SWE 513

OVERVIEW

Fall 2003Dr. Ayşe Başar Bener

Overview

• What is software? • Computer programs and associated documentation

– Generic products

– Customised products

• What is software engineering?• Concerned with all aspects of software production

– Engineering discipline

– All aspects of software production

Overview• Diffference between computer science and software

engineering?• CS is theory and fundamentals, SWE is practicalities

of developing and delivering useful software.• What is a software process?• A set of activities whose goal is the development or

evolution of software– Software specification– Software development– Software evolution

Overview

• What is a software process model?– A workflow model– A data-flow or activity model– A role/ action model– The waterfall approach– Evolutionary development– Formal transformation– System assembly from reusable components

Overview

• What are the costs of SWE?• 60% development, 40% testing• What are SWE methods?

– System models: object models, data-flow models – Rules: every entity in a system model must have a unique

name– Design advice: no object should have more than seven sub-

objects associated with it.– Process guidance: object attritubtes should be documented

before defining the operations associated with an object.

Overview• What is CASE (Compter-Aided SWE)• Sw systems which are intended to provide automated

support for software process activities• What are the attibutes of good software?• Should deliver the required functionality and performance to

the user and should be maintainable, dependable and usable.• What are the key challanges facing SWE?• Coping with legacy systems, coping with increasing

diversity and coping with demands for reduced delivery times.

Overview

• Professional and ethical responsibility– Confidentiality– Competence– Intellectual property rights– Computer misuse

Summary

• SWE is an engineering discipline which is concerned with all aspects of sw production

• Sw products consist of developed programs and associated documentation. Essential product attributes are maintainability, dependability, efficiency and usability.

• The sw process consists of activities which are involved in developing sw products. Basic activities are sw specification, development, validation and evolution.

• Methods are organised ways of producing sw. 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.

Summary

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

• Sw 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.