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| {{merge|Software engineer|discuss=Talk:Software engineering#Proposed merge with Software engineer|date=January 2014}}
| | Agricultural Technician Edmond from Sainte-Catherine, likes bonsai trees, sport betting and warhammer. Felt exceptionally inspired after likely to Cultural Landscape of Sintra. |
| [[File:Coding Shots Annual Plan high res-5.jpg|thumb|300px|right|A [[software engineer]] programming for the Wikimedia Foundation]]
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| '''Software Engineering''' is the study and application of [[engineering]] to the design, development, and maintenance of software.<ref name="BoDu04">{{harvnb|Abran|Moore|Bourque|Dupuis|2004|pp=1–1}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
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| | last = ACM
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| | year = 2006
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| | url = http://computingcareers.acm.org/?page_id=12
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| | title = Computing Degrees & Careers
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| | publisher = ACM
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| | accessdate = 2010-11-23
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| }}</ref><ref>
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| {{cite book | last = Laplante | first = Phillip | title = What Every Engineer Should Know about Software Engineering | publisher = CRC | location = Boca Raton
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| | year = 2007 | isbn = 978-0-8493-7228-5 | url = http://books.google.com/?id=pFHYk0KWAEgC&lpg=PP1&dq=What%20Every%20Engineer%20Should%20Know%20about%20Software%20Engineering.&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=false | accessdate = 2011-01-21 }}
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| </ref>
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| Typical formal definitions of '''software engineering''' are:
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| *"the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of [[software]]".<ref name="IEEE610a">“IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology,” [[IEEE]] std 610.12-1990, 1990.</ref>
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| *"an engineering discipline that is concerned with all aspects of software production"<ref name="Sommerville1">{{cite book|last= Sommerville|first=Ian|authorlink=Ian Sommerville (academic)
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| | title = Software Engineering|origyear = 1982
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| | url = http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/HigherEducation/Booksby/Sommerville/
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| | edition = 8th | year = 2007
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| | publisher = Pearson Education | location = Harlow, England
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| | isbn = 0-321-31379-8 | pages = 7 | chapter = 1.1.2 What is software engineering?
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| | quote = Software engineering is an engineering discipline that is concerned with all aspects of software production from the early stages of system specification to maintaining the system after it has gone into use. In this definition, there are two key phrases: <br>
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| 1. ''Engineering discipline'' Engineers make things work. They apply theories, methods and tools where these are appropriate [. . .] Engineers also recognize that they must work to organizational and financial constraints. [. . .]<br>
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| 2. ''All aspects of software production'' Software engineering is not just concerned with the technical processes of software development but also with activities such as software project management and with the development of tools, methods and theories to support software production.}}</ref>
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| *"the establishment and use of sound engineering principles in order to economically obtain software that is reliable and works efficiently on real machines"<ref name="Bauer1">{{cite journal| authorlink=F. L. Bauer | title= Software Engineering | journal = Information Processing | volume = 71 | publisher = North-Holland Publishing Co. | year = 1972 | pages = 530–538}}</ref>
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| The term has been used less formally:
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| * as the informal contemporary term for the broad range of activities that were formerly called [[computer programming]] and [[systems analysis]];<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.micsymposium.org/mics_2002/SALAH.PDF|publisher=35th Annual Midwest Instruction and Computing Symposium|date=2002-04-05|accessdate=2006-09-13|author=Akram I. Salah|title=Engineering an Academic Program in Software Engineering}}: "For some, software engineering is just a glorified name for programming. If you are a programmer, you might put 'software engineer' on your business card—never 'programmer' though."</ref>
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| * as the broad term for all aspects of the ''practice'' of computer programming, as opposed to the ''theory'' of computer programming, which is called [[computer science]];<ref>Mills, Harlan D., J. R. Newman, and C. B. Engle, Jr., "An Undergraduate Curriculum in Software Engineering," in {{cite book|title=Software Engineering Education: SEI Conference 1990, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, April 2–3,...|first = Lionel E.|last=Deimel|year=1990|publisher=Springer|isbn=0-387-97274-9}},[http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN3540972749&id=ZuWbyy2blMEC&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&sig=Yxs2mS5S0Xs2cnGv2vYsYUcFNQM p. 26]: "As a practical matter, we regard software engineering as the necessary preparation for the practicing, software development and maintenance professional. The Computer Scientist is preparing for further theoretical studies..."</ref>
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| * as the term embodying the ''advocacy'' of a specific approach to computer programming, one that urges that it be treated as an [[engineering]] discipline rather than an art or a craft, and advocates the codification of recommended practices.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://evidence.cs.keele.ac.uk/rebse.html|title=Realizing Evidence-based Software Engineering|accessdate=2006-10-18|date=2004-12-14|author=David Budgen, Pearl Brereton, Barbara Kitchenham, Stephen Linkman}}: "We believe that software engineering can only advance as an engineering discipline by moving away from its current dependence upon advocacy and analysis,...."</ref>
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| ==History==
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| {{Main|History of software engineering}}
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| When the first digital [[computer]]s appeared in the early 1940s,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Leondes|title= intelligent systems: technology and applications|year=2002| publisher=CRC Press| isbn =978-0-8493-1121-5 | quote = }}</ref> the instructions to make them operate were wired into the machine. Practitioners quickly realized that this design was not flexible and came up with the "stored program architecture" or [[von Neumann architecture]]. Thus the division between "hardware" and "software" began with [[abstraction (computer science)|abstraction]] being used to deal with the complexity of computing.
