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Software Engineering
Introduction to Software Engineering
In this tutorial, we will learn what is software engineering, what role the software engineering plays in software development and why do we need it?
By Monika Sharma Last updated : April 04, 2023
Overview
While developing any software, the developer (or the development team) goes through certain phases like requirement analysis, designing of the project, coding, testing, maintenance, etc. Each of these steps plays an important role in the software development process. If these rules are not followed properly or if the sequence is not followed, then this can affect the quality of software produced. Most of the times, this leads to the cancellation of the entire project or restarting the project from the initial stage. Due to this, both the time and cost of the development team is wasted and also the quality of the software is altered. So, to overcome this, the concept of Software Engineering was proposed.
What is Software Engineering?
Fritz Bauer, at the 1st NATO Conference on Software Engineering, 1969] IEEE defined Software engineering as: "Software engineering is the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is, the application of engineering to software."
In even more simple terms, we can define it as: "Software engineering is a set of predefined procedure which a developer or any organization should follow while developing any project."
It is an engineering discipline and its concern is with each aspect of the Software Production.
What Software Engineering means?
- A software engineer should proceed in a systematic and organized way while developing any project to decrease the risk of cancellation of the project.
- The developer (Software engineer) should efficiently use the resources available.
- Appropriate tools and techniques must be used while developing any software so that the target problem is solved in its most efficient manner and also the time and cost consumed during the development is minimum.
What is the Aim of Software Engineering?
The following are the key features of Software Engineering that it targets to fulfill:
- Every time software is being developed, we get quality software at the end as a result.
- The Software Produced is maintainable and reliable.
- The Software is delivered to the customer (or organization) on time.
- The Software is completed within budget.
- The Software satisfies all the requirements that it was supposed to fulfill.