Fundamentals of Software Engineering: A Comprehensive Overview, Lecture notes of Software Engineering

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Chapter 1- Introduction Lecture 1

Topics covered  (^) Professional software development  (^) What is meant by software engineering.  (^) Software engineering ethics  (^) A brief introduction to ethical issues that affect software engineering.  (^) Case studies  (^) An introduction to three examples that are used in later chapters in the book.

Software costs  (^) Software costs often dominate computer system costs. The costs of software on a PC are often greater than the hardware cost.  (^) Software costs more to maintain than it does to develop. For systems with a long life, maintenance costs may be several times development costs.  (^) Software engineering is concerned with cost-effective software development.

Software products  (^) Generic products  (^) Stand-alone systems that are marketed and sold to any customer who wishes to buy them.  (^) Examples – PC software such as graphics programs, project management tools; CAD software; software for specific markets such as appointments systems for dentists.  (^) Customized products  (^) Software that is commissioned by a specific customer to meet their own needs.  (^) Examples – embedded control systems, air traffic control software, traffic monitoring systems.

Frequently asked questions about software engineering Question Answer What is software? Computer programs and associated documentation. Software products may be developed for a particular customer or may be developed for a general market. What are the attributes of good software? Good software should deliver the required functionality and performance to the user and should be maintainable, dependable and usable. What is software engineering? Software engineering is an engineering discipline that is concerned with all aspects of software production. What are the fundamental software engineering activities? Software specification, software development, software validation and software evolution. What is the difference between software engineering and computer science? Computer science focuses on theory and fundamentals; software engineering is concerned with the practicalities of developing and delivering useful software. What is the difference between software engineering and system engineering? System engineering is concerned with all aspects of computer-based systems development including hardware, software and process engineering. Software engineering is part of this more general process.

Frequently asked questions about software engineering Question Answer What are the key challenges facing software engineering? Coping with increasing diversity, demands for reduced delivery times and developing trustworthy software. What are the costs of software engineering? Roughly 60% of software costs are development costs, 40% are testing costs. For custom software, evolution costs often exceed development costs. What are the best software engineering techniques and methods? While all software projects have to be professionally managed and developed, different techniques are appropriate for different types of system. For example, games should always be developed using a series of prototypes whereas safety critical control systems require a complete and analyzable specification to be developed. You can’t, therefore, say that one method is better than another. What differences has the web made to software engineering? The web has led to the availability of software services and the possibility of developing highly distributed service- based systems. Web-based systems development has led to important advances in programming languages and software reuse.

Software engineering  (^) Software engineering 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  (^) Using appropriate theories and methods to solve problems bearing in mind organizational and financial constraints.  (^) All aspects of software production  (^) Not just technical process of development. Also project management and the development of tools, methods etc. to support software production.

Importance of software engineering  (^) More and more, individuals and society rely on advanced software systems. We need to be able to produce reliable and trustworthy systems economically and quickly.  (^) It is usually cheaper, in the long run, to use software engineering methods and techniques for software systems rather than just write the programs as if it was a personal programming project. For most types of system, the majority of costs are the costs of changing the software after it has gone into use.

General issues that affect most software  (^) Heterogeneity  (^) Increasingly, systems are required to operate as distributed systems across networks that include different types of computer and mobile devices.  (^) Business and social change  (^) Business and society are changing incredibly quickly as emerging economies develop and new technologies become available. They need to be able to change their existing software and to rapidly develop new software.  (^) Security and trust  (^) As software is intertwined with all aspects of our lives, it is essential that we can trust that software.

Software engineering diversity  (^) There are many different types of software system and there is no universal set of software techniques that is applicable to all of these.  (^) The software engineering methods and tools used depend on the type of application being developed, the requirements of the customer and the background of the development team.

Application types  (^) Batch processing systems  (^) These are business systems that are designed to process data in large batches. They process large numbers of individual inputs to create corresponding outputs.  (^) Entertainment systems  (^) These are systems that are primarily for personal use and which are intended to entertain the user.  (^) Systems for modeling and simulation  (^) These are systems that are developed by scientists and engineers to model physical processes or situations, which include many, separate, interacting objects.

Application types  (^) 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.

Software engineering and the web  (^) The Web is now a platform for running application and organizations are increasingly developing web-based systems rather than local systems.  (^) Web services (discussed in Chapter 19) allow application functionality to be accessed over the web.  (^) Cloud computing is an approach to the provision of computer services where applications run remotely on the ‘cloud’.  (^) Users do not buy software buy pay according to use.

Web software engineering  (^) Software reuse is the dominant approach for constructing web-based systems.  (^) When building these systems, you think about how you can assemble them from pre-existing software components and systems.  (^) Web-based systems should be developed and delivered incrementally.  (^) It is now generally recognized that it is impractical to specify all the requirements for such systems in advance.  (^) User interfaces are constrained by the capabilities of web browsers.  (^) Technologies such as AJAX allow rich interfaces to be created within a web browser but are still difficult to use. Web forms with local scripting are more commonly used.Chapter 1 Introduction 20