose one that they felt was the best fit for the team. The team chose a program very similar to the one that had been originally chosen, and immediately they were happy to use the new software. The difference in the performance of the analysis tools was minimal, but the fact that the team who would be using the software was able to choose the best fitting option made a huge difference to the software engineers.

This manager learned an important lesson. Both software packages were able to perform the necessary analysis, but asking his team of software engineers which software package they would like to use caused the engineers to be fully engaged and excited about the new tools that were available to them. The manager was asking his team to make a change, but instead of seeking their input to make the change flow as smoothly as possible, he pushed his choice upon his team.

One of the key lessons to learn in managing people is that people don’t resist change nearly as much as they resist being changed. Change in business is inevitable and it usually leads to growth and greater business results. However, if a manager asks team members to help find a solution rather than forcing a solution upon them, there is a much better chance that employees will “buy in” to the change. It’s a subtle difference, but one that can make a tremendous difference and lead to much more positive results.

By: Ed Oakley

Discovering Black Box Testing Advantages

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:54:32 +0000

Testing is an important process in the software development business. In fact, there are many levels of tests conducted by software engineers before their product is being introduced in the market. Likewise, they use different approaches, and among them is black box testing. Many software developers these days opt to use this test approach. Below are the black box testing advantages shared by many software developers.

Software developers summarized in two reasons why they use the black box test approach. First is that the test can be conducted by any person, even the non-technical individual. This is because black box testing does not need prior know-how of the internal components of the program and the coding. Thus, it can be performed by anyone. The second reason identified by software engineers is that this technique can be made to verify contradictions between the actual process and the provisions.

To further understand this approach, it will be a big help to know what black box testing really means and how it works. Black box testing is also referred as data-driven based kind of testing. In this technique, the data tested is derived from the specified operational requisites without affecting the components of the application during the time of its completion. The major purpose of black box testing is to authenticate the functionality of the whole system. This test is anchored on implementing the functions in the application, as well as evaluating the input and output data. The functionality of the system is being computed by determining the output against the equivalent input.

Meanwhile, errors found in the application are also being classified. Since the goal of black box testing is to check how the process runs, then it is just appropriate that the attempt to seek errors in the system is categorized. With such move, software developers would be guided in checking the whole system. Among these error categories are: interface user, functions, data structures, database external access, performance, and initialization and termination of some variables.

Black box testing, however, is not all positive. Like any approach, there are also some bad sides of using this technique. One of these is that there are chances that an earlier undefined path may emerge during the testing procedure. Another disadvantage is that test cases to be written for the process may consume time and can be complicated. Also, identifying inputs can be difficult.

Now, you might wonder why software engineers test their products. The reason for this is quality. Software testing is the method of running a program to find whether there are errors during execution. The aim here is to evaluate the potential of a specific program. Testing is helpful for both the software developer and the company itself. Through testing, the developer gets the opportunity to improve his or her product. In effect, the software firm that employs the developer benefits as well. This is so since the company is better able to market a quality software product, which in turn can translate to more sales. The main goal is to provide clients a software product that is user-friendly and efficient. Thus, with the black box testing advantages, it is not surprising why many companies encourage its developers to use this approach.

By: Sam Miller

Software Interface Testing and Other Types of Software Testing

admin — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 14:34:35 +0000

Software interface testing is just one among the many types of software testing that are used by software engineers for software development. Automated testing is one of the most common software test approaches these days. With this, engineers would not have to perform tests or quality assurance manually.

Nonetheless, automation of software test requires that a prior manual testing procedure should be set up and that this conforms to a formalized testing process. To automate the process, special software is used to control test executions, to ready pre-conditions or requirements for the test, and to compare actual outcomes to predicted results. While automated testing enables developers to save time and energy, manual testing is still needed for more complex tests. One of the testing methods that cannot be entirely automated is interface testing.

Interface testing is one of the most important software tests in assuring the quality of software products. In a nutshell, human beings are able to communicate with hardware through an interface. Interface is actually software that consists of sets of messages, commands, images, and other features that allow communication between a device and a user. Various companies use this type of software testing to make sure that their customers will not encounter any problem when using a particular software product once it is delivered to them. In addition, developers usually want their products to be supported by more than one language thus, their need to understand the interface. In this test, developers come up with changes or revisions and introduce these to a software application by taking note of the feedback from end-users. Usually, each end-user is assigned a specific task. During the course of this test, the program flow is checked and evaluated to determine if it matches the natural strategy of the user in navigating within the application. Moreover, this test determines which application areas are initially and usually accessed and its user-friendliness as well.

