Introduction to Software Engineering

What is Software Engineering

• Development and maintenance of reliable software with minimum cost and effort

• What does it take to develop a sofware product and ship it out of the door to a customer ?

• Project Management and Development Practice

• On demand or Just in time software system

• Bug-free software

Software Paradigm

• Waterfall Model

• Spiral Model

• Rapid prototyping

• Very high-level language

• Reusability

• Transformation paradigm

• IBM Cleanroom Method

No software development follow explicitly any of the paradigms and the models are conceptual only.

KISS

• Keep It Simple Students (Keep It Simple Sir)

• Powerful ideas are usually simple

• Complex techniques usually failed, too much overhead, staffs resist

Waterfall Model

This is the traditional model, which most of the business used over the years.

• Requirement analysis and specifications

• Design

  • Architecture design

  • Module design

• Coding

• Testing

• Maintenance and evolution

How to Do the Development Work: Different Schools of Thought

• Transaction-based Programming

• Structured Programming, Structured Analysis

• Code Generation: WinObj, NetObj, Stored Procedure generation

• 4th Generation Languages, SQL Windows, PowerBuilder?

• Knowledge-Based Systems, PROLOG, GUI, Programming Environments

• Porting/Hacking, Micro-management of development cycle (tail-end, front-end), DCG, Software Inspections, Super programmer, talents

• Object-Oriented Analysis, Design, Programming, Testing and Maintenance, Framework, and Software Reusability.

• Processes, Testing (Unit Test, Component Test, System Test, Product Level Test, Stress Test, Performance Test, Regression Test, etc)

• Program Verification, Formal Methods.

• Java, CORBA, Internet, Intranet

• Component Engineering, Software Architecture, Software Reusability

Some Common Techniques

• Software inspection

• Data abstraction

• Software development and maintenance processes

• Configuration control (CMVC)

• Testing Cycle - End Product is what the customer see ...

Reason

• You must give reasons in this class

• The goal is always

  minimize cost

  minimize effort

  maximize quality

• Must be simple (to learn and to use) but effective

• Learn to trend, technologies available, model, principle and implementation experience

Reference

All materials are from work experience, software engineering books and ideas & notes from my advisor in University of Minnesota