Chapter 1- Introduction to

Software Engineering

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Topics covered

1. Professional software development

 What is meant by software engineering.

2. Software engineering ethics

 A brief introduction to ethical issues that affect software
engineering.

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SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

 The economies of ALL developed nations are dependent on

software.

 More and more systems are software controlled.

 Software engineering is concerned with theories, methods and tools

for professional software development.

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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.

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SOFTWARE PROJECT FAILURE

1. Increasing system complexity

 As new software engineering techniques help us to build
larger, more complex systems, the demands change.
 Systems have to be built and delivered more quickly;
larger, even more complex systems are required;
 systems have to have new capabilities that were
previously thought to be impossible

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SOFTWARE PROJECT FAILURE

1. Failure to use software engineering methods

 It is fairly easy to write computer programs without using
software engineering methods and techniques.
 Many companies have drifted into software development
as their products and services have evolved.
 They do not use software engineering methods in their
everyday work.
 Consequently, their software is often more expensive and
less reliable than it should be.

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 PROFESSIONAL SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

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FAQ 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 Software specification, software development, software
engineering activities? validation and software evolution.
What is the difference between software Computer science focuses on theory and fundamentals;
engineering and computer science? software engineering is concerned with the practicalities
of developing and delivering useful software.
What is the difference between software System engineering is concerned with all aspects of
engineering and system engineering? computer-based systems development including
hardware, software and process engineering. Software
engineering is part of this more general process.

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FAQ about software engineering

Question Answer
What are the key challenges facing Coping with increasing diversity, demands for reduced
software engineering? delivery times and developing trustworthy software.
What are the costs of software Roughly 60% of software costs are development costs,
engineering? 40% are testing costs. For custom software, evolution
costs often exceed development costs.
What are the best software engineering While all software projects have to be professionally
techniques and methods? 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 The web has led to the availability of software services
software engineering? 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.

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SOFTWARE PRODUCTS

1. 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.

2. 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.

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Product specification

1. Generic products
 The specification of what the software should do is owned by the
software developer and decisions on software change are made
by the developer.

2. Customized products
 The specification of what the software should do is owned by the
customer for the software and they make decisions on software
changes that are required.

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Essential attributes of good software

Product characteristic Description

Maintainability Software should be written in such a way so that it can evolve to

meet the changing needs of customers. This is a critical attribute
because software change is an inevitable requirement of a
changing business environment.
Dependability and Software dependability includes a range of characteristics
security including reliability, security and safety. Dependable software
should not cause physical or economic damage in the event of
system failure. Malicious users should not be able to access or
damage the system.
Efficiency Software should not make wasteful use of system resources such
as memory and processor cycles. Efficiency therefore includes
responsiveness, processing time, memory utilisation, etc.

Acceptability Software must be acceptable to the type of users for which it is

designed. This means that it must be understandable, usable and
compatible with other systems that they use.

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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.
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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.

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SOFTWARE PROCESS 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.

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GENERAL ISSUES THAT AFFECT SOFTWARE

1. Heterogeneity
 Increasingly, systems are required to operate as distributed systems
across networks that include different types of computer and mobile
devices.

2. 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.

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GENERAL ISSUES THAT AFFECT SOFTWARE

3. Security and trust

 As software is intertwined with all aspects of our lives, it is
essential that we can trust that software.

4. Scale
 Software has to be developed across a very wide range of
scales, from very small embedded systems in portable or
wearable devices through to Internet-scale, cloud-based
systems that serve a global community.

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APPLICATION TYPES

 Stand-alone applications
 These are application systems that run on a local computer,
such as a PC. They include all necessary functionality and do
not need to be connected to a network.
 Interactive transaction-based applications
 Applications that execute on a remote computer and are
accessed by users from their own PCs or terminals. These
include web applications such as e-commerce applications.
 Embedded control systems
 These are software control systems that control and manage
hardware devices. Numerically, there are probably more
embedded systems than any other type of system.

