ENG2575 OL83 Technical Writing, Spring 2021

TO: Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM: Ralph Ayala
DATE: 26 Mar. 2021
SUBJECT: Expanded Definition of Software Development

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to discuss the word history behind a word of my choosing. The term I am defining is “software development”. To me software development is a process of creating or maintaining your software components. So, imagine you are a software developer, and you can not only create but you can also alter software under your control. I will be discussing quotes I have found related to my search, and I will be comparing each quote to discover differences or similarities found behind the meaning of the word software development. Therefore, I can compare those examples to today’s modern society and discover if there was a huge change.

Definitions

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “Systems programming or software development experience is essential” (San Mateo, 1987). When I am programming, the best way to learn is through hands-on experiences. If you ask me this feels very modern to this day because it appears as the best way to learn. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “App developers and software companies have a vested interest in getting you to use their products” (J. Hargrave, 2016). Becoming a software developer allows you to want customers to use your products. The better experience you have, the greater the effort you can put into your apps. In a way software development is about experience, but to me it is also a process of how you can use a certain programming language for a certain software. The difference I see between the two quotes is one concerning experience involving software development and not the other. Experience is important but it is also important to think about what you do with it. 

Context

According to this journal article, “Reuse-based software development emphasizes strategies, techniques, and principles that enable developers to create new systems effectively” (Selby, 2006, p. 495). This quote talks about a benefit you can use involving software development. You use software development for all kinds of stuff such as documenting, designing, and maintaining code. Using code that has already existed from other projects can save you time. The Oxford English Dictionary does show a quote regarding experience, and reusable software is efficient for future projects. An effective method to this day. Another article discusses, “The use of disparate software development tools on a project by multiple developers is usually essential when developing today’s complex software systems” (Grundy at el., 1998, p. 960).  The use of tools that a software developer can use is essential because it can make problems easier for others. Reusing code is a good technique to make your problems less difficult and can be an effective tool. For example, a software known as Java can perform such a tool. If a software developer has knowledge about how to properly use such tools, it can make great coding experience in the future. To this day I am sure tools have evolved over time for software developers to use. This quote from a book states, “Software development, in all its forms, is an exercise in learning” (Kelly, 2008, p. 1). As I discussed in the definitions paragraph, the best way for new people to learn software development is from hands-on experience. It will not only allow you to have better understanding with tools under your control, but perhaps with this knowledge you can pass it down to others as well. From the looks of these quotes there does appear to be some differences. The first quote involves the discussion of an actual tool, and the second talk about how essential such tools can be in the world of a software developer. As for the third quote it once again connects everything to experience. However, from the looks of these quotes there does not appear to be a change in the meaning of the word software development. To my eyes it seems little. Honestly, I do not see this change as a negative because software development can be made to create software for people. So, with what I know it has one purpose only and that is create and maintain a balance.

Working Definition

Based on all the quotes that I have read; the context shows the true meaning behind the word software development. The word software development does not have a lot of change in its own meaning, however at the end of the day here is what I believe software development is all about. Software development is about a process of creating software with months or years of experience to maintain the balance of a computer system with resources provided for you.

References

Grundy, J., Hosking, J., & Mugridge, W. B.(1998). Inconsistency Management for Multiple-View Software Development Environments. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 24(11), 960 – 981. https://doi.org/10.1109/32.730545

Hargrave, J. (n.d.). Software development. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved February 22nd, 2021, from Oxford English Dictionary (cuny.edu)

Kelly, A. (2008). Changing Software Development: Learning to Become Agile. John Wiley & Sons. 

Mateo, S. (n.d.). Software development. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved March 8th, 2021, from Oxford English Dictionary (cuny.edu)

Selby, R. W. (2005) Enabling reuse-based software development of large-scale systems. IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, 31(6), 495 – 510. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSE.2005.69

TO: Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM: Richard Rivera Urgiles
DATE: 03/24/2021
SUBJECT: Expanded Definition of Programmer

Introduction

This is an expanded definition that explores the word’s history of this term as a general education for undergraduates that are studying computer systems technology. The term I am defining is “Programmer”. The context that I use the term in is a person that writes code or programs/develops applications whether it be on computers or on mobile devices. Therefore, whenever my colleagues and I are discussing about ways to troubleshoot an application, I consider all of us programmers because the topic is about code or in relation to software languages. In the following document, I discuss several definitions of the term, I compare and contrast different contextual uses of the term, and finally I write my own working definition of the term based on these definitions and contextual examples.

Definitions

Within the Oxford English Dictionary, one of the definitions stated, “A person who writes computer programs or software” (Butterfield et al., 2016). Personally, I would say this is more of a modern definition because this is how people refer to others that code or develop applications.  

This next definition comes from the Oxford Reference and it states, “Person who builds and constructs the programme” (Gorse et al., 2020). In this definition, it is like calling someone a general constructor. In other words, it is saying that it is a person that creates a blueprint, does all the planning, and creates it whether it be a house, a theater play, structures in general, or an application. I never use this word like that because my mind has been wired in a way where the term “programmer” has one solid definition and that is specifically people that actually do coding to develop applications or even websites. In a way, it relates to the previous definition I discussed because you are still constructing something and that includes applications. The only difference is that this definition is more flexible or can be used in different contexts.