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| [[Programming languages]] started to appear in the 1950s and this was also another major step in abstraction. Major languages such as [[Fortran]], [[ALGOL]], and [[COBOL]] were released in the late 1950s to deal with scientific, algorithmic, and business problems respectively. [[Edsger Dijkstra|E.W. Dijkstra]] wrote his seminal paper, "Go To Statement Considered Harmful",<ref>{{Cite journal
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| | last = Dijkstra | first = E. W. | authorlink = Edsger_Dijkstra
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| | title = Go To Statement Considered Harmful | journal = [[Communications of the ACM]] | volume = 11 | issue = 3 | pages = 147–148
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| |date=March 1968 | url = http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd02xx/EWD215.PDF | accessdate = 2009-08-10
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| | doi = 10.1145/362929.362947}}
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| </ref> in 1968 and [[David Parnas]] introduced the key concept of [[modularity]] and [[information hiding]] in 1972<ref>
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| {{Cite journal
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| | last = Parnas
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| | first = David
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| | authorlink = David Parnas
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| | journal = [[Communications of the ACM]]
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| | volume = 15
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| | issue = 12
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| | pages = 1053–1058
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| | url = http://www.acm.org/classics/may96/
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| | title = On the Criteria To Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules
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| |date=December 1972
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| | accessdate = 2008-12-26
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| | doi = 10.1145/361598.361623
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| }}</ref> to help programmers deal with the ever increasing complexity of [[software systems]].
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| The term "Software Engineering" was first used in 1968 as a title for the world's first conference on Software Engineering, sponsored and facilitated by NATO. The conference was attended by international experts on software who agreed on defining best practices for software grounded in the application of engineering. The result of the conference is a report that defines how software should be developed [i.e., software engineering foundations]. The original report is publicly available.<ref>{{cite web | title=Software Engineering | url=http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1968.PDF}}</ref>
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| The discipline of Software Engineering was coined to address poor quality of software, get projects exceeding time and budget under control, and ensure that software is built systematically, rigorously, measurably, on time, on budget, and within specification. Engineering already addresses all these issues, hence the same principles used in engineering can be applied to software. The widespread lack of best practices for software at the time was perceived as "[[software crisis]]".<ref>{{harvnb|Sommerville|2008|p=26}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference
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| | first = Naur
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| | last = Peter
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| | coauthors = Brian Randell
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| | title = Software Engineering: Report of a conference sponsored by the NATO Science Committee
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| | publisher = Scientific Affairs Division, NATO
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| | date = 7–11 October 1968
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| | location = Garmisch, Germany
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| | url = http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/nato1968.PDF
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| |format=PDF| doi =
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| | id =
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| | accessdate = 2008-12-26}}
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| </ref><ref>{{cite web
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| | url = http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/NATOReports/index.html
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| | title = The 1968/69 NATO Software Engineering Reports
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| | accessdate = 2008-10-11 | last = Randell | first = Brian | authorlink = Brian Randell
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| |date = 10 August 2001
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| | work = Brian Randell's University Homepage
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| | publisher = The School of the Computer Sciences, Newcastle University
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| | quote = The idea for the first NATO Software Engineering Conference, and in particular that of adopting the then practically unknown term "software engineering" as its (deliberately provocative) title, I believe came originally from Professor [[Friedrich L. Bauer|Fritz Bauer]].}}</ref>
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| [[Barry Boehm|Barry W. Boehm]] documented several key advances to the field in his 1981 book, 'Software Engineering Economics'.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Boehm|title= Software Engineering Economics |year=1981| publisher=Prentice-Hall| isbn =0-13-822122-7 | quote = }}</ref> These include his Constructive Cost Model ([[COCOMO II|COCOMO]]), which relates software development effort for a program, in man-years T, to ''source lines of code'' (SLOC). <math> T = k * (SLOC)^{(1+x)}</math>
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| The book analyzes sixty-three software projects and concludes the cost of fixing errors escalates as we move the project toward field use. The book also asserts that the key driver of software cost is the capability of the software development team.