A moderator is often tasked to undertake this quality assurance test. Throughout the process, he does not need to communicate anything to the end-user. Rather, he will only be documenting or recording the reaction of the user towards the application. At the session’s end, he interviews the end-users and endorses their feedback to the software developer. This way, interface testing improves the software’s overall acceptance and the consumer’s user experience. Factors like functionality, performance speed, the time needed to use the program, the ease with which the user remembers using the program, user satisfaction, and the rate of user errors are the usual criteria that developers have for a well-designed user interface.

Other software testing types aside from interface testing include component testing, system testing, acceptance testing, and release testing. Component testing requires testing all individual components of software design. System testing, on the other hand, involves testing the functional and non-functional requirements of application systems. Acceptance testing evaluates and compares the system against pre-set requirements. Lastly, release testing is conducted to determine if a new system is compatible to the current technical environment.

By: Sam Miller

Software Vulnerabilities

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 08:00:55 +0000

It has been more than three solid decades since the IT revolution began in right earnest.The initial hiccups and the development tangles would have been got over by now, one would have thought. But the ghost has indeed returned to haunt the softwares in the shape of software vulnerabilities, a great thorn in the flesh of the Operating Systems and other softwares.e? Unfortunately it is clear that many operating systems, middleware and applications are still plagued by all kinds of vulnerabilities.

In the first 9 months, many IT statistical organizations have reported 2982 vulnerabilities, or an average of more than ten vulnerabilities per day. This total number is more than ten times the number of vulnerabilities reported for the entire year in 1998 and close to three times the number of vulnerabilities in the year 2000. The reports in the vulnerabilities databases sometimes describe errors within the operating systems themselves but more often they describe application errors through which the integrity of the operating system can be compromised.

The really obstinate and intransigent could argue that application problems such as buffer-overflow are no concern of the operating system.The counterargument is that while the blame for application errors might lie with the software engineers and developers who created the software, the ability of an application error to compromise an operating system is a fault in the operatin in the first place,the system itself. The number of vulnerabilities of an operating system are a clear reminder of the inherent weaknesses in that system.

The operating systems with fewest vulnerabilities in 2003 are HP’s OpenVMS, IBM’s OS/400 and IBM’s zOS. These three are all proprietary and they all have security that is fully integrated, not applied as some kind of after-thought. Certainly they come with a decent price-tag but they can be well worth the money when the result is fewer security problems, less unscheduled downtime and less downtime for patching.The other significant feature of these operating systems is the language in which they are written. The two from IBM are both written in assembler and OpenVMS uses a range of about ten languages, one of which is C.

C and similar languages that use pass-by-value techniques are exceptionally prone to buffer overflow and the consequent potential for unauthorized users to execute either their own malicious code or other programs which run with enhanced access privileges. Avoiding the use of these languages at the most vulnerable points, namely user I/O and network I/O, would appear to be wise. Linux, Unix and Windows are almost entirely written in C, and most of their middleware and application software is also in these vulnerable languages, so it should come as no surprise that they are comparatively less secure than OpenVMS, OS/400 and zOS.

The other operating system that had very few vulnerabilities is Apple’s OS 9. Again this is a proprietary operating system and the decisions and integration of security rest with one organisation which does not have to concern itself with compatibility with other vendors.

Apple recently moved to a Unix-based operating system, OS X, and the 24 vulnerabilities reported for it.Linux users are usually very fast to assert that Linux has fewer vulnerabilities than Microsoft’s products. The Linux kernel itself has few vulnerabilities but versions such as those from Mandrake, Redhat, Sun and SuSE have far more than Windows even when the number of vulnerabilities for Windows are added to the vulnerabilities of Outlook, Internet Explorer and Access.

Linux fans often point to press reports as evidence that Linux has fewer problems. Certainly a vulnerability in a product such as Outlook or Explorer might cause far more problems than Linux vulnerabilities but this is only due to the extent of use of Microsoft’s products. It is responsible for the majority of the application software that runs on its various versions of Windows and so regardless of where the erroneous software might be located it only has itself to blame.

In Windows XP SP2, Microsoft is finally making the security enhancements that should have been in place more than five years ago. These include having better network security by default and simplifying the automatic update of their software, something that should very rarely be needed if the software was properly written in the first place.

Microsoft is also tweaking the protection on dynamically created code.The recent release of Linux 2.6 has also introduced some security enhancements, again rather overdue if Linux ever hopes to be a serious alternative. In particular the new release includes the ability to define privileges in finer detail rather than the simple grouping of “user” and “root”, but this is something that most proprietary forms of Unix have had for many years.

Windows and proprietary Unix are both more secure than Linux but the most secure operating systems continue to be certain proprietary systems from HP and IBM. Some may refer to these more secure systems as legacy systems but if legacy means secure and reliable it seems that legacy should be the preferred option. Software Vulnerabilities today are causing serious thought among the users and developers alike. A solutions has to be found for this recurring issue.

It must certainly be the primary task of developers and software engineers the world over to work for success and bring forth effective solutions for these nagging problems.

By: Padmanabha Iyer