What is Software Engineering? Characteristics, Definition

What is Software Engineering?

Software engineering is defined as the process of analyzing user requirements and then designing, building, and testing a software application that will satisfy those requirements.

Let us look at the various definitions of software engineering:

• IEEE, in its standard 610.12-1990, defines software engineering as the application of a systematic, disciplined, and computable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software.
• Fritz Bauer defined it as “the establishment and use of standard engineering principles. It helps you to obtain, economically, software that is reliable and works efficiently on real machines”.
• Boehm defines software engineering as “the practical application of scientific knowledge to the creative design and building of computer programs. It also includes the associated documentation needed for developing, operating, and maintaining them.”

Why Software Engineering? Software Crisis & its Solution

What was the Software Crisis?

• It was in the late 1960s when many software projects failed.
• Much software went over budget. The output was unreliable software that was expensive to maintain.
• Larger software was difficult and quite expensive to maintain.
• A lot of software was not able to satisfy the growing requirements of the customer.
• The complexities of software projects increased whenever their hardware capability increased.
• Demand for new software increased faster compared with the ability to generate new software.

All the above issues led to the ‘Software Crisis’.

The Solution

The solution to the problem was transforming unorganized coding effort into a software engineering discipline. These engineering models helped companies to streamline operations and deliver software meeting customer requirements.

• The late 1970s saw the widespread use of software engineering principles.
• The 1980s saw the automation of the software engineering process and the growth of Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE).
• The 1990s saw an increased emphasis on the ‘management’ aspects of projects and standards of quality and processes, just like ISO 9001.

Why Software Engineering is Popular?

Here are important reasons behind the popularity of software engineering:

• Large software – In real life, it is much easier to build a wall than a house or building. In the same manner, as the size of the software becomes large, software engineering helps you to build the software.
• Scalability – If the software development process is based on scientific and engineering concepts, it is easier to re-create new software to scale an existing one.
• Adaptability – When the software process is based on scientific and engineering principles, it is easy to re-create new software with the help of software engineering.
• Cost – The hardware industry has shown its skills, and huge manufacturing has lowered the cost of computers and electronic hardware.
• Dynamic Nature – The always-growing and adapting nature of software. It depends on the environment in which the user works.
• Quality Management – Offers a better method of software development to provide quality software products.

Relationship of Software Engineering with Other Disciplines

Here is how software engineering relates to other disciplines:

• Computer Science: Gives the scientific foundation for software, just as physics is the foundation for electrical engineering.
• Management Science: Software engineering is labor-intensive work that demands both technical and managerial control. Therefore, it is widely used in management science.
• Economics: In this sector, software engineering helps you in resource estimation and cost control. A computing system must be developed, and data should be maintained regularly within a given budget.
• System Engineering: Most software is a component of a much larger system, for example, the software in an industrial monitoring system or the flight software on an airplane. Software engineering methods should be applied to the study of these types of systems.

Challenges of Software Engineering

Here are some critical challenges faced by software engineers:

• In safety-critical areas such as space, aviation, and nuclear power plants, the cost of software failure can be massive because lives are at risk.
• Increased market demands for fast turnaround time.
• Dealing with the increased complexity of software needed for new applications.
• The diversity of software systems that should be communicating with each other.

Attributes for Software Products

The characteristics of any software product include features that are displayed by the product when it is installed and put into use.

They are not the services that are provided by the product. Instead, they are related to the product’s dynamic behavior and the use made of the product.

Examples of these attributes are:

Efficiency, reliability, robustness, maintainability, etc.

However, the relative importance of these characteristics varies from one software system to another.

Optimizing the above attributes is very challenging. For example, offering a better UI can reduce system efficiency.

Characteristics of Good Software

Any software should be judged by what it offers and the methods that help you to use it.

Every software must satisfy the following attributes:

• Operational
• Transitional
• Maintenance

Here are some important characteristics of good software developed by software professionals.

Operational

This characteristic lets us know how well software works in operations, which can be measured on:

• Budget
• Efficiency
• Usability
• Dependability
• Correctness
• Functionality
• Safety
• Security

Transitional

This is an essential aspect when the software is moved from one platform to another:

• Interoperability
• Reusability
• Portability
• Adaptability

Maintenance

This aspect talks about how well software has the capability to adapt itself in a quickly changing environment:

• Flexibility
• Maintainability
• Modularity
• Scalability

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