Engineering Software Applications/

Software Engineering

Lecture 1 - Introduction
 Objectives
• To introduce software engineering and to
explain its importance
• To set out the answers to key questions about
software engineering
• To introduce ethical and professional issues
and to explain why they are of concern to
software engineers

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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.
• Expenditure on software represents a
significant fraction of GNP in all developed
countries.

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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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 FAQs about software engineering
• What is software?
• What is software engineering?
• What is the difference between software
engineering and computer science?
• What is the difference between software
engineering and system engineering?
• What is a software process?
• What is a software process model?

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 FAQs about software engineering
• What are the costs of software engineering?
• What are software engineering methods?
• What is CASE (Computer-Aided Software
Engineering)
• What are the attributes of good software?
• What are the key challenges facing software
engineering?

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 What is software?
• Computer programs and associated documentation
such as requirements, design models and user
manuals.
• 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.
• Bespoke (custom) - developed for a single customer
according to their specification.
• New software can be created by developing new
programs, configuring generic software systems or
reusing existing software.

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 What is software engineering?
• Software engineering is an engineering
discipline that is concerned with all aspects of
software production.
• Software engineers should adopt a systematic
and organised approach to their work and use
appropriate tools and techniques depending
on the problem to be solved, the development
constraints and the resources available.

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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.
• 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 computer-based 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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 What is a software process?
• A set of activities whose goal is the
development or evolution of software.
• Generic activities in all software processes are:
• Specification - what the system should do and its
development constraints
• Development - production of the software system
• Validation - checking that the software is what the
customer wants
• Evolution - changing the software in response to
changing demands.

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 What is a software process model?
• A simplified representation of a software process,
presented from a specific perspective.
• Examples of process perspectives are
• Workflow perspective - sequence of activities;
• Data-flow perspective - information flow;
• Role/action perspective - who does what.
• Generic process models
• Waterfall;
• Iterative development;
• Component-based software engineering.

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 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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 Activity cost distribution
Wat er fall model
0 25 50 75 100

Specification Design Development Integ ratio n and testing

It erative development

0 25 50 75 1 00

Specification Iterative development System testing

Component-based software eng ineering

0 25 50 75 1 00

Specification Development Integ ratio n and testing

Development and evolution costs for long-lifetime syst ems

0 10 200 30 400

System development System evolut ion

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 Product development costs

0 25 50 75 100

Specification Development System testing

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 What are software engineering
methods?
• Structured approaches to software development
which include system models, notations, rules,
design advice and process guidance.
• Model descriptions
• Descriptions of graphical models which should be
produced;
• Rules
• Constraints applied to system models;
• Recommendations
• Advice on good design practice;
• Process guidance
• What activities to follow.

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 What is CASE (Computer-Aided Software
Engineering)
• Software systems that are intended to provide
automated support for software process
activities.
• CASE systems are often used for method support.
• Upper-CASE
• Tools to support the early process activities of
requirements and design;
• Lower-CASE
• Tools to support later activities such as programming,
debugging and testing.

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 What are the attributes of good software?
• The software should deliver the required functionality
and performance to the user and should be
maintainable, dependable and acceptable.
• Maintainability
• Software must evolve to meet changing needs;
• Dependability
• Software must be trustworthy;
• Efficiency
• Software should not make wasteful use of system resources;
• Acceptability
• Software must be accepted by the users for which it was
designed. This means it must be understandable, usable and
compatible with other systems.

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 What are the key challenges facing
software engineering?
• Heterogeneity, delivery and trust.
• Heterogeneity
• Developing techniques for building software that can cope
with heterogeneous platforms and execution
environments;
• Delivery
• Developing techniques that lead to faster delivery of
software;
• Trust
• Developing techniques that demonstrate that software can
be trusted by its users.

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 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.

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 Issues of professional responsibility
• Confidentiality
• Engineers should normally respect the
confidentiality of their employers or clients
irrespective of whether or not a formal
confidentiality agreement has been signed.
• Competence
• Engineers should not misrepresent their level of
competence. They should not knowingly accept
work which is outwith their competence.

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 Issues of professional responsibility
• 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.
• 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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 Code of ethics - preamble
• Preamble
• The short version of the code summarizes aspirations at a high
level of the abstraction; the clauses that are included in the full
version give examples and details of how these aspirations
change the way we act as software engineering professionals.
Without the aspirations, the details can become legalistic and
tedious; without the details, the aspirations can become high
sounding but empty; together, the aspirations and the details
form a cohesive code.
• 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
• PUBLIC
• Software engineers shall act consistently in the public
interest.
• 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.
• PRODUCT
• Software engineers shall ensure that their products and
related modifications meet the highest professional
standards possible.

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 Code of ethics - principles
• JUDGMENT
• Software engineers shall maintain integrity and independence in their
professional judgment.
• MANAGEMENT
• Software engineering managers and leaders shall subscribe to and promote
an ethical approach to the management of software development and
maintenance.
• 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
• COLLEAGUES
• Software engineers shall be fair to and supportive
of their colleagues.
• 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.

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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.

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 Key points
• CASE tools are software systems which are designed to support
routine activities in the software process such as editing design
diagrams, checking diagram consistency and keeping track of
program tests which have been run.
• 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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QUESTIONS?