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| In 1984, the [[Software Engineering Institute]] (SEI) was established as a federally funded research and development center headquartered on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. [[Watts Humphrey]] founded the SEI Software Process Program, aimed at understanding and managing the software engineering process. His 1989 book, Managing the Software Process,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Humphrey|title= managing the software process|year=1989| publisher=addison-wesley| isbn =0-201-18095 | quote = }}</ref> asserts that the Software Development Process can and should be controlled, measured, and improved. The Process Maturity Levels introduced would become the Capability Maturity Model Integration for Development(CMMi-DEV), which has defined how the US Government evaluates the abilities of a software development team.
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|
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| The modern generally accepted practice for Software Engineering has been cataloged as a Guide to the [[Software Engineering Body of Knowledge]] (SWEBOK) which has become an internationally accepted standard ISO/IEC TR 19759:2005.<ref>{{cite web
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| | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=33897
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| | title = ISO/IEC TR 19759:2005
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| | accessdate = 2012-04-01}}</ref>
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| == Criticism ==
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| Software Engineering sees programmers as practitioners of a well-defined engineering approach with the connotations of predictability, precision, mitigated risk and professionalism. This perspective has led to calls for licensing, certification and codified bodies of knowledge as mechanisms for maturing the field. [[Software Craftsmanship]] has been proposed by a body of software developers as an alternative that emphasizes the coding skills and accountability of the software developers themselves. [http://manifesto.softwarecraftsmanship.org/ The Software Craftsmanship Manifesto] extends the Agile Software Manifesto<ref>{{cite web
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| |url=http://agilemanifesto.org/
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| |title=Manifesto for Agile Software Development |year=2001 |publisher=Agile Alliance
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| |author=Beck, Kent |author2=et al.|authorlink=Kent Beck
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| |accessdate=14 June 2010}}</ref> and draws a metaphor between modern software development and the apprenticeship model of medieval Europe.
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| [[Edsger Dijkstra|Dijkstra]] refuted the concepts of "software engineering" and
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| "software maintenance," arguing that those terms were poor analogies for what
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| he called the "radical novelty" of [[computer science]]:
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| {{quotation |
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| A number of these phenomena have been bundled under the name "Software
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| Engineering". As economics is known as "The Miserable Science", software
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| engineering should be known as "The Doomed Discipline", doomed because it
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| cannot even approach its goal since its goal is self-contradictory. Software
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| engineering, of course, presents itself as another worthy cause, but that is
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| eyewash: if you carefully read its literature and analyse what its devotees
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| actually do, you will discover that software engineering has accepted as its
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| charter "How to program if you cannot.".<ref>{{cite web
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| | url=http://www.cs.utexas.edu/~EWD/transcriptions/EWD10xx/EWD1036.html
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| | title=On the cruelty of really teaching computing science
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| | last = Dijkstra
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| | first = E. W.
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| | authorlink = Edsger_Dijkstra
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| | year=1988
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| | accessdate=2014-01-10
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| }}</ref>
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| }}
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| ==Profession==
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| {{Main|Software engineer}}
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| Legal requirements for the licensing or certification of professional software engineers vary around the world. In the UK, the [[British Computer Society]] licenses software engineers and members of the society can also become [[Chartered Engineer (UK)|Chartered Engineers]] (CEng), while in some areas of Canada, such as Alberta, Ontario,<ref>{{cite conference | first = N.S.W. | last = Williams | title = Professional Engineers Ontario's approach to licensing software engineering practitioners | booktitle = Software Engineering Education and Training, 2001 Proceedings. 14th Conference on | pages = 77–78 | publisher = [[IEEE]]| date = 19–21 February 2001 | location = Charlotte, NC | url = | accessdate = }}</ref> and Quebec, software engineers can hold the Professional Engineer (P.Eng) designation and/or the Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.) designation. In Canada, there is a legal requirement to have P.Eng when one wants to use the title "engineer" or practice "software engineering".
