Unit 1

Software Engineering
Software Engineering provides a standard procedure to design and develop a software.

Our Software Engineering Tutorial contains all the topics of Software Engineering like Software
Engineering Models, Software Development Life Cycle, Requirement Engineering, Software Design
tools, Software Design Strategies, Software Design levels, Software Project Management, Software
Management activities, Software Management Tools, Software Testing levels, Software Testing
approaches, Quality Assurance Vs. Quality control, Manual Testing, Software Maintenance,
Software Re-engineering and Software Development Tool such as CASE Tool.

What is Software Engineering?

The term software engineering is the product of two words, software, and engineering.

The software is a collection of integrated programs.

Software subsists of carefully-organized instructions and code written by developers on any of

various particular computer languages.

Computer programs and related documentation such as requirements, design models and user
manuals.

Engineering is the application of scientific and practical knowledge to invent, design, build,

maintain, and improve frameworks, processes, etc.

Software
Engineering is an engineering branch related to the evolution of software product using well-
defined scientific principles, techniques, and procedures. The result of software engineering is an
effective and reliable software product.

Why is Software Engineering required?

Software Engineering is required due to the following reasons:

o To manage Large software

o For more Scalability
o Cost Management
o To manage the dynamic nature of software
o For better quality Management

Need of Software Engineering

The necessity of software engineering appears because of a higher rate of progress in user
requirements and the environment on which the program is working.

o Huge Programming: It is simpler to manufacture a wall than to a house or building,

similarly, as the measure of programming become extensive engineering has to step to give
it a scientific process.
o Adaptability: If the software procedure were not based on scientific and engineering ideas,
it would be simpler to re-create new software than to scale an existing one.
o Cost: As the hardware industry has demonstrated its skills and huge manufacturing has let
down the cost of computer and electronic hardware. But the cost of programming remains
high if the proper process is not adapted.
o Dynamic Nature: The continually growing and adapting nature of programming hugely
depends upon the environment in which the client works. If the quality of the software is
continually changing, new upgrades need to be done in the existing one.
o Quality Management: Better procedure of software development provides a better and
quality software product.

Characteristics of a good software engineer

The features that good software engineers should possess are as follows:

1. Exposure to systematic methods, i.e., familiarity with software engineering principles.

2. Good technical knowledge of the project range (Domain knowledge).

3. Good programming abilities.

4. Good communication skills. These skills comprise of oral, written, and interpersonal skills.
5. High motivation.

6. Sound knowledge of fundamentals of computer science.

7. Intelligence.

8. Ability to work in a team Discipline, etc.

Importance of Software Engineering

The importance of Software engineering is as follows:

1. Reduces complexity: Big software is always complicated and challenging to progress.

Software engineering has a great solution to reduce the complication of any project.
Software engineering divides big problems into various small issues. And then start solving
each small issue one by one. All these small problems are solved independently to each
other.
2. To minimize software cost: Software needs a lot of hardwork and software engineers are
highly paid experts. A lot of manpower is required to develop software with a large number
of codes. But in software engineering, programmers project everything and decrease all
those things that are not needed. In turn, the cost for software productions becomes less as
compared to any software that does not use software engineering method.
3. To decrease time: Anything that is not made according to the project always wastes time.
And if you are making great software, then you may need to run many codes to get the
definitive running code. This is a very time-consuming procedure, and if it is not well
handled, then this can take a lot of time. So if you are making your software according to
the software engineering method, then it will decrease a lot of time.
4. Handling big projects: Big projects are not done in a couple of days, and they need lots of
patience, planning, and management. And to invest six and seven months of any company,
it requires heaps of planning, direction, testing, and maintenance. No one can say that he
 has given four months of a company to the task, and the project is still in its first stage.
Because the company has provided many resources to the plan and it should be completed.
So to handle a big project without any problem, the company has to go for a software
engineering method.
5. Reliable software: Software should be secure, means if you have delivered the software,
then it should work for at least its given time or subscription. And if any bugs come in the
software, the company is responsible for solving all these bugs. Because in software
engineering, testing and maintenance are given, so there is no worry of its reliability.
6. Effectiveness: Effectiveness comes if anything has made according to the standards.
Software standards are the big target of companies to make it more effective. So Software
becomes more effective in the act with the help of software engineering.

Program vs. Software

Software is more than programs. Any program is a subset of software, and it becomes software
only if documentation & operating procedures manuals are prepared.

