Software Engineering

Unit 1
Introduction (contd……)
Compiled by UJJWAL RIJAL
Introduction to Software Engineering
SE is the application of principles, skills and art of the design and construction of programs
and system of programs.
SE is the establishment and use of sound engineering principles in order to economical
software that is reliable and works efficiently in real machine.
IEEE (1991), “SE is the application of a systematic, disciplined and quantifiable approach
to the development, operation and the maintenance of software”.
Stephen R. Schach (1992), “SE is a discipline whose aim is the production of quality
software, software that is delivered on time, within budget and that satisfies its
requirements”.
Sommer Ville (1995), “Sotware Engineering is concerned with the theories, methods and
tools that are needed to develop the software products in a cost-effective way”.
Howard Johnson (1997), “SE is what you do when you have two or more people working
on a project”.
Peer Torngren (1997), “SE is what software engineers do”.
Advantages of Software Engineering
 Improved requirement specifications.
 Improved costs and scheduled estimates.
 Improved quality.
 Better use of automated tools and techniques.
 Less defects of final products.
 Better maintenance of delivered software.
 Well defined processes.
 Improved reliability.
 Improved productivity, etc.

Note: The main objective of software engineering is to produce good quality software with minimum cost within time.
Summary
In short, SE is a discipline which provides tools and techniques for developing software in an
orderly fashion. Moreover, SE is an engineering discipline which is concerned with all aspects of
software production.

Thus, in conclusion, from the above definition, we can obtain the following key points of software
engineering:
i. Engineering discipline
Engineers make things work. They apply theories, methods and tools where these are appropriate,
but they use them selectively and always try to discover solutions to problems even when there are
no applicable theories and methods.
ii. All aspects of software production
Software engineering is not just concerned with the technical processes of software development
but also with activities such as software project management and with the development tools,
methods and theories to support software production.