Context

In a New York Times newspaper, it states “He took a Remington Rand course in ‘programming’ for computers and is now chief programmer for the machine” (The New York Times, 1958, p. 39). The quote is direct in what it is trying to say, a person decided to take a class involving coding and he became successful to gain a rank as a chief for a computer they were working on. It is clear that when they used the term, they were referring to the first definition from Oxford English Dictionary because the topic or the context of it is about computers.

Here is another quote from a book called ‘Excel 2003 VBA programmer’s reference’, “If you are a new VBA programmer, then reading this chapter will help you optimize your code writing and debugging experience” (Paul, 2004, p. 63). In this context, it still relates to the first definition about coding because they explicitly state the word “code” in this quote. I believe the book is meant to teach the programmer, or coder about a programming language known as Visual Basics for Applications which in short is VBA because the quote does state if the reader has any experience with that specific language and if not, they will learn the basics reading the said chapter.

For the final quote, it also comes from the New York Times newspaper and it states, “Small fry is ‘Big Town Girl,’ which is filling that spot on the Globe’s bill… A typically average programmer, it gives the long arm of coincidence one of the stiffest workouts it has had this year and invites Claire Trevor… and Alan Baxter to animate one of the wildest scenarios ever devised by four desperate script writers” (Nugent, 1937, p. 23). From this quote/context, I am not entirely sure what the definition of the term programmer really means but from my educated guess, it could relate to the second definition. The quote could be saying that for a constructor, it is difficult to animate a play or a scene. In other words, it can be very difficult to construct an animation of some sort, nothing coding related.

Working Definition

Most of the context that I found for the term means it’s a person that programs or codes on a computer therefore that is the definition that I will still proceed to give to whoever it may be that asks, “What is a programmer?”. To be more specific, someone who develops web applications or applications in general through various programming languages.

References

Oxford. (n.d). Programmer. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from programmer, n. : Oxford English Dictionary (cuny.edu)

Oxford University Press. (2020). Programmer. In Oxford Reference. Retrieved February 26, 2021, from Programmer – Oxford Reference (cuny.edu)

The New York Times. (1958, November 3). Blind Man Guides Data on Thruway. The New York Times. TimesMachine: November 3, 1958 – NYTimes.com

Paul, K. (2004). Excel 2003 VBA programmer’s reference. Indianapolis, IN.:Wiley Pub. Excel 2003 VBA programmer’s reference – New York City College of Technology (exlibrisgroup.com)

Nugent, F. S. (1937, December 13). The Screen. The New York Times. TimesMachine: December 13, 1937 – NYTimes.com

TO: Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM: Angela Hernandez
DATE: 3/26/2021
SUBJECT: Expanded Definition of Cookies

Introduction

This is an expanded definition that explores the word history of a term as a general introduction for undergraduates studying Computer Systems Technology.  The term I will be defining in this document is cookies, through the use of dictionaries, encyclopedias and academic journals to examine how it is defined and used in varied contexts.  In the following document, I discuss several definitions of the term, compare and contrast how the term is used in different contexts and give my own working definition of the term based on the different definitions and contextual uses of the term.

Definitions

The Oxford English Dictionary defines cookies as “a token or packet of data that is passed between computers or programs to allow access or to activate certain features; (in recent use spec.) a packet of data sent by an internet server to a browser, which is returned by the browser each time it subsequently accesses the same server, thereby identifying the user or monitoring his or her access to the server” (Oxford English Dictionary, n.d.).  In this definition, the Oxford English Dictionary is providing a more general and then a specific definition of the term cookies.

According to the Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, “Cookies are simply tiny text files that a Web server sends to the browser and retrieves each time the user accesses the Web site” (Henderson, 2009, p. 116).  Unlike the Oxford English Dictionary, cookies are defined as ‘tiny text files’ that are sent by a Web server to a browser.  In contrast, this definition makes no mention of the fact that cookies are used to identify or monitor a user’s access to the server. 

In the article, ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer: New Persistent Tracking Mechanisms in the Wild’, the authors Stefano Belloro and Alexios Mylonas (2018) state “An HTTP cookie is a short piece of data (typically with size 4k) that a website sends to a client, either via HTTP response headers or by using client-side scripting.” In this definition, the term cookie is attached to the word HTTP which stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.  “HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands” (Beal, n.d.).  The cookie is sent from a website via HTTP response headers which is essentially information in the form of a text record that a Web server sends back to the user’s browser in response to receiving an HTTP request.  Unlike the last two definitions, here the term cookies or cookie is less general and more technical.  The authors define what a cookie is in terms of the World Wide Web and how it is sent via the Web.

