FC0-U71 · domain
Software Development Concepts
This domain covers how software is planned, built, tested, and maintained: SDLC phases, pseudocode and logic, programming language types, and testing methods. Questions are scenario-based, asking you to identify the correct phase, test type, or pseudocode component from a described situation rather than recall definitions in isolation.
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What to know about Software Development Concepts
Map a described scenario to the correct SDLC phase, test type, or pseudocode construct. The most important skill is reading who performs the action and when it occurs, since that detail usually determines the single correct answer.
Identifying SDLC phases such as planning, analysis, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance from scenarios
Recognizing pseudocode components: variables, sequence, selection (if/else), iteration (loops), and input/output statements
Distinguishing unit, integration, system, regression, and user acceptance testing by who runs them and why
Classifying programming languages and translators: compiled vs interpreted, and compilers, interpreters, and assemblers
Watch out for
Common Software Development Concepts exam traps
- ▸Confusing regression testing (re-running old tests after changes) with user acceptance testing, which real end users perform to confirm business needs.
- ▸Mixing up SDLC phases, especially planning/analysis versus design, when a scenario mentions requirements gathering but no coding yet.
- ▸Assuming pseudocode must follow strict syntax; it is language-neutral, so valid components are logic structures, not vendor-specific keywords.
Question index
All Software Development Concepts questions (83)
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During the SDLC, testing is performed at different levels. Which TWO of the following are recognized levels of testing? (Select TWO.)
Easy2A developer is trying to find why a program is producing incorrect output. The developer runs the program with a debugging tool, sets a breakpoint at a specific line, and examines the values of variables at that point. Which debugging technique is being used?
Medium3A developer is designing a program that stores a customer's mailing address, which consists of a street, city, state, and postal code. The developer wants to keep these related values grouped together and access them by name rather than by numeric position. Which data structure is the best fit?
Medium4A REST API is used by a mobile app to retrieve data. The API returns responses in a specific format. Which THREE of the following are typical characteristics of a REST API?
Medium5A developer wants to represent the logic of a program before writing code. The diagram should show decisions with diamond shapes and processes with rectangles. Which representation is the developer creating?
Easy6A developer writes a function that calculates the average of a list of numbers. The function works correctly when the list contains values, but crashes when the list is empty. Which programming concept should the developer apply to handle the empty list case gracefully?
Hard7A developer needs to represent the logic of a program that decides whether a user is eligible for a discount. The process includes conditions (e.g., 'is member?') and actions (e.g., 'apply 10% discount'). Which tool would best visually represent this logic using standardized symbols like diamonds for decisions and rectangles for processes?
Medium8A developer writes a function that opens a file, reads its contents, and then returns the data. If the file does not exist, the program should display a friendly message instead of terminating abruptly. Which approach best handles this situation?
Hard9A mobile app needs to display weather data from an online service. The app sends HTTP requests and receives responses in JSON format. This communication is made possible by a set of rules and protocols that allow the app and the service to interact. This set of rules is called a(n):
Easy10A junior developer writes a program that stores a customer's age in a variable. The program must later perform arithmetic, such as adding five years to that age. Which data type is MOST appropriate for this variable?
Easy11A developer needs to store several related values for one record, such as a product's name, price, and quantity, and pass them around as a single unit. The values have different data types. Which data structure is MOST appropriate?
Medium12A software company uses a development model where work is divided into 2-week sprints. Each sprint begins with a planning meeting, includes daily standups, and ends with a review and retrospective. A product owner prioritizes features, and a scrum master facilitates the process. Which methodology is being used?
Medium13A mobile app developer wants to integrate weather data into an app. The developer uses an HTTP request to a web service that returns JSON data. The web service requires an API key in the request header for authentication. What is this web service an example of?
Medium14A developer is debugging a program that unexpectedly crashes. Which TWO tools or techniques are commonly used to identify the cause of the crash? (Select the two correct answers.)
Medium15Which of the following best describes the purpose of a REST API?
Easy16A development team is adopting Scrum. Which TWO roles are defined in the Scrum framework? (Select the two correct answers.)