There are three components of the software as shown in fig:

1. Program: Program is a combination of source code & object code.

2. Documentation: Documentation consists of different types of manuals. Examples of

documentation manuals are: Data Flow Diagram, Flow Charts, ER diagrams, etc.
3. Operating Procedures: Operating Procedures consist of instructions to set up and use the
software system and instructions on how react to the system failure. Example of operating system
procedures manuals is: installation guide, Beginner's guide, reference guide, system administration
guide, etc.
Emergence of Software Engineering
Software engineering discipline is the result of advancement in the field of technology. In this
section, we will discuss various innovations and technologies that led to the emergence of
software engineering discipline.
Early Computer Programming

As we know that in the early 1950s, computers were slow and expensive. Though the programs at
that time were very small in size, these computers took considerable time to process them. They
relied on assembly language which was specific to computer architecture. Thus, developing a
program required lot of effort. Every programmer used his own style to develop the programs.
High Level Language Programming

With the introduction of semiconductor technology, the computers became smaller, faster, cheaper,
and reliable than their predecessors. One of the major developments includes the progress from
assembly language to high-level languages. Early high level programming languages such as
COBOL and FORTRAN came into existence. As a result, the programming became easier and thus,
increased the productivity of the programmers. However, still the programs were limited in size and
the programmers developed programs using their own style and experience.
Control Flow Based Design

With the advent of powerful machines and high level languages, the usage of computers grew
rapidly: In addition, the nature of programs also changed from simple to complex. The
increased size and the complexity could not be managed by individual style. It was analyzed
that clarity of control flow (the sequence in which the program’s instructions are executed) is of
great importance. To help the programmer to design programs having good control flow
structure, flowcharting technique was developed. In flowcharting technique, the algorithm is
represented using flowcharts. A flowchart is a graphical representation that depicts the
sequence of operations to be carried out to solve a given problem.

Note that having more GOTO constructs in the flowchart makes the control flow messy, which makes
it difficult to understand and debug. In order to provide clarity of control flow, the use of GOTO
constructs in flowcharts should be avoided and structured constructs-decision, sequence, and
loop-should be used to develop structured flowcharts. The decision structures are used for
conditional execution of statements (for example, if statement). The sequence structures are used for
the sequentially executed statements. The loop structures are used for performing some repetitive
tasks in the program. The use of structured constructs formed the basis of the structured
programming methodology.
Structured programming became a powerful tool that allowed programmers to write moderately
complex programs easily. It forces a logical structure in the program to be written in an efficient and
understandable manner. The purpose of structured programming is to make the software code easy
to modify when required. Some languages such as Ada, Pascal, and dBase are designed with
features that implement the logical program structure in the software code.
Data-Flow Oriented Design

Data Flow Diagram

Data-flow design is concerned with designing a series of functional transformations that convert
system inputs into the required outputs. The design is described as data-flow diagrams. These
diagrams show how data flows through a system and how the output is derived from the input
through a series of functional transformations.

Data-flow diagrams are a useful and intuitive way of describing a system. They are generally
understandable without specialized training, notably if control information

Data-flow design is an integral part of several design methods, and most CASE tools support data-
flow diagram creation. Different ways may use different icons to represent data-flow diagram
entities, but their meanings are similar.

The notation which is used is based on the following symbols:

is excluded. They show end-to-end processing. That is the flow of processing from when data
enters the system to where it leaves the system can be traced.

Object-Oriented Design
In the object-oriented design method, the system is viewed as a collection of objects (i.e., entities).
The state is distributed among the objects, and each object handles its state data. For example, in a
Library Automation Software, each library representative may be a separate object with its data
and functions to operate on these data. The tasks defined for one purpose cannot refer or change
data of other objects. Objects have their internal data which represent their state. Similar objects
create a class. In other words, each object is a member of some class. Classes may inherit features
from the superclass.
 The different terms related to object design are:

1. Objects: All entities involved in the solution design are known as objects. For example, person,
banks, company, and users are considered as objects. Every entity has some attributes associated
with it and has some methods to perform on the attributes.
2. Classes: A class is a generalized description of an object. An object is an instance of a class. A
class defines all the attributes, which an object can have and methods, which represents the
functionality of the object.
3. Messages: Objects communicate by message passing. Messages consist of the integrity of the
target object, the name of the requested operation, and any other action needed to perform the
function. Messages are often implemented as procedure or function calls.
4. Abstraction In object-oriented design, complexity is handled using abstraction. Abstraction is the
removal of the irrelevant and the amplification of the essentials.
5. Encapsulation: Encapsulation is also called an information hiding concept. The data and
operations are linked to a single unit. Encapsulation not only bundles essential information of an
object together but also restricts access to the data and methods from the outside world.
6. Inheritance: OOD allows similar classes to stack up in a hierarchical manner where the lower or
sub-classes can import, implement, and re-use allowed variables and functions from their
immediate superclasses. This property of OOD is called an inheritance. This makes it easier to
define a specific class and to create generalized classes from specific ones.
7. Polymorphism: OOD languages provide a mechanism where methods performing similar tasks
but vary in arguments, can be assigned the same name. This is known as polymorphism, which
allows a single interface is performing functions for different types. Depending upon how the
service is invoked, the respective portion of the code gets executed.