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| The United States, starting from 2013 offer an ''[[NCEES]]'' ''[[Professional Engineer]]'' exam for Software Engineering, thereby allowing Software Engineers to be licensed and recognized.<ref>{{cite web
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| | url = http://cdn1.ncees.co/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Exam-specifications_PE-Software-Apr-2013.pdf
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| | title = NCEES Software Engineering Exam Specifications
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| | accessdate = 2012-04-01}}</ref> Mandatory licensing is currently still largely debated, and perceived as controversial. In some parts of the US such as Texas, the use of the term [[Engineer]] is regulated by law and reserved only for use by individuals who have a [[Professional Engineer]] license. The IEEE informs the professional engineer license is not required unless the individual would work for public where health of others could be at risk if the engineer was not fully qualified to required standards by the particular state. Professional engineer licenses are specific to the state which has awarded them, and have to be regularly retaken.
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| The [[IEEE Computer Society]] and the [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]], the two main US-based professional organizations of software engineering, publish guides to the profession of software engineering. The IEEE's ''Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge - 2004 Version'', or [[SWEBOK]], defines the field and describes the knowledge the IEEE expects a practicing software engineer to have. Currently, the SWEBOK v3 is being produced and will likely be released in mid-2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computer.org/portal/web/swebok/v3guide |title='SWEBOK Guide Version 3' |date= |accessdate=2012-11-14}}</ref> The IEEE also promulgates a "Software Engineering Code of Ethics".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/Publications/code-of-ethics.pdf |title=''Software Engineering Code of Ethics'' |format=PDF |date= |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref>
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| ===Employment===
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| In 2004, the [[Bureau of Labor Statistics|U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]] counted 760,840 software engineers holding jobs in the [[United States|U.S.]]; in the same time period there were some 1.4 million practitioners employed in the U.S. in all other engineering disciplines combined.<ref>Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, [http://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/ocwage_11092005.pdf ''USDL 05-2145: Occupational Employment and Wages, November 2004''], Table 1.</ref> Due to its relative newness as a field of study, formal education in software engineering is often taught as part of a computer science curriculum, and many software engineers hold computer science degrees.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://computingcareers.acm.org/?page_id=12|title=Software Engineering|accessdate=2008-02-01}}</ref>
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| Many software engineers work as employees or contractors. Software engineers work with businesses, government agencies (civilian or military), and non-profit organizations. Some software engineers work for themselves as [[freelancer]]s. Some organizations have specialists to perform each of the tasks in the [[software development process]]. Other organizations require software engineers to do many or all of them. In large projects, people may specialize in only one role. In small projects, people may fill several or all roles at the same time. Specializations include: in industry ([[Requirements analysis|analysts]], [[Software architecture|architects]], [[Software developer|developers]], [[Software testing|testers]], [[technical support]], [[middleware analyst]]s, [[Project management|managers]]) and in academia ([[educator]]s, [[researcher]]s).
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| Most software engineers and programmers work 40 hours a week, but about 15 percent of software engineers and 11 percent of programmers worked more than 50 hours a week in 2008. Injuries in these occupations are rare. However, like other workers who spend long periods in front of a computer terminal typing at a keyboard, engineers and programmers are susceptible to eyestrain, back discomfort, and hand and wrist problems such as carpal tunnel syndrome.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos303.htm#training|title=Computer Software Engineers and Computer Programmers|accessdate=2009-12-17}}</ref>
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| The field's future looks bright according to [[Money Magazine]] and [[Salary.com]], which rated Software Engineer as the best job in the United States in 2006.<ref>{{cite web
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| | last = Kalwarski
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| | first = Tara
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| | coauthors = Daphne Mosher, Janet Paskin and Donna Rosato
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| | year = 2006
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| | url = http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/2006/
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| | title = Best Jobs in America
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| | work = MONEY Magazine
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| | publisher = CNN
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| | accessdate = 2006-04-20
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| }}</ref> In 2012, software engineering was again ranked as the best job in the United States, this time by CareerCast.com.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303772904577336230132805276.html|title=Best and Worst Jobs of 2012 |publisher=online.wsj.com |date= |accessdate=2012}}</ref>
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| ===Certification===
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| The [[Software Engineering Institute]] offers certifications on specific topics like Security, [[Process improvement]] and [[Software architecture]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sei.cmu.edu/certification/ |title=SEI certification page |publisher=Sei.cmu.edu |date= |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref> [[Apple certification programs|Apple]], [[Information Technology Architect Certification|IBM]], [[Microsoft Certified Professional|Microsoft]] and other companies also sponsor their own certification examinations. Many [[Information technology|IT]] [[Professional certification (Computer technology)|certification]] programs are oriented toward specific technologies, and managed by the vendors of these technologies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1180991|title=The Top 10 Problems with IT Certification in 2008|last=Wyrostek|first=Warren |date=March 14, 2008|work=InformIT|accessdate=2009-03-03}}</ref> These certification programs are tailored to the institutions that would employ people who use these technologies.