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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.

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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.

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SOFTWARE ENGINEERING FUNDAMENTALS

 Some fundamental principles apply to all types of

software system, irrespective of the development
techniques used:
 Systems should be developed using a managed and understood
development process. Of course, different processes are used
for different types of software.
 Dependability and performance are important for all types of
system.
 Understanding and managing the software specification and
requirements (what the software should do) are important.
 Where appropriate, you should reuse software that has already
been developed rather than write new software.

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INTERNET SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

 The Web is now a platform for running application and

organizations are increasingly developing web-based
systems rather than local systems.

 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.

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 WEB SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

 Software reuse
 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.

 Incremental and agile development

 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.

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WEB SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

 Service-oriented systems
 Software may be implemented using service-oriented software
engineering, where the software components are stand-alone
web services.
 Service-oriented architecture (SOA) is a method of software
development that uses software components called services to
create business applications. E.g: AWS (Amazon Web Services)

 Rich interfaces
 Interface development technologies such as AJAX and HTML5
have emerged that support the creation of rich interfaces within
a web browser.

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 SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ETHICS

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SOFTWARE ENGINEERING ETHICS

 Software engineering involves wider responsibilities than

simply the application of technical skills.

 Software engineers must behave in an honest and ethically

responsible way if they are to be respected as professionals.

 Ethical behaviour is more than simply upholding the law but

involves following a set of principles that are morally correct.

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ISSUES OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

1. Confidentiality
 Engineers should normally respect the confidentiality of their
employers or clients irrespective of whether or not a formal
confidentiality agreement has been signed.

2. Competence
 Engineers should not misrepresent their level of competence.
They should not knowingly accept work which is out with their
competence.

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ISSUES OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

3. Intellectual property rights

 Engineers should be aware of local laws governing the use of
intellectual property such as patents, copyright, etc. They should
be careful to ensure that the intellectual property of employers
and clients is protected.

4. Computer misuse
 Software engineers should not use their technical skills to
misuse other people’s computers. Computer misuse ranges from
relatively trivial (game playing on an employer’s machine, say) to
extremely serious (dissemination of viruses).

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ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics

 The professional societies in the US have cooperated to

produce a code of ethical practice.

 Members of these organisations sign up to the code of

practice when they join.

 The Code contains eight Principles related to the behaviour of

and decisions made by professional software engineers,
including practitioners, educators, managers, supervisors and
policy makers, as well as trainees and students of the
profession.

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ETHICAL PRINCIPLES (ACM/IEEE Code of
Ethics)

 
1. PUBLIC - Software engineers shall act consistently with the public interest.
2. CLIENT AND EMPLOYER - Software engineers shall act in a manner that is in the best
interests of their client and employer consistent with the public interest.
3. PRODUCT - Software engineers shall ensure that their products and related
modifications meet the highest professional standards possible.
4. JUDGMENT - Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their
professional judgment.
5. MANAGEMENT - Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and
promote an ethical approach to the management of software development and
maintenance.
6. PROFESSION - Software engineers shall advance the integrity and reputation of the
profession consistent with the public interest.
7. COLLEAGUES - Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive of their colleagues.
8. SELF - Software engineers shall participate in lifelong learning regarding the practice of
their profession and shall promote an ethical approach to the practice of the profession.

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Key points

 Software engineering is an engineering discipline that is concerned

with all aspects of software production.

 Essential software product attributes are maintainability,

dependability and security, efficiency and acceptability.

 The high-level activities of specification, development, validation

and evolution are part of all software processes.

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Key points

 There are many different types of system and each requires appropriate
software engineering tools and techniques for their development.

 The fundamental ideas of software engineering are applicable to all types of

software system.

 Software engineers have responsibilities to the engineering profession and

society. They should not simply be concerned with technical issues.

 Professional societies publish codes of conduct which set out the standards
of behaviour expected of their members.

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 THANK YOU

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