Software Engineering

(SE2223)
Ibrar arhsad
[email protected]
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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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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COMPUTER SCIENCE VS SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

• Computer science is concerned with theory and

fundamentals
• Software engineering is concerned with the practicalities of
developing and delivering useful software
• Computer science is about taking complex problems and
deriving a solution from mathematics, science and
computational theory
• Software engineering is very much focused around designing,
developing and documenting beautiful, complete, user-
friendly software
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SYSTEM ENGINEERING VS SOFTWARE 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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SOFTWARE COST

• 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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SOFTWARE COST CONT..

• 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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SOFTWARE PROCESS ACTIVITIES

• Software specification, where customers and software

engineers define the software that is to be produced and the
constraints on its operation
• Software development, where the software is designed and
programmed
• Software validation, where the software is checked to ensure
that it is what the customer requires
• Software evolution, where the software is modified to reflect
changing customer and market requirements

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PRODUCT SPECIFICATION

• Generic products
 The specification of what the software should do is owned by the
software developer and decisions on software change are made by
the developer
• Customized products
 The specification of what the software should do is owned by the
customer for the software and they make decisions on software
changes that are required

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SOFTWARE PRODUCT

• Generic products
 Stand-alone systems that are marketed and sold to any customer who
wishes to buy them
 Examples – PC software such as graphics programs, project management
tools; CAD software; software for specific markets such as appointments
systems for dentists
• Customized products
 Software that is commissioned by a specific customer to meet their own
needs
 Examples – embedded control systems, air traffic control software, traffic
monitoring systems

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SOFTWARE APPLICATION TYPES
• Stand-alone applications
 These are application systems that run on a local computer, such as a PC
 They include all necessary functionality and do not need to be connected to a
network
• Interactive transaction-based applications
 Applications that execute on a remote computer and are accessed by users
from their own PCs or terminals
 These include web applications such as e-commerce applications
• Embedded control systems
 These are software control systems that control and manage hardware devices
 Numerically, there are probably more embedded systems than any other type
of system

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SOFTWARE APPLICATION TYPES CONT..

• Batch processing systems

 These are business systems that are designed to process data in large batches
 They process large numbers of individual inputs to create corresponding
outputs
• Entertainment systems
 These are systems that are primarily for personal use and which are intended to
entertain the user
• Modeling and simulation
 These are systems that are developed by scientists and engineers to model
physical processes or situations, which include many, separate, interacting
objects

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SOFTWARE APPLICATION TYPES CONT..

• Data collection systems

 These are systems that collect data from their environment using a
set of sensors and send that data to other systems for processing.
• Systems of systems
 These are systems that are composed of a number of other software
systems

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CASE

• Computer Aided Software Engineering

 Software systems that are intended to provide automated
support for software process activities
 Examples
• ERwin
• Visual UML
• Ecore Diagram Editor
• IBM Rational Rose

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SOFTWARE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES

• The software should deliver the required functionality and

performance to the user and should be maintainable,
dependable and acceptable
• 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

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SOFTWARE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES CONT..

• 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 QUALITY ATTRIBUTES CONT..

• 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

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ISSUES THAT AFFECT SOFTWARE

• Heterogeneity
 Sometimes, systems are required to operate as distributed systems
across networks that include different types of computer and
mobile devices
• Business and social change
 Business and society are changing incredibly quickly as emerging
economies develop and new technologies become available
 They need to be able to change their existing software and to
rapidly develop new software

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ISSUES THAT AFFECT SOFTWARE CONT..

• Security and trust

 As software is intertwined with all aspects of our lives, it is essential
that we can trust that software
• Scale
 Software has to be developed across a very wide range of scales,
from very small embedded systems in portable or wearable devices
through to Internet-scale, cloud-based systems that serve a global
community

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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 outwit their
competence.

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ISSUES OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY CONT..

• 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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