LECTURE 1: Software Engineering

Introduction
 Topics
• Introduction to Software Engineering
– What is Software?
– What is Software Engineering?
– Why Software Engineering?
– Why Software Engineering is Difficult?
– Software Attributes.
– What affects software engineering?
– What are Software Fundamental Activities?
– Software engineering ethics

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 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.
• Software products may be
– Generic - developed to be sold to a range of different
customers e.g. PC software such as Excel or Word.
– Custom - developed for a single customer according to
their specification.
• New software can be created by developing a new
programs, configuring generic software systems or reusing
existing software. 3
 What is software?
• Generic products These are stand-alone
systems that are produced by a
development organization and sold on the
open market to any customer who is able to
buy them.
• Examples of this type of product include
software for PCs such as databases, word
processors, drawing packages, and project-
management tools.
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 What is software?
• Customized (or bespoke) products - These
are systems that are commissioned by a
particular customer.
• A software contractor develops the
software especially for that customer.
• Examples of this type of software include
control systems for electronic devices,
systems written to support a particular
business process, and air traffic control
systems. 5
What is Software Engineering?

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 What is 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, Engineers make things
work.
• All aspects of software production, Software
engineering is not just concerned with the
technical processes of software development.
– It also includes activities such as software project management and the
development of tools, methods, and theories to support software production. 7
 What is Software Engineering?
• Practical application of computer science,
management techniques, and other skills to:
design, construct, and maintain software
and its documentation

• Systematic application of methods, tools,

and techniques to achieve a stated
requirement or objective for software
system
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 What is Software Engineering?
• .

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 What is the difference between software
engineering and computer science?

• Computer science is concerned with theory and

fundamentals; software engineering is concerned
with the practicalities of developing and delivering
useful software.
• Software engineering is closer to good business
practices than science
• Computer science theories are still insufficient to
act as a complete underpinning for software
engineering (unlike e.g. physics and electrical
engineering).
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 What is the difference between software
engineering and system engineering?

• System engineering is concerned with all aspects

of systems development including hardware,
software and process engineering.
• Software engineering is part of this process
concerned with developing the software
infrastructure, control, applications and databases
in the system.
• System engineers are involved in system
specification, architectural design, integration and
deployment.
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Why Software Engineering?

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 Why Software Engineering?
• Software affects nearly every aspect
of our everyday lives and has become
pervasive (universal) in our commerce,
our culture, and our everyday
activities.
• Software can have huge impact in any
aspect of our society.

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 Why 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.
• Expenditure on software represents a
significant fraction of GNP in all developed
countries. 14
 Why Software Engineering?

• Where can we find software?

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 Why Software Engineering?
• Where can we find software?
• Some popular ones…

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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. 17
 What are the costs of software
engineering?
• Roughly 60% of costs are development costs,
40% are testing costs. For custom software,
evolution costs often exceed development
costs.
• Costs vary depending on the type of system
being developed and the requirements of
system attributes such as performance and
system reliability.
• Distribution of costs depends on the
development model that is used.
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 Why Software Engineering is Difficult?

• If you are developing software you need to know

about software domain (because that is what you
are building) and you need to know about the
problem domain (because that is what you are
building a solution for).
• A further problem is that software is a formal
domain, where the inputs and goal states are well
defined. BUT, the real world is informal with ill-
defined inputs and goal states.
• Software engineering is mainly about modeling the
physical world and finding good abstractions. 19
 Why Software Engineering is Difficult?

• Our abstractions are unavoidably just

approximations.
• We cannot describe the problem domain in
perfect detail.
• We live in a changing world: things wear out and
break, organizations go bankrupt or get acquired
or restructured, business practices change,
government regulations change, fads and fashions
change, and so on.

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 Why Software Engineering is Difficult?

• Software development still largely depends on

heroic effort of select few developers.
• Product line and development standardization are
still largely missing, but there are efforts in this
direction.

“Software is like entropy. It is difficult to grasp,

weighs nothing, and obeys the second law of thermo
dynamics; i.e., it always increases.”
- Norman R. Augustine
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 Software Attributes
• Good software should strive to meet these
requirements. It is not possible to meet all
requirements to their fullest (e.g: higher security
might mean less efficiency).

– Maintainability
– Dependability and security
– Efficiency
– Acceptability
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 Software Attributes
• 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 security

Software dependability includes a range of characteristics
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.
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 Software Attributes
• Efficiency
Software should not make wasteful use of system
resources such as memory and processor cycles.
Efficiency therefore includes responsiveness,
processing time, memory utilization, 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. 24
 What affects software engineering?