Context

The New York Times article, ‘FROM THE DESK OF; Shopping on the Web: It’s Scary Out There’ by Alan Feigenbaum, describes how cookies have been used by web sites to lure users into making impulse buys from targeted ads and how to best avoid these practices.  Feigenbaum writes “Every time you click on an Internet link, there’s a good chance that the site is feeding a “cookie” – computer talk for a small file that logs the links you make from a Web site – to your hard drive.  Your computer can later read these cookies to see where you’ve been orbiting in cyberspace so that ads custom-tailored to you will be displayed when you next view the site” (Feigenbaum, 1997).  The author Hal Berghel likewise details the development of different cookies to track consumer behavior on the internet in his article ‘Toxic Cookies’.  Berghel writes “Cookies were created to overcome the statelessness of HTTP for Web commerce applications” (Berghel, 2013, p. 104).  He goes on to explain how the ‘recipe’ for cookies was invented for e-commerce applications by Lou Montulli in response to a need for client-side memory and later adopted for use in monitoring user information.  “The general idea was straightforward as part of an HTTP response to a browser, a server-side platform uses a “set cookie” header to leave small amount of digital guano (cookies) on the user’s hard disk.  The set cookie attributes are transaction-oriented data, such as user ID, name, date, server domain, pages visited, shopping cart contents and potentially, any personally identifying information (PII) the user provides during the session.  White this information is stored on the user’s side, it’s also creating a server-side memory” (Berghel, 2013, p. 104).

Working Definition

As it relates to Computer Systems Technology, Cookies are packets of data that are stored on a user’s hard disk by a web server and accessed by a web browser.  These packets contain information about the user and their use of web sites.  Oftentimes cookies are used to create targeted ads and cater to a user’s interests and preferences. 

References

Beal, V. (n.d.). Http meaning: What is hypertext transfer protocol? Retrieved March 08, 2021, from https://www.webopedia.com/definitions/http/

Belloro, S., & Mylonas, A. (2018). I know what you did last summer: New persistent tracking mechanisms in the wild. IEEE Access, 6, 52779-52792. http://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2018.2869251.

Berghel, H. (2013). Toxic Cookies. Computer (Long Beach, Calif.), 46(9), 104–107. https://doi.org/10.1109/MC.2013.330

Feigenbaum, A. (1997). FROM THE DESK OF; Shopping On the Web: It’s Scary Out There. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/21/business/from-the-desk-of-shopping-on-the-web-its-scary-out-there.html?searchResultPosition=490

Henderson, H. (2009). Encyclopedia of computer science and technology (Rev. ed.). Facts On File. https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofco0000hend/page/116/mode/2up

Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.) Cookies. In Oxford English Dictionary. Retrieved February 22, 2021, from https://www-oed-com.citytech.ezproxy.cuny.edu/view/Entry/40961?rskey=aWP9CU&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid

Last week, I sent around the “Reply All” starter email for each team’s peer review on the second major project in our class: the Expanded Definition Essay project.

Since peer review didn’t begin until Friday, Mar. 12, you have until Friday, Mar. 19 to complete peer review on your Expanded Definition Project.

This gives you until Friday, Mar. 26 to submit your Expanded Definition Project on OpenLab (though, you are welcome to submit it earlier when you are ready).

Below, I am including the model for the Expanded Definition Project with a few notes to pay attention to regarding publishing your Expanded Definition Project as a post on our OpenLab Course Site. Watch this week’s lecture for detailed instructions on posting your work to OpenLab.

Your Name's Expanded Definition of YOUR TERM

TO: Prof. Jason Ellis
FROM: Your Name
DATE: Due Date
SUBJECT: Expanded Definition of YOUR TERM

Introduction [Heading Level 2]
What is the purpose of this document? What term are you defining? How are you discussing the way it is defined and the way it is used in context? Describe a road map for what follows (definitions and context). This content should be published as paragraphs, unlike the heading for this section, which is a level 2 heading.

Definitions [Heading Level 2]
Quote several definitions of the term that you selected. Provide quotes and parenthetical citations for each definition, and include your sources in the References section at the end of the document. Each definition that you include deserves discussion in your words about what it means and how it relates to the other definitions that you include. Consider how they are alike, how are they different, who might use one versus another, etc.

Context [Heading Level 2]
Quote several sentences from a variety of sources that use the term in context. A range of sources would provide the best source material for your discussion of how the term is used in these contexts. For example, a quote from an academic journal or two, a quote from a newspaper or magazine, a quote from a blog, and a quote from social media would give you a range of uses that might have different audiences. For each quote, you should devote at least as much space as the quote discussing what it means in that context and how it relates to the other quotes in context. Each quote should be in quotes, have a parenthetical citation, and a bibliographic entry in your references at the end of your document.

Working Definition [Heading Level 2]
Based on the definitions that you quoted and discussed, and the contextual uses of the term that you quoted and discussed, write a working definition of the term that's relevant to your career field or major, which you will need to identify (this is the specific context for your working definition).

References [Heading Level 2]
Order your APA-formatted bibliographic references by the author's last name, alphabetically. In your posted version, they do not need a hanging indent. And, they should not be in a bulleted list.

Submission Notes:

• For APA citations, refer to the Purdue OWL’s APA guide and if you do any indirect quotes, use this guide on the Simon Fraser Library’s website.
• Remember to remove the bracketed headings information before publishing your work–this is only a guide to help you choose the correct heading levels while creating your post.