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| Broader certification of general software engineering skills is available through various professional societies. {{As of|2006}}, the [[IEEE]] had certified over 575 software professionals as a [[Certified Software Development Professional]] (CSDP).<ref name="ieee2006">{{cite web|author=IEEE Computer Society|url=http://www.ifip.org/minutes/GA2006/Tab18b-US-IEEE.pdf|format=PDF|title=2006 IEEE computer society report to the IFIP General Assembly|accessdate=2007-04-10}}</ref> In 2008 they added an entry-level certification known as the Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA).<ref>{{cite web|author=IEEE|url=http://www.computer.org/portal/web/certification/csda|title=CSDA|accessdate=2010-04-20}}</ref> The [[Association for Computing Machinery|ACM]] had a professional certification program in the early 1980s,{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} which was discontinued due to lack of interest. The ACM examined the possibility of professional certification of software engineers in the late 1990s, but eventually decided that such certification was inappropriate for the professional industrial practice of software engineering.<ref name="acm2000">{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.wm.edu/~coppit/csci690-spring2004/papers/selep_main.pdf|title=A Summary of the ACM Position on Software Engineering as a Licensed Engineering Profession|last=ACM|date=July 17, 2000|publisher=Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)|accessdate=2009-03-03|quote=At its meeting in May 2000, the Council further concluded that the framework of a licensed professional engineer, originally developed for civil engineers, does not match the professional industrial practice of software engineering. Such licensing practices would give false assurances of competence even if the body of knowledge were mature; and would preclude many of the most qualified software engineers from becoming licensed.}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>
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| In the U.K. the [[British Computer Society]] has developed a legally recognized professional certification called ''Chartered IT Professional (CITP)'', available to fully qualified Members (''MBCS''). Software engineers may be eligible for membership of the [[Institution of Engineering and Technology]] and so qualify for Chartered Engineer status. In Canada the [[Canadian Information Processing Society]] has developed a legally recognized professional certification called ''Information Systems Professional (ISP)''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Canadian Information Processing Society|url=http://www.cips.ca/standards/isp|title=I.S.P. Designation|accessdate=2007-03-15}}</ref> In Ontario, Canada, Software Engineers who graduate from a ''Canadian Engineering Accreditation Board (CEAB)'' accredited program, successfully complete PEO's (''Professional Engineers Ontario'') Professional Practice Examination (PPE) and have at least 48 months of acceptable engineering experience are eligible to be licensed through the ''Professional Engineers Ontario'' and can become Professional Engineers P.Eng.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.peo.on.ca |title=Professional Engineers Ontario: Welcome to PEO's website |publisher=Peo.on.ca |date= |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref> The PEO does not recognize any online or distance education however; and does not consider Computer Science programs to be equivalent to software engineering programs despite the tremendous overlap between the two. This has sparked controversy and a certification war. It has also held the number of P.Eng holders for the profession exceptionally low. The vast majority of working professionals in the field hold a degree in CS, not SE. Given the difficult certification path for holders of non-SE degrees, most never bother to pursue the license.
