SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE ENGINEERING SOME DEFINITION

INTRODUCTION

Software engineering is a detailed study of engineering to the design, development and maintenance of
software. Software engineering was introduced to address the issues of low-quality software projects. Problems arise
when a software generally exceeds timelines, budgets, and reduced levels of quality. It ensures that the application is
built consistently, correctly, on time and on budget and within requirements. The demand of software engineering
also emerged to cater to the immense rate of change in user requirements and environment on which application is
supposed to be working.

Let us first 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 is comprises the aspects of a system not reduced to tangible devices, e.g. computer

programs and documentation. It is distinguished from hardware, which consists of tangible devices, and often

exists as collections of states of hardware devices. The boundary between hardware and software can be blurry, as

with firmware and microcode. Software, when made for a specific requirement is called software product.

A software product is judged by how easily it can be used by the end-user and the features it offers to the user. An

application must score in the following areas:-

1) Operational: -This tells how good a software works on operations like budget , usability, efficiency,

correctness ,functionality , dependability , security and safety.

2) Transitional: - Transitional is important when an application is shifted from one platform to another. So,

portability, reusability and adaptability come in this area.

3) Maintenance: - This specifies how good a software works in the changing environment. Modularity,

maintainability, flexibility and scalability come in maintenance part.

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

methods. Engineering is the application of well-understood scientific methods to the construction, operation,

modification and maintenance of useful devices and systems.

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:

(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.

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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 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 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 requirement

is 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:

 S-type (static-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.

 P-type (practical-type) - This is a software with a collection of procedures. This is defined by exactly

what procedures can do. In this software, the specifications can be described but the solution is not obvious

instantly. For example, gaming software.

 E-type (embedded-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.

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E-Type software evolution

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

 Continuing change - An E-type software system must continue to adapt to the real world changes, else it

becomes progressively less useful.

 Increasing complexity - As an E-type software system evolves, its complexity tends to increase unless

work is done to maintain or reduce it.

 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.

 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.

 Reducing quality - An E-type software system declines in quality unless rigorously maintained and

adapted to a changing operational environment.

 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.

 Self-regulation - E-type system evolution processes are self-regulating with the distribution of product and

process measures close to normal.

 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 in work today, but we need to see where in the software engineering these paradigms

stand. These can be combined into various categories, though each of them is contained in one another:

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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 –

 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

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  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.

 Large software - It is easier to build a wall than to a house or building, likewise, as the size of software

become 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 he price of

computer and electronic hardware. But the cost of software remains high if proper process is not adapted.

 Dynamic Nature- The always growing and adapting nature of software hugely depends upon the

environment in which user works. If the nature of software is always changing, new enhancements need to

be done in the existing one. This is where software engineering plays a good role.

 Quality Management- Better process of software development provides better and quality software

product.

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 software works in operations. It can be measured on:

 Budget

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  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 a software has the capabilities to maintain itself in the ever-changing

environment:

 Modularity

 Maintainability

 Flexibility

 Scalability

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.

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Classification of Software

The software is used extensively in several domains including hospitals, banks, schools, defence, finance, stock
markets and so on. It can be categorized into different types:

On the basis of application:

1. System Software –

System Software is necessary to manage the computer resources and support the execution of application programs.
Software like operating systems, compilers, editors and drivers etc., come under this category. A computer cannot
function without the presence of these. Operating systems are needed to link the machine dependent needs of a
program with the capabilities of the machine on which it runs. Compilers translate programs from high-level
language to machine language.

2. Networking and Web Applications Software –

Networking Sofware provides the required support necessary for computers to interact with each other and with data
storage facilities. The networking software is also used when software is running on a network of computers (such
as World Wide Web). It includes all network management software, server software, security and encryption
software and software to develop web-based applications like HTML, PHP, XML, etc.

3. Embedded Software –

This type of software is embedded into the hardware normally in the Read Only Memory (ROM) as a part of a large
system and is used to support certain functionality under the control conditions. Examples are software used in
instrumentation and control applications, washing machines, satellites, microwaves, washing machines etc.

4. Reservation Software –

A Reservation system is primarily used to store and retrieve information and perform transactions related to air
travel, car rental, hotels, or other activities. They also provide access to bus and railway reservations, although these
are not always integrated with the main system. These are also used to relay computerized information for users in
the hotel industry, making a reservation and ensuring that the hotel is not overbooked.

5. Business Software –

This category of software is used to support the business applications and is the most widely used category of
software. Examples are software for inventory management, accounts, banking, hospitals, schools, stock markets,
etc.

6. Entertainment Software –

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Education and entertainment software provides a powerful tool for educational agencies, especially those that deal
with educating young children. There is a wide range of entertainment software such as computer games,
educational games, translation software, mapping software, etc.

7. Artificial Intelligence Software –

Software like expert systems, decision support systems, pattern recognition software, artificial neural networks, etc.
come under this category. They involve complex problems which are not affected by complex computations using
non-numerical algorithms.

8. Scientific Software –

Scientific and engineering software satisfies the needs of a scientific or engineering user to perform enterprise
specific tasks. Such software is written for specific applications using principles, techniques and formulae specific to
that field. Examples are software like MATLAB, AUTOCAD, PSPICE, ORCAD, etc.

9. Utilities Software –

The programs coming under this category perform specific tasks and are different from other software in terms of
size, cost and complexity. Examples are anti-virus software, voice recognition software, compression programs, etc.

10. Document Management Software –

A Document Management Software is used to track, manage and store documents in order to reduce the paperwork.
Such systems are capable of keeping a record of the various versions created and modified by different users
(history tracking). They commonly provide storage, versioning, metadata, security, as well as indexing and retrieval
capabilities.

On the basis of copyright:

1. Commercial –

It represents the majority of software which we purchase from software companies, commercial computer stores,
etc. In this case, when a user buys a software, they acquire a license key to use it. Users are not allowed to make the
copies of the software. The copyright of the program is owned by the company.

2. Shareware –

Shareware software is also covered under copyright but the purchasers are allowed to make and distribute copies
with the condition that after testing the software, if the purchaser adopts it for use, then they must pay for it.

In both of the above types of software, changes to software are not allowed.

3. Freeware –

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In general, according to freeware software licenses, copies of the software can be made both for archival and
distribution purposes but here, distribution cannot be for making a profit. Derivative works and modifications to the
software are allowed and encouraged. Decompiling of the program code is also allowed without the explicit
permission of the copyright holder.

4. Public Domain –

In case of public domain software, the original copyright holder explicitly relinquishes all rights to the software.
Hence software copies can be made both for archival and distribution purposes with no restrictions on distribution.
Modifications to the software and reverse engineering are also allowed.

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