Agile Unifi ed Process (AUP): A simplifi ed version of Rational Unifi ed Process that includes agile methods such as test‐driven development and agile modeling. In 2012 AUP was superseded by Disciplined Agile Delivery.
algorithm: A software recipe that explains how to solve a particular programming problem.
ambassador: user Someone who acts as a liaison between the users and the developers.
anchoring: A phenomenon where an early decision made by one person infl uences later
decisions by others.
anomaly: In a relational database, an error caused by a design fl aw such as records holding inconsistent values or being unable to delete a piece of data because it is necessary to record some unrelated piece of information.
architect: Someone who focuses on the application’s overall high‐level design.
artifact: In a UML deployment diagram, a file, a script, an executable program or another item that is deployed. In development models, something generated by the model such as a requirements document, user story, or piece of code.
assertion: A statement about the program and its data that is supposed to be true. If the statement isn’t true, the assertion throws an exception to tell you that something is wrong.
attribute Some feature of a project that you can measure such as the number of lines of code, the number of defects, or the number of times the word “mess” appears in code comments. See also metric and indicator .
audit trail A record of actions taken by an application’s users for security auditing purposes.
AUP : See Agile Unifi ed Process.
BDUF : See big design up front.
behavior diagram : In UML, a diagram that shows the behavior of some entity. There are
three kinds of behavior diagrams: activity diagrams, use case diagrams, and state machine diagrams.
Big Board : A large board used by many agile models that is posted in a visible location so that everyone can see the project’s status at a glance. Also called an information radiator.
big design up front (BDUF) : See predictive development model.
big O notation : A system for studying the limiting behavior of algorithms as the size of the problem grows large.
black‐box test : A test designed by someone who doesn’t know how the code works internally.
brainstorming : A group technique for discovering creative solutions to a problem.
bug : A fl aw in a program that causes it to produce an incorrect result or to behave unexpectedly. Bugs are generally evil.
build engineer : In Feature‐Driven Development, someone who sets up and controls the
build process.