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| ===Impact of globalization===
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| The initial impact of outsourcing, and the relatively lower cost of international human resources in developing third world countries led to a massive migration of software development activities from corporations in North America and Europe to India and later: China, Russia, and other developing countries. This approach had some flaws, mainly the distance / timezone difference that prevented human interaction between clients and developers and the massive job transfer. This had a negative impact on many aspects of the software engineering profession. For example, some students in the [[developed world]] avoid education related to software engineering because of the fear of [[offshore outsourcing]] (importing software products or services from other countries) and of being displaced by [[Foreign Worker Visa|foreign visa workers]].<ref>{{cite web|first=Patrick|last=Thibodeau |url=http://www.computerworld.com/printthis/2006/0,4814,111202,00.html |title=As outsourcing gathers steam, computer science interest wanes |publisher=Computerworld.com |date=2006-05-05 |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref> Although statistics do not currently show a threat to software engineering itself; a related career, [[computer programming]] does appear to have been affected.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos110.htm#outlook |title=Computer Programmers |publisher=Bls.gov |date= |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Mullins |first=Robert |url=http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/13/HNslowsoftdev_1.html |title=Software developer growth slows in North America|publisher=InfoWorld |date=2007-03-13 |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref> Nevertheless, the ability to smartly leverage offshore and near-shore resources via the [[follow-the-sun]] workflow has improved the overall operational capability of many organizations.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cognizant.com/html/content/news/GartnerMQ_Cognizant.pdf |title=Gartner Magic Quadrant |publisher=Cognizant.com |date= |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref> When North Americans are leaving work, Asians are just arriving to work. When Asians are leaving work, Europeans are arriving to work. This provides a continuous ability to have human oversight on business-critical processes 24 hours per day, without paying overtime compensation or disrupting a key human resource, sleep patterns.
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| While global outsourcing has several advantages, global - and generally distributed - development can run into serious difficulties resulting from the distance between developers. This is due to the key elements of this type of distance which have been identified as Geographical, Temporal, Cultural and Communication (which includes the use of different languages and dialects of English in different locations).<ref>{{cite web|last=Casey |first=Valentine |url=http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs13173-010-0013-3 |title=Virtual software team project management|publisher=Springer |date=20010-08-20 |accessdate=2013-12-06}}</ref> Research has been carried out in the area of global software development over the last 15 years and an extensive body of relevant work published which highlights the benefits and problems associated with the complex activity. As with other aspects of Software Engineering research is ongoing in this and related areas.
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| ==Education==
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| Knowledge of [[computer programming]] is a pre-requisite to becoming a software engineer. In 2004 the [[IEEE Computer Society]] produced the [[SWEBOK]], which has been published as ISO/IEC Technical Report 1979:2004, describing the body of knowledge that they believe should be mastered by a graduate software engineer with four years of experience.<ref>{{cite book | editor1-last = Abran |editor1-first= Alain | title = Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge | publisher = IEEE Computer Society | location = Los Alamitos |year= 2005 | isbn = 0-7695-2330-7 | url= http://www.computer.org/portal/web/swebok |accessdate=2010-09-13|origyear= 2004|chapter= Chapter 1: Introduction to the Guide|chapterurl= http://www.computer.org/portal/web/swebok/html/ch1 |quote= The total volume of cited literature is intended to be suitable for mastery through the completion of an undergraduate education plus four years of experience.}}</ref>
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| Many software engineers enter the profession by obtaining a university degree or training at a vocational school. One standard international curriculum for undergraduate software engineering degrees was defined by the [[CCSE]], and updated in 2004.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sites.computer.org/ccse/ |title=SE2004 Software Engineering Curriculum |publisher=Sites.computer.org |date=2003-09-30 |accessdate=2012-03-25}}</ref> A number of universities have Software Engineering degree programs; {{As of|2010|lc=on}}, there were 244 Campus programs, 70 Online programs, 230 Masters-level programs, 41 Doctorate-level programs, and 69 Certificate-level programs in the United States.<ref>[http://www.gradschools.com/search-programs/software-engineering] Degree programs in Software Engineering</ref>
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| For practitioners who wish to become proficient and recognized as professional software engineers, the [[IEEE]] offers two certifications that extend knowledge above level achieved by an academic degree: ''[[Certified Software Development Associate]]'' and ''[[Certified Software Development Professional]]''.
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| Australian Universities running [[Engineers Australia]] accredited Software Engineering programs include <ref>http://www.engineersaustralia.org.au/about-us/program-accreditation</ref>
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| Adelaide,
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| ANU,
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| Curtin,
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| Flinders,<ref>http://www.flinders.edu.au/science_engineering/csem/disciplines/itse/</ref>
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| Griffith,<ref>http://www.griffith.edu.au/engineering-information-technology/software-engineering</ref>
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| La Trobe,
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| Macquarie,
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| Melbourne,<ref>http://www.eng.unimelb.edu.au/study/undergraduate/software.html</ref>
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| Monash,
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| Murdoch,
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| Newcastle,
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| RMIT,
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| Swinburne,<ref>http://www.swinburne.edu.au/ict/courses/undergrad/bachelor-engineering-software-engineering.html</ref>
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| Sydney,
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| UNSW,
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| USQ,
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| UTS,
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| and UWA.
