What does Engineering mean in 'Software Engineering ’ ? François Coallier, Eng., Ph.D. Chair,...

What does Engineering

mean in 'Software Engineering’ ?

François Coallier, Eng., Ph.D.Chair, Department of Software and IT Engineering

[email protected]

Based on a SPICE 2008 Keynote, Nüremberg, 2008-05-27 ©François Coallier

What does Engineering mean in 'Software Engineering' ©François Coallier

Statement

• There are many misconceptions in parts of the IT community about Software Engineering.

• The most common are that:o Software Engineering is a branch of

Computer Scienceo Teaching Software Engineering properly

is purely a matter of curricula


Objectives

Make the case that:

The foundations of Software Engineering include Computer Science,

Systems Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Project Management

Teaching Software Engineering imply communicating a strong cultural

element that transcend curriculum topics


CONTENT

• Engineering and Engineers• Software Engineering and IT

Disciplines• Software Engineering• Teaching Software Engineering• Conclusions


Engineering and Engineers

Engineers do suffer fromprejudices and misconceptions



Engineering

To build useful things using science

Objective:


Engineering vs. Science

Science: Reverse Engineering

Engineering:

Forward Engineering


Imhotep (~2667 - 2648 BC)

• Chief architect to the Third Dynasty King Djoser (2687-2668 BC).

• First architect (& engineer) we know by name.

• Was in charge of building the original step pyramid at Saqqara.

Modified from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/imhotep.shtml


http://www.interoz.com/egypt/stepyram.htm


Origin of Engineering Disciplines

• Civil - 2500 BC (~8000 BC)

• Marine – 1500 (~3000 BC)• Mining - 1600• Materials - 1700• Mechanical – 1800

(~500 BC ?)• Electrical - 1850

• Chemical - 1880• Environmental -

1920• Aerospace - 1930• Biomedical - 1950• Industrial/Systems

– 19th cent./ 1940’s+

• Software – 1990’s ?

• Bio/Genetic ?

Extensively Modified from * Honour, E. “Characteristics of Engineering Disciplines”,13 th Int’l Conference on Systems Engineering, 1999, As quoted in a presentation from D.Thiele and P. Bourque.

Mundane Thinking


From: The Art of Strategic Planning for Information Technology, 2nd Edition by Bernard H. Boar

Engineering Thinking Bubble


From: The Art of Strategic Planning for Information Technology, 2nd Edition by Bernard H. Boar


Engineers

Build things that are useful within:

BudgetResourcesScheduleRegulatoryOperational

….Constraints


Additional challenges

Deliver both functionality and non-functional/quality attributes. May include:

PerformanceReliabilityAvailabilitySecurityUsabilityScalabilityMaintainability


Engineers

By definition: -> Pragmatic individuals focused on

theoutcome of their work

- > Engineers should naturally practice ‘Agility’


Engineering Strategy

Maximize re-use/incremental improvements of:

Proven patternsComponentsProcess patterns

And keep things as simple as possible.


Software Engineering and

IT Disciplines


IT Disciplines - The ACM/AIS/IEEE-CS 2005 View

Source: Computing Curricula 2005 The Overview Report covering undergraduate degree programs in

Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Information Systems, Information Technology and Software Engineering

A volume of the Computing Curricula Series The Joint Task Force for Computing Curricula 2005 A cooperative project of The Association for Computing Machinery

(ACM) The Association for Information Systems (AIS) The Computer Society (IEEE-CS)

30 September 2005


• Computer Engineering (CE) Le génie informatique (GI)

• Computer Sciences (CS) L’informatique (IN)

• Software Engineering (SE) Le génie logiciel (GL)

• Information Systems (IS) L’informatique de gestion (IG)

• Information Technologies (IT) Les technologies de l’information (TI)




Organizational Issues & Information Systems

Application Technologies

Software Methods and Technologies

Systems Infrastructure

Computer Hardware and Architecture

TheoryPrinciplesInnovation

Development

More Theorical

More Applied

ApplicationDeploymentConfiguration









Development

More Theorical

More Applied


CE









Development

More Theorical

More Applied


CS









Development

More Theorical

More Applied


SE









Development

More Theorical

More Applied


IS









Development

More Theorical

More Applied


IT









Development

More Theorical

More Applied


CE

CSSE

IS

IT


• Very Development focused• Very information systems focused• Poor systems engineering perspective

Limits of the ACM View


Does not adequately reflect or include the following IT bodies of knowledge:

oEngineering / IT Governance CoBIT (Control Objectives for Information and

related Technology)oSystems of Systems / Enterprise Architecture TOGAF (The Open Group Architecture

Framework)oOperations / IT Service Management

ITIL (Information Technology Infrastructure Library)

Limits of the ACM View


Systems of Systems (SoS)

Multiple, heterogeneous, distributed dedicated systems

that have been developed independently through time

and pool their resources and capabilities together to obtain a new, more complex,