Medium17A software company is using version control for a project. A developer has completed work on a new feature in a separate branch and wants to merge it into the main branch. What TWO steps should typically occur before the merge is accepted?
Hard18A software development team is adopting agile practices. Which TWO of the following are common characteristics of agile methodologies? (Select TWO.)
Medium19A developer is planning a new project that has very clear and fixed requirements. The project must be completed in a linear fashion with each phase finished before moving to the next. Which development methodology should be used?
Easy20Which TWO of the following are core phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?
Easy21A programmer writes a recursive function to compute the factorial of a number. When the function is called with a large positive integer, the program terminates unexpectedly with an error indicating that the maximum call depth was exceeded. The base case is correct and the recursion does eventually reach it for small inputs. Which statement best explains the failure?
Hard22A quality assurance team is executing system testing on a new banking application. They need to verify that the entire application works correctly from start to finish. Which THREE of the following testing types would be included in system testing?
Hard23During debugging, a developer sets a breakpoint and steps through the code line by line. Which debugging tool feature is being used to execute one line of code at a time?
Hard24A developer creates a new branch in a version control system to work on a new feature. After completing the feature, the developer wants to combine the changes from the feature branch back into the main branch. What is this process called?
Easy25A development team is building a new mobile app. The project has a fixed budget and scope, and the requirements are well-understood from the start. Which software development methodology would be most appropriate for this project?
Easy26A software team is choosing a version control workflow. They want developers to work on features without disturbing the stable main branch, and they want a clear mechanism to propose and review changes before those changes become part of the main codebase. Which version control concept best fits this need?
Medium27A developer is working on a new feature and creates a copy of the main codebase to work in isolation. Later, this copy is merged back into the main branch. Which version control concept describes this copy?
Medium28A team is choosing a version control workflow for a project with multiple developers. They want changes to be tracked, reviewed, and integrated safely. Which TWO practices are characteristic of using a distributed version control system such as Git? (Choose two.)
Medium29A development team is using an agile methodology. Which TWO of the following are typical practices in agile development?
Medium30A junior developer is writing a program that must repeatedly ask the user for a password until the correct password is entered. The developer needs a programming construct that will keep running the same block of code while a condition remains true. Which programming concept should the developer use?
Easy31A junior programmer is reviewing a piece of pseudocode written by a teammate. The pseudocode contains the line: total = total + item. The programmer wants to know what type of operation this line performs in the algorithm. Which of the following best describes this line?
Medium32A software development team is using Scrum. During a sprint, the product owner introduces a new high-priority requirement that was not in the sprint backlog. The team has already committed to the current sprint's goals. According to Scrum principles, what should the team do?
Hard33A development team is building a web application and wants to adopt a version control system to manage code changes across multiple contributors. Which TWO of the following are primary benefits of using a version control system in this scenario? (Choose two.)
Medium34A company is deciding between two software delivery models. Model X requires a formal sign-off after each phase before the next begins, while Model Y delivers working software in short iterations with continuous customer feedback. Which model is Model Y?
Medium35A team of developers is working on a large project with multiple features. They use a version control system. One developer creates a new branch to develop a feature, while other developers continue working on the main branch. After completing the feature, the developer wants to combine the changes from the feature branch back into the main branch. What version control operation should be performed?
Hard36A student is learning to write programs and asks why a programming language uses variables. The instructor explains that a variable lets the program store a value under a name and refer to it later. Which statement best describes the role of a variable in a program?
Easy37A developer is designing a program to calculate an employee's weekly pay. The program must store the hourly rate, the number of hours worked, and the computed gross pay so these values can be used and updated as the calculation proceeds. Which programming concept describes these named storage locations?
Medium38A programmer needs to store a collection of key-value pairs where each key is unique and maps to a value. Which data structure is best suited for this purpose?
Medium39A developer is debugging a program that crashes with an error. Which THREE of the following are common debugging techniques?
Medium40In a Scrum team, who is responsible for prioritizing the product backlog and ensuring that the team works on the most valuable features first?
Medium41A team is choosing a version control workflow. They want developers to work on features in isolation without affecting the stable main codebase, and then integrate changes after review. Which version control concept directly supports this isolation?