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| Others institutions run Software Engineering programs that are not accredited by Engineers Australia. Most are accredited by the Australian Computing Society.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.acs.org.au/accreditedcourses-and-jobs/acs-accredited-courses | title=ACS Accredited Courses | publisher=Australian Computer Society | accessdate=8 December 2013}}</ref>
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| In addition to university education, many companies sponsor internships for students wishing to pursue careers in information technology. These internships can introduce the student to interesting real-world tasks that typical software engineers encounter every day. Similar experience can be gained through [[military service]] in software engineering.
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| ==Comparison with other disciplines==
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| Major differences between software engineering and other engineering disciplines, according to some researchers, result from the costs of fabrication.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Young | first1 = Michal | last2 = Faulk | first2 =Stuart | year = 2010 |title= Proceedings of the FSE/SDP workshop on Future of software engineering research (FoSER '10) |format=PDF | accessdate = 2011-02-25 |publisher=ACM| isbn=978-1-4503-0427-6|doi =10.1145/1882362.1882451| pages= 439–442 |chapter= Sharing What We Know About Software Engineering |chapterurl= http://www.ics.uci.edu/~jajones/papers/p439.pdf | quote = The essential distinction between software and other engineered artifacts has always been the absence of fabrication cost. In conventional engineering of physical artifacts, the cost of materials and fabrication has dominated the cost of design and placed a check on the complexity of artifacts that can be designed. When one bottleneck is removed, others appear, and software engineering has therefore faced the essential challenges of complexity and the cost of design to an extent that conventional engineering has not. Software engineering has focused on issues in managing complexity, from process to modular design to cost-effective verification, because that is the primary leverage point when the costs of materials and fabrication are nil.}}</ref>
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| * One major difference between software engineering and other engineering disciplines is that software engineers are not yet able to precisely describe and measure (a) the materials they use and (b) the results of their work, i.e. what a piece of software does. Other disciplines use [[Meter]], [[Volt]] or other units of measurement. In contrast, the measurements available for software like e.g. [[Source lines of code|Lines of Code]], [[Function point]]s or [[Computational complexity theory|Complexity Measures]] only capture the '''amount''' of software created. They do not describe what the software '''actually does'''. This is like describing and measuring a complicated piece of machinery in [[kilograms]] only. So describing and measuring software is a challenge which remains open to this day (2013-12-27).
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| ==Software development process==
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| {{main|Software development process}}
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| A set of activities that leads to the production of a software product is known as software process.<ref name="Sommerville 2008 86">{{harvnb|Sommerville|2008|p=86}}</ref> Although most of the software are custom build, the software engineering market is being gradually shifted towards component based. Computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tools are being used to support the software process activities. However, due to the vast diversity of software processes for different types of products, the effectiveness of CASE tools is limited. There is no ideal approach to software process that has yet been developed. Some fundamental activities, like software specification, design, validation and maintenance are common to all the process activities.<ref name="Sommerville 2008 86"/>
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| ===Models===
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| A [[software process model]] is an abstraction of software process. These are also called [[process paradigm]]s. Various general process models are waterfall model, evolutionary development model and [[component-based software engineering]] model. These are widely used in current software engineering practice. For large systems, these are used together.<ref>{{harvnb|Sommerville|2008|p=87}}</ref>
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| ====Waterfall model====
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| {{main|Waterfall model}}
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| The waterfall model was one of the first published models for the software process. This model divides software processes in various phases. These phases are:<ref name="Sommerville 2008 89">{{harvnb|Sommerville|2008|p=89}}</ref>
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| *Requirements analysis
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| *Software design <ref>*Software Construction</ref>
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| *Unit testing
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| *Component testing
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| *System testing
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| *Maintenance
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| Theoretically the activities should be performed individually but in practice, they often overlap. During the maintenance stage, the software is put into use. During this, additional problems might be discovered and the need of new feature may arise. This may require the software to undergo the previous phases once again.<ref name="Sommerville 2008 89"/>
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| ====Agile model====
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| "Agile Development" is an umbrella term for several iterative and incremental software development methodologies. Some of these methods include:
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| *Extreme Programming (XP)
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| *Scrum
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| *Kanban or Lean
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| *Crystal
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| *Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM)
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| *Feature-Driven Development (FDD)
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| ==Subdisciplines==
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| Software engineering can be divided into ten subdisciplines. They are:<ref name="BoDu04"/>
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| * [[Software requirements]]: The elicitation, analysis, specification, and validation of [[requirements]] for [[software]].