'meta-system' which offers more functionality and performance than simply the sum of the constituent

systems.Adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_of_systems


Enhanced Model

(IT/Eng) Governance






DevelopmentMore

TheoricalMore Applied


Operations /IT ServiceManagement

Systems ofSystems*

*EnterpriseArchitecture






DevelopmentMore



CE

Computer Engineering (CE)

Systems ofSystems*


Operations/IT ServiceManagement

(IT/Eng) Governance

Computer Science (CS)






DevelopmentMore



CS

Systems ofSystems*



(IT/Eng) Governance


Information Systems (IS)






DevelopmentMore



IS

Systems ofSystems*



(IT/Eng) Governance


Information Technologies (IT)






DevelopmentMore



IT

Systems ofSystems*



(IT/Eng) Governance



Software Engineering Ideal

(IT/Eng) Governance






DevelopmentMore




Systems ofSystems*


SE

Product Lines Eng. Δ


Software Engineering


S/W Eng. Historical Milestones

• 1st Bug: 1947• 1st compiler: 1952• COBOL – 1959• OS/360 (+ 1 Mloc) – 1964• Expression ‘Software Engineering’: 1968• 1st Software Engineering standard (FIPS 38):

1976• 1st IEEE Software Engineering standard: 1981 • Joint ISO and IEC sub-committee (SC7) created in

1987• 1st Accredited Software Engineering program:

mid 90’s? • Publication of the SWEBOK by ISO/IEC: 2005



• Young engineering discipline• Whose technological roots are in

computer sciences• Where standards played an important

part in its codification

Industrial Engineering


Discipline of utilizing and coordinating humans, machines, and materials to attain a desired output rate with the optimum utilization of energy, knowledge, money, and time..http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/industrial-engineering.html

Industrial Engineering


From: What is Industrial Engineering?, http://www.kwaliteg.co.za/industrial/industrial%20engineering.htm

Systems Engineering


Interdisciplinary approach governing the total technical and managerial effort required to transform a set of customer needs, expectations, and constraints into a solution and to support that solution throughout its life.

Note: includes the definition of technical performance measures; the integration of engineering specialties toward the establishment of an architecture; and the definition of supporting lifecycle processes that balance cost, performance, and schedule objectives.

(ISO/IEC 24765, Systems and Software Engineering Vocabulary)


Systems Engineering History

• The term systems engineering dates back to Bell Telephone Laboratories in the early 1940s [Schlager,

1956; Hall, 1962; Fagen, 1978] as quoted in http://www.incose.org/mediarelations/briefhistory.aspx

• Hall [1962] asserts that the first attempt to teach systems engineering as we know it today came in 1950 at MIT by Mr. Gilman, Director of Systems Engineering at Bell. as quoted in

http://www.incose.org/mediarelations/briefhistory.aspx



The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is, the application of engineering to software(ISO/IEC 24765, Systems and Software Engineering Vocabulary)


Guide to the SoftWare Engineering Body

of Knowledge (SWEBOK®)• Project initiated in 1998 jointly by the IEEE

Computer Society and Association for Computing Machinery.

• ACM drop off soon after…• Defining a software engineering curricula was

outside the scope of the SWEBOK• Thousand of professionals commented the

document• Published as an ISO/IEC Technical Report –

ISO/IEC 19759 – in2005

® Registered in U.S. Patent office


*Computer Sciences contribution? *

*


*

*

*

*

*Computer Sciences contribution?

Software & Systems/Industrial Engineering


• Are software engineers also systems engineers?

• Are many software engineers doing industrial engineering tasks?



(IT/Eng) Governance






DevelopmentMore




Systems ofSystems*


Systems and Industrial Eng.

Systems and Industrial Eng.

Industrial Eng.

Software Engineering?


Extensively modified from: What is Industrial Engineering?, http://www.kwaliteg.co.za/industrial/industrial%20engineering.htm

SoftwareEngineerin

g

Computer Sciences

Systems Engineering

IndustrialEngineering

Productivity


Teaching Software Engineering



…is also communicating a strong engineering culture through all parts of the curricula so that students:• Acquire through training and experience a

toolbox• Understand the content of their toolbox• Are trained on “how to use the right tools

for a given problem in a given context”



• Understand that reuse is glorious… o Emphasis on Patterns, Architecture, Systems

Integration• Use a ‘systems engineering’ approach

o ‘Engineering Bubble’• Learn to work in teams -

multidisciplinary teams that include stakeholders

• Learn “how to learn”


Conclusions

Conclusions


• Software engineering is a true engineering discipline were the ‘engineering roots ‘ come from industrial and systems engineering.

• Teaching and training software engineers is more than a matter of curricula, it is also a matter of communicating an engineering culture.

THANK YOU!

[email protected]

What does Engineering mean in 'Software Engineering ’ ? François Coallier, Eng., Ph.D. Chair,...

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