SOFTWARE

ENGINEERING
INTRODUCTION
Objectives
• understand what software engineering is and why it
is important;
• understand that the development of different types
of software systems may require different software
engineering techniques;
• understand some ethical and professional issues
that are important for software engineers;
Introduction
• Hard to run modern world minus software's
• National infrastructure/utilities being controlled by
computer-based systems
• Financial sector, entertainment, industrial manufacturing
• Software systems-Abstract and intangible
• No physical constraints hence expensive and complex to
understand
• Presence of different types of software systems call
for different approaches to development
History of software engineering
• Proposed in 1968 to discuss software crisis
• Computer hardware changed fast need for software to
match
Professional Software
Development(PSD)
• Intended for someone else apart from developer
• Developed in teams
• Maintained and changed throughout its lifetime
• Software engineering aims to support PSD not
individual pro
• Techniques for Software specification, design, evolution.
• Incorporates software and all associated documentation
and configuration data
Types of Software Products
• Generic Products
• Stand-alone systems produced by a development firm
and sold on open-market to any willing customer. i.e Ms
Office
• Organization developing controls specifications
• Customized/Bespoke Products
• Commissioned for a particular customer i.e air traffic
control system, etc
• Customer proposes and controls specifications
Software Engineering
• Defn
• is an engineering discipline that is concerned with all
aspects of software production from the early stages of
system specification through to maintaining the system
after it has gone into use.
• Engineering Discipline
• Application of theories, methods and tools
• All aspects of software engineering
• Not just technical processes but also s/w project
management, development of tools,methods and
theories to support s/w productio
Key reasons for S/W Eng
• Increasing reliance on advanced software systems
• Cheaper to use S/W Eng methods in long run than
avoid
Characteristics of Good S/W
Software Process
• systematic approach that is used in software
engineering is sometimes called a software process
• A software process
• is a sequence of activities that leads to the production of
a software product
• Software Process contains four activities
• 1. Software specification,
• where customers and engineers define the software that is to be produced and the constraints
on its operation.
• 2. Software development,
• where the software is designed and programmed.
• 3. Software validation,
• where the software is checked to ensure that it is what the customer requires.
• 4. Software evolution,
• where the software is modified to reflect changing customer and market requirements.
NB
• Different system types need different development
processes
• Requirement specification for Real-time software for
aircraft versus e-commerce site
CS versus SE
• Computer science
• is concerned with the theories and methods that
underlie computers and software systems, whereas
• Software engineering
• is concerned with the practical problems of producing
software.
Types of applications
• Stand-alone applications
• These are application systems that run on a local
computer, such as a PC i.e Office
• Interactive transaction-based applications
• These are applications that execute on a remote
computer and that are accessed by users from their own
PCs or terminals
• Embedded control systems
• These are software control systems that control and
manage hardware devices.i.e in phone, car, oven etc
Cont’
• Batch processing systems
• These are business systems that are designed to process
data in large batches i.e phone billing and salary
payment systems
• Entertainment systems
• These are systems that are primarily for personal use
and which are intended to entertain the user i.e Games
–FIFA
• modeling and simulation systems
• These are systems that are developed by scientists and
engineers to model physical processes or situations,
Cont’
• Data collection systems
• These are systems that collect data from their
environment using a set of sensors and send that data to
other systems for processing.
• Systems of systems
• These are systems that are composed of a number of
other software systems
General issues affecting
Softwares
• Heterogeneity
• Ability of the system to work with older legacy systems,
different hardware devices different networks etc
• Business and social change
• Security and trust
• Web-based systems i.e Internet banking
 Software engineering ethics
• Confidentiality
• You should normally respect the confidentiality of your employers or clients irrespective of whether or not a
formal confidentiality agreement has been signed.
• Competence
• You should not misrepresent your level of competence. You should not knowingly accept work that is outside
your competence.
• Intellectual property rights
• You should be aware of local laws governing the use of intellectual property such as patents and copyright
and protect them
• Computer misuse
• You should not use your technical skills to misuse other people’s computers.
Questions
• Apart from the challenges of heterogeneity,
business and social change, and trust and security,
identify other problems and challenges that
software engineering is likely to face in the 21st
century
End of Session