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| * [[Software design]]: The process of defining the architecture, components, interfaces, and other characteristics of a system or component. It is also defined as the result of that process.
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| * [[Software construction]]: The detailed creation of working, meaningful software through a combination of coding, verification, unit testing, integration testing, and debugging.
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| * [[Software testing]]: The dynamic verification of the behavior of a program on a finite set of test cases, suitably selected from the usually infinite executions domain, against the expected behavior.
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| * [[Software maintenance]]: The totality of activities required to provide cost-effective support to software.
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| * [[Software configuration management]]: The identification of the configuration of a system at distinct points in time for the purpose of systematically controlling changes to the configuration, and maintaining the integrity and traceability of the configuration throughout the system life cycle.
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| * Software [[engineering management]]: The application of management activities—planning, coordinating, measuring, monitoring, controlling, and reporting—to ensure that the development and maintenance of software is systematic, disciplined, and quantified.
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| * [[Software engineering process]]: The definition, implementation, assessment, measurement, management, change, and improvement of the software life cycle process itself.
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| * Software engineering tools and methods: The computer-based tools that are intended to assist the software life cycle processes, see [[Computer Aided Software Engineering]], and the methods which impose structure on the software engineering activity with the goal of making the activity systematic and ultimately more likely to be successful.
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| * [[Software quality]]: The degree to which a set of inherent characteristics fulfills requirements.
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| ==Related disciplines==
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| Software engineering is a direct subfield of computer science and has some relations with [[management science]]. It is also considered a part of overall [[systems engineering]].
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| ===Systems engineering===
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| [[Systems engineering|Systems engineers]] deal primarily with the overall system requirements and design, including hardware and human issues.
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| ==See also==
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| {{Portal|Software|Software Testing}}
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| {{Main|Outline of software engineering}}
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| * [[Bachelor of Science in Information Technology]]
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| * [[Bachelor of Software Engineering]]
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| * [[List of software engineering conferences]]
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| * [[List of software engineering publications]]
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| * [[Software craftsmanship]]
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| ==Notes==
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| {{Reflist|30em}}
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| ==References==
| |
| *{{cite book
| |
| |first1=Alain
| |
| |last1=Abran
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| |first2=James W.
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| |last2=Moore
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| |first3=Pierre
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| |last3=Bourque
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| |first4=Robert
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| |last4=Dupuis
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| |first5=Leonard L.
| |
| |last5=Tripp
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| |title=Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge
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| |year=2004
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| |publisher=IEEE
| |
| |isbn=0-7695-2330-7
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| |ref=harv}}
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| *{{cite book
| |
| |last=Sommerville
| |
| |first=Ian
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| |title=Software Engineering
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| |edition=7
| |
| |url=http://books.google.com/books?id=PqsWaBkFh1wC
| |
| |accessdate=10 January 2013
| |
| |year=2008
| |
| |publisher=Pearson Education
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| |isbn=978-81-7758-530-8
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| |ref=harv}}
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| | |
| ==Further reading==
| |
| * {{Cite book|last= Ghezzi|first=Carlo
| |
| | title = Fundamentals of Software Engineering|origyear = 1991
| |
| | edition = 2nd (International) | year = 2003
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| | publisher = Pearson Education @ Prentice-Hall | coauthors = Mehdi Jazayeri, Dino Mandrioli}}
| |
| *{{Cite book|last= Jalote|first=Pankaj|authorlink=Pankaj Jalote
| |
| | title = An Integrated Approach to Software Engineering |origyear = 1991
| |
| | url = http://www.springer.com/east/home?SGWisbn=5-102-22-52090005-0&changeHeader=true
| |
| | edition = 3rd | year = 2005
| |
| | publisher = Springer | location =
| |
| | isbn = 0-387-20881-X }}
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| *{{Cite book|last= Pressman|first=Roger S|authorlink=Roger S. Pressman
| |
| | title = Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Approach |origyear =
| |
| | edition = 6th | year = 2005
| |
| | publisher = McGraw-Hill | location = Boston, Mass
| |
| | isbn = 0-07-285318-2}}
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| *{{Cite book|last= Sommerville|first=Ian|authorlink=Ian Sommerville (academic)
| |
| | title = Software Engineering|origyear = 1982
| |
| | url = http://www.pearsoned.co.uk/HigherEducation/Booksby/Sommerville/
| |
| | edition = 8th | year = 2007
| |
| | publisher = Pearson Education | location = Harlow, England
| |
| | isbn = 0-321-31379-8 }}
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| ==External links==
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| {