• A lot of software is bad, this is due to a lot of

factors, such as:
• Increasing demand: The world wants software, but
sometimes faster than what anyone could possibly deliver.
• Low expectations: Developers aren't used to using good
methods and develop poor software. Users are used to
mediocre results.
• Bad development methods: Factors such as customer
contracts (or simply incompetence or fear of novelty)
prevents teams from choosing the appropriate
development methods. Certain development methods, such
as the waterfall method, is old; it has a lot of important
uses, but agile methods might in many cases be better. 25
 What are Software Fundamental Activities?

• A software process is a sequence of

activities that leads to the production of a
software product.
• There are four fundamental activities that
are common to all software processes
– Software specification
– Software development
– Software validation
– Software evolution
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 What are Software Fundamental Activities?

• Software specification (What will it do?)

Customers and engineers define the software that
is to be produced and the constraints on its
operation.

• Software development (Making it do it.)

The software is designed and programmed.

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 What are Software Fundamental Activities?

• Software validation (Does it do it?)

The software is checked to ensure that it is what
the customer requires

• Software evolution
The software is modified to reflect changing
customer and market requirements.

Modifying the software after release to reflect new

requirements. 28
 Professional and ethical responsibility

• 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. 29
 Software engineering ethics
• Like other engineering disciplines, software
engineering is carried out within a social and legal
framework that limits the freedom of people
working in that area.
• A Software Engineer must also behave in an
ethical and morally responsible way if you are to
be respected as a professional engineer.
• A Software Engineer should not use your skills
and abilities to behave in a dishonest way or in a
way that will bring disrepute to the software
engineering profession. 30
 Software engineering ethics
• A Software Engineer should always follow these
ethical guidelines.

1. Confidentiality
2. Competence
3. Intellectual property rights
4. Computer misuse

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 Software engineering ethics

• Confidentiality
A Software Engineer should normally respect the
confidentiality of your employers or clients
irrespective of whether or not a formal
confidentiality agreement has been signed.

Often you might sign a confidentiality agreement,

but not necessarily.

Treat your customer's information as secret. 32

 Software engineering ethics

• Competence
A Software Engineer should not misrepresent your
level of competence. You should not knowingly
accept work that is outside your competence.

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 Software engineering ethics

• Intellectual property rights

A Software Engineer should be aware of local laws
governing the use of intellectual property such as
patents and copyright.

A Software Engineer should be careful to ensure

that the intellectual property of employers and
clients is protected.

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 Software engineering ethics

• Computer misuse
A Software Engineer should not use your 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 or other
malware).

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 IEEE Computer Society 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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 Code of ethics - preamble
• Software engineers shall commit
themselves to making the analysis,
specification, design, development, testing
and maintenance of software a beneficial
and respected profession. In accordance
with their commitment to the health,
safety and welfare of the public, software
engineers shall adhere to the following
Eight Principles:
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 Code of ethics - preamble
• Software engineers shall commit
themselves to making the analysis,
specification, design, development, testing
and maintenance of software a beneficial
and respected profession. In accordance
with their commitment to the health,
safety and welfare of the public, software
engineers shall adhere to the following
Eight Principles:
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 Code of ethics - principles
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 39
 Code of ethics - principles
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.
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 Code of ethics - principles
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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 Ethical dilemmas
• Disagreement in principle with the
policies of senior management.
• Your employer acts in an unethical way
and releases a safety-critical system
without finishing the testing of the
system.
• Participation in the development of
military weapons systems or nuclear
systems 42
Effort, Software Size, & Complexity

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Effort, Software Size, & Complexity

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 Key points

• Software engineering is an engineering discipline that is

concerned with all aspects of software production.
• Software products consist of developed programs and
associated documentation. Essential product attributes
are maintainability, dependability, efficiency and usability.
• The software process consists of activities that are
involved in developing software products. Basic activities
are software specification, development, validation and
evolution.
• Methods are organised ways of producing software. They
include suggestions for the process to be followed, the
notations to be used, rules governing the system
descriptions which are produced and design guidelines. 45
 Key points

• 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 behavior expected
of their members.

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 Key points

• Software engineering developed out of necessity

to handle large software projects that cannot be
handled by few individuals using ad hoc methods
• Goal is to develop software systems that:
– Satisfy technical requirements, user needs, and acquirer
expectations
– Are developed on time and on budget
– Are easy to modify and maintain
– Are developed with pride and personal satisfaction
– Fulfills all ethical and legal considerations
• Good project management and software
engineering processes are required 47
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