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Session - 1 PPT-1

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Soorajprasad Mudukaje
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17 views14 pages

Session - 1 PPT-1

Uploaded by

Soorajprasad Mudukaje
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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What is SOFTWARE

ENGINEERING ?
Software Engineering is defined as a process of ;

 Analyzing user requirements

 Designing

 Developing

 Testing

 Maintenance of the Software


MODULE - 1
( 1.1) The Nature of Software

Software’s Dual Role


 Software as a Product

 Transforms Information – produces, manages, acquires, modifies, displays, or transmits


information.

 Delivers computing potential of hardware and networks.

 Software is a Vehicle for delivering a product

 Controls other programs ( Operating Systems )

 Effects Communications ( Networking Software )

 Helps build other software ( Software Tools & Environments )


 During the 1970s and 1980s, there were some popular books which provided useful Historical insight
into the changing perception of Computers and Software, and their impact on culture.

 Today, a huge Software Industry has become a dominant factor in the economies of the Industrialized
World.

 The Lone programmer of an Earlier Era has been replaced by teams of Software Specialists, each
focusing on one part of the technology required to deliver a complex application.

 Same set of questions were still asked to both Lone Programmers and even now, such as;

 Why does it take so long to get software finished ?


 Why are development costs so high ?
 Why cant we find all errors before we give the software to our customer ?
 Why do we spend so much time and effort maintaining existing programs ?
 Why do we continue to have difficulty in measuring progress as software is being developed and
maintained ?
1.1.1 Defining Software

 Software is defined as (1) Instructions (computer programs) that when executed provide desired
features, function and performance; (2) Data structures that enable the programs to adequately
manipulate information; and (3) Documents that describe the operation and use of the programs.

 To gain an understanding of the software, it is important to examine the Characteristics of


Software.

 Software is a Logical element rather than a Physical System element.

 Therefore, software has characteristics that are considerably different than those of hardware.
 Characteristics of Software

 Software is developed or engineered; it is not manufactured in the classical sense.

 Although some similarities exist between Software Development & Hardware Manufacturing, the
two activities are fundamentally different.
 Software doesn’t “Wear Out”.
 The figure below depicts Failure rate as a function of time for Hardware ( also known as Bathtub
Curve).

 This indicates that Hardware exhibits


relatively high failure rates early in its life (due
to design or manufacturing defects)
 Defects are then corrected and failure rate
drops to steady state for some period of time.
 As time passes, failure rate rises again as
hardware components can fail to work.
 The below figure depicts the Failure curve for Software ;

 Undiscovered defects will cause high


failure rates in the life of a program.

 Later they are corrected and the


curve flattens.

 Although the industry is moving toward component-based construction, most software continue to be
custom built.
( 1.1.2 ) Software Applicaion Domains

 There are now 7 broad categories of computer Software that continue giving challenges to
Software Engineers;

1. System Software

2. Application Software

3. Engineering/Scientific Software

4. Embedded Software

5. Product-Line Software

6. Web-Applications

7. Artificial Intelligence Software


Type of Software Description
System Software  System software is a collection of programs written to service other programs
 Example: Compilers, Editors, File management utilities
Application Software  Consists of standalone programs that solve a specific business need.
 Process Business or Technical data
Engineering/Scientific Software  Range from Astronomy to Volcanology, Automotive to Space, etc..
 Nowadays to handle real time data, we have Computer-Aided Deisgn, System
Simulation etc.
Embedded Software  Resides within a product or system
 Example: Digital functions in an automobile such as Fuel Control, Braking
systems etc
Product-Line Software  Can focus on limited and specific marketplace products
 Example: Word processing, multimedia, entertainment etc.
Web-Applications  “WebApps” span a wide variety of applications used over a Network

Artificial Intelligence Software  Makes use of non-numerical algorithms to solve complex problems
 Applications within this area includes Robotics, Expert Systems, Pattern
Recognition etc.
( 1.1.3 ) Legacy Software

 The Legacy software systems were developed decades ago and have been continually modified to
meet changes in business requirements and computing platforms.

 The proliferation of such systems is causing headaches for large organizations who find them costly
to maintain and risky to evolve.

 Legacy systems sometimes have inextensible designs, convoluted code, poor or nonexistent
documentation, test cases and results that were never archived, a poorly managed change history.

 As time passes, legacy systems often evolve for one or more of the following reasons:

 must be adapted to meet the needs of new computing environments or technology.


 must be enhanced to implement new business requirements.
 must be extended to make it interoperable with other more modern systems or databases.
 must be re-architected to make it viable within a network environment.

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