Sustainable software is software that has been customized to meet the ...
Pre-Thinking
Conclusion Clarification
The conclusion states that the SW should not be made sustainable. The conclusion is based on the opinion that engineers should focus more on the flexibility of the SW as SW should ideally be flexible.
Pre-Thinking Approach
To pre-think assumptions, let’s see how we can falsify this conclusion. To do so, we will look at the logical structure, focusing on linkage 1 and the conclusion. We will understand the condition under which the conclusion is falsified. The assumption then will be that the condition does not exist.
Linkage#1 – (ref logical structure)
- Falsification Condition: What if there is no type of SSW that is not flexible? In other words, what if all kinds of SSW are flexible? In such a case the conclusion would not hold.
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- Assumption: At least some customized software is not flexible.
With this understanding in mind, let's take a look at the option statements.
Answer Choices
A
A large number of engineers in the field of information technology want to produce sustainable software.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option talks about the willingness of the engineers to produce sustainable software. However, the exact reason behind the sustainability of the software is irrelevant till the time such software are being created and doing so is making at least some of them inflexible.
B
Some of the students developing sustainable software are already or will soon be engineers in the field of information technology.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option gives us information on some of the students developing sustainable software. The author doesn’t even mention such students in the argument.
C
If some action is not taken immediately, then sustainable software will become the primary product developed by software suppliers.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
This option talks about a hypothetical scenario in which the SSW will take over the SW supplying market. However, the author’s argument is not about the dominance of a product in the market. It is about an ideal feature of a software.
D
Specific users requiring sustainable software constitute a small proportion of the software industry.
Incorrect - Irrelevant
The argument is not based on any consideration that requires factoring in the proportion of sustainable software users.
E
At least some kinds of sustainable software are not flexible.
Correct
This option is written along the lines of the assumption mentioned in the pre-thinking analysis. If we negate this option, we get:
None of the sustainable software types are not flexible, meaning that all sustainable software is flexible.
The above statement falsifies the conclusion.