Medium42A software development team follows a methodology where work is divided into fixed sequential phases: requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment, and maintenance. Changes to requirements are difficult once a phase is completed. Which development methodology is being used?
Easy43A developer needs to store a collection of student names and their corresponding grades. The data should be accessed quickly by student name. Which data structure is most appropriate?
Easy44A software tester is verifying that individual functions within a module work correctly in isolation. Which type of testing is being performed?
Medium45A software development team is in the process of gathering requirements from stakeholders, identifying project scope, and creating a project plan. After this phase, they will move to analyzing requirements in detail. In which phase of the SDLC is the team currently working?
Medium46A developer needs to visually represent the logic of a program, including decisions (yes/no branches) and processes. Which tool should the developer use?
Easy47A developer is creating a cloud-based application that needs to authenticate third-party services before allowing access to its API. The developer decides to use a method where each third-party service receives a unique key that must be included in each API request. This method is known as:
Hard48During a sprint retrospective, the team identifies that too many bugs are being discovered late in the development cycle. They decide to introduce a practice where developers write tests for individual functions before coding the functions themselves. This approach is an example of:
Hard49A programmer writes a step-by-step description of a solution in plain English without using any specific programming language syntax. What is this description called?
Easy50A team is testing a software application after a bug fix. They want to ensure that the fix did not introduce new bugs in previously working functionality. Which type of testing should they perform?
Medium51A developer writes the following pseudocode for a process that finds the largest number in a list: SET max = first element FOR each number in list IF number > max THEN SET max = number END IF ENDFOR OUTPUT max What programming concept does this pseudocode represent?
Medium52A developer is writing a program that reads a list of numbers and must repeatedly divide a running total by each number in the list. Some list entries may be zero. Which approach BEST prevents the program from crashing while still producing correct results for the non-zero entries?
Hard53A junior developer is asked to fix a bug in a program. The senior developer explains that the bug is a logic error: the program runs without crashing but produces an incorrect total. Which characteristic best distinguishes a logic error from a syntax error in this scenario?
Medium54A development team is using a stack data structure to manage function calls. Which of the following correctly describes the order in which items are removed from a stack?
Hard55A developer is writing a program that stores a collection of unique student IDs. The program needs to quickly look up a student by ID and does not require the IDs to be stored in any particular order. Which data structure is most appropriate for this task?
Medium56A team is building an application where several unrelated objects must all respond to the same command, such as "start" and "stop", even though each object performs those actions differently. Which software development concept allows different object types to be treated uniformly through a shared interface?
Medium57A development team is selecting a programming language for a new project that must run directly on many different operating systems with minimal changes to the source code. The team also wants strong built-in support for object-oriented programming. Which TWO characteristics should the team prioritize when evaluating languages? (Choose two.)
Hard58A product manager creates a list of user stories for a new feature. The development team estimates effort for each story and selects a set to complete in a two-week iteration. Daily standup meetings are held to discuss progress. At the end of the iteration, the team demonstrates working software to stakeholders. Which development framework is being used?
Medium59A company's IT department is deploying a new payroll system. Before the system goes live, a group of employees from the accounting department test the system to ensure it meets their requirements and is usable. This type of testing is known as:
Medium60A developer writes a set of instructions to sort an array of numbers in ascending order. The instructions include steps like 'compare first two numbers, swap if out of order, move to next pair, repeat until no swaps are needed.' This step-by-step procedure is known as a(n):
Hard61A company is developing a mobile app and wants to release a minimal set of features quickly, then add more features based on user feedback. Which methodology best supports this approach?
Medium62A testing team is verifying a new version of an e-commerce website. They run a set of pre-existing test cases to ensure that recent changes have not broken any previously working functionality. What type of testing is this?
Medium63A web developer is creating a weather application that retrieves data from a third-party service. The service requires an identifier to track usage and authenticate requests. The developer includes this identifier in the HTTP header of each request. What is this identifier called?
Hard64A programmer needs to represent the logic of a program that includes decisions and loops. Which tool is most suitable for visually representing this logic?
