Software Engineering Tutorial

Software Overview
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Let us understand what Software Engineering stands for. The term is made of two
words, software and engineering.

Software is more than just a program code. A program is an executable code,

which serves some computational purpose. Software is considered to be collection
of executable programming code, associated libraries and documentations.
Software, when made for a specific requirement is called software product.

Engineering on the other hand, is all about developing products, using well-
defined, scientific principles and methods.

Software engineering is an engineering branch associated with development of

software product using well-defined scientific principles, methods and procedures.
The outcome of software engineering is an efficient and reliable software product.

Definitions
IEEE defines software engineering as:

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(1) The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to

the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is, the
application of engineering to software.

(2) The study of approaches as in the above statement.

Fritz Bauer, a German computer scientist, defines software engineering as:

“Software engineering is the establishment and use of sound engineering

principles in order to obtain economically software that is reliable and work
efficiently on real machines.”

Software Evolution
The process of developing a software product using software engineering
principles and methods is referred to as Software Evolution. This includes the
initial development of software and its maintenance and updates, till desired
software product is developed, which satisfies the expected requirements.

Evolution starts from the requirement gathering process. After which developers
create a prototype of the intended software and show it to the users to get their
feedback at the early stage of the software product development. The users
suggest changes, on which several consecutive updates and maintenance keep on
changing too. This process changes to the original software, till the desired
software is accomplished.

Even after the user has the desired software in hand, the advancing technology
and the changing requirements force the software product to change accordingly.
Re-creating software from scratch and to go one-on-one with the requirement is

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not feasible. The only feasible and economical solution is to update the existing
software so that it matches the latest requirements.

Software Evolution Laws

Lehman has given laws for software evolution. He divided the software into three
different categories:

1. Static-type (S-type) - This is a software, which works strictly according

to defined specifications and solutions. The solution and the method to
achieve it, both are immediately understood before coding. The s-type
software is least subjected to changes hence this is the simplest of all. For
example, calculator program for mathematical computation.
2. Practical-type (P-type) - This is a software with a collection
of [Link] is defined by exactly what procedures can do. In this
software, the specifications can be described but the solution is not
obviously instant. For example, gaming software.
3. Embedded-type (E-type) - This software works closely as the
requirement of real-world environment. This software has a high degree of
evolution as there are various changes in laws, taxes etc. in the real world
situations. For example, Online trading software.

E-Type software evolution

Lehman has given eight laws for E-Type software evolution -

1. Continuing change - An E-type software system must continue to adapt

to the real world changes, else it becomes progressively less useful.
2. Increasing complexity - As an E-type software system evolves, its
complexity tends to increase unless work is done to maintain or reduce it.
3. Conservation of familiarity - The familiarity with the software or the
knowledge about how it was developed, why was it developed in that
particular manner etc., must be retained at any cost, to implement the
changes in the system.
4. Continuing growth- In order for an E-type system intended to resolve
some business problem, its size of implementing the changes grows
according to the lifestyle changes of the business.

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5. Reducing quality - An E-type software system declines in quality unless

rigorously maintained and adapted to a changing operational environment.
6. Feedback systems- The E-type software systems constitute multi-loop,
multi-level feedback systems and must be treated as such to be successfully
modified or improved.
7. Self-regulation - E-type system evolution processes are self-regulating
with the distribution of product and process measures close to normal.
8. Organizational stability - The average effective global activity rate in an

evolving E-type system is invariant over the lifetime of the product.

Software Paradigms
Software paradigms refer to the methods and steps, which are taken while
designing the software. There are many methods proposed and are implemented.
But, we need to see where in the software engineering concept, these paradigms
stand. These can be combined into various categories, though each of them is
contained in one another:

Programming paradigm is a subset of Software design paradigm which is further

a subset of Software development paradigm.

Software Development Paradigm

This paradigm is known as software engineering paradigms; where all the
engineering concepts pertaining to the development of software are applied. It
includes various researches and requirement gathering which helps the software
product to build. It consists of –

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 Requirement gathering
 Software design
 Programming

Software Design Paradigm

This paradigm is a part of Software Development and includes –

 Design
 Maintenance
 Programming

Programming Paradigm
This paradigm is related closely to programming aspect of software development.
This includes –

 Coding
 Testing
 Integration

Need of Software Engineering

The need of software engineering arises because of higher rate of change in user
requirements and environment on which the software is working. Following are
some of the needs stated:

 Large software - It is easier to build a wall than a house or building,

likewise, as the size of the software becomes large, engineering has to step
to give it a scientific process.

 Scalability- If the software process were not based on scientific and

engineering concepts, it would be easier to re-create new software than to
scale an existing one.

 Cost- As hardware industry has shown its skills and huge manufacturing
has lower down the price of computer and electronic hardware. But, cost of
the software remains high if proper process is not adapted.

 Dynamic Nature- Always growing and adapting nature of the software

hugely depends upon the environment in which the user works. If the
nature of software is always changing, new enhancements need to be done
in the existing one. This is where the software engineering plays a good
role.

 Quality Management- Better process of software development provides

better and quality software product.

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Characteristics of good software

A software product can be judged by what it offers and how well it can be used.
This software must satisfy on the following grounds:

 Operational
 Transitional
 Maintenance
Well-engineered and crafted software is expected to have the following
characteristics:

Operational
This tells us how well the software works in operations. It can be measured on:

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

Transitional
This aspect is important when the software is moved from one platform to
another:

 Portability
 Interoperability
 Reusability
 Adaptability

Maintenance
This aspect briefs about how well the software has the capabilities to maintain
itself in the ever-changing environment:

 Modularity
 Maintainability
 Flexibility
 Scalability

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In short, Software engineering is a branch of computer science, which uses well-

defined engineering concepts required to produce efficient, durable, scalable, in-
budget, and on-time software products.