Medium65A developer writes code to store a collection of employee names in a structure that allows adding names at the end and removing names from the front, following a first-in-first-out (FIFO) order. Which data structure is the developer implementing?
Medium66A project team is in the phase where they gather business requirements, define project scope, and create a project plan. This phase occurs before any design or coding begins. Which SDLC phase is being described?
Medium67A junior developer writes a program that stores a customer's age in a variable. The value should be a whole number between 0 and 120. Which data type is most appropriate for this variable?
Easy68A software tester writes tests to verify that individual functions in a module return correct results when given specific inputs. These tests are isolated from other parts of the system. Which type of testing is being performed?
Medium69A team maintains a program that calculates employee payroll. A new tax rule takes effect next quarter, and the team expects more rule changes in the future. They want to isolate the tax calculation so it can be modified without rewriting the rest of the payroll code. Which software development principle best supports this goal?
Medium70A junior developer is learning about data structures. The developer needs to choose a data structure for the following scenarios: - Storing a list of items where order matters and items can be accessed by index. - Storing key-value pairs for fast lookups. Which TWO data structures should the developer consider?
Medium71A software development team is working on a project with fixed requirements and a strict deadline. The project manager decides to use a methodology where each phase must be completed before moving to the next. Which development methodology is being used?
Easy72A team is preparing to release a software product and wants to automate checks that run whenever code is committed. They are selecting practices that belong to continuous integration. Which two of the following are core continuous integration practices? (Choose two.)
Medium73An organization is implementing a new payroll system. Before final deployment, a group of actual payroll employees test the system to ensure it meets their business needs and processes payroll correctly. Which testing phase is this?
Medium74A developer is writing the first version of a program that calculates an employee's weekly pay. Before writing any code, the developer writes a numbered list of steps in plain English: get hours worked, get hourly rate, multiply hours by rate, display the result. Which software development concept does this numbered list represent?
Easy75A retail company wants to build an online store where the source code is freely available for anyone to inspect, modify, and redistribute, provided that any derivative work is released under the same license. Which licensing model should the company adopt?
Medium76In which phase of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) are the system requirements gathered and analyzed?
Easy77During a Scrum sprint review, stakeholders request a new feature that was not in the product backlog. The product owner wants to add it to the next sprint. What is the correct action according to Scrum?
Hard78A junior developer is asked to write a program that reads a user's age and determines whether the user is eligible to vote. The program must compare the age to 18 and display one of two messages. Which programming construct is the most appropriate to use for this decision-making step?
Easy79A programmer is writing a function that must decide whether a customer qualifies for a discount. The function checks if the customer's total purchases are greater than 500. If true, it returns a discount rate; otherwise, it returns zero. Which programming construct is most appropriate for making this decision?
Easy80A developer is writing pseudocode for a program that calculates the average of a list of numbers. Which THREE of the following are valid components that would likely appear in the pseudocode? (Select THREE.)
Hard81A development team is choosing a version control workflow for a project with multiple contributors. They want to keep the main branch stable and allow each developer to work independently before changes are reviewed and integrated. Which THREE of the following are characteristics of a typical branch-based version control workflow? (Choose three.)
Hard82A development team is comparing compiled languages and interpreted languages as they choose a technology for a new project. Which TWO of the following statements accurately describe differences between these two categories? (Choose two.)
Hard83After deploying a new version of a web application, the QA team runs a set of test cases that were previously executed on the old version to ensure that existing functionality still works correctly. This testing is performed to detect any unintended side effects of the changes. What type of testing is this?
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Frequently asked questions
- What does the Software Development Concepts domain cover on the FC0-U71 exam?
- Map a described scenario to the correct SDLC phase, test type, or pseudocode construct. The most important skill is reading who performs the action and when it occurs, since that detail usually determines the single correct answer.
- How many questions are in this domain?
- This page lists all 83 Software Development Concepts questions in the FC0-U71 question bank. The actual exam draws from this domain proportionally to its weighting in the official exam blueprint.
- What is the best way to practise this domain?
- Start with a short focused session (10 questions) to identify gaps, then work through explanations. Repeat with a longer session once the weak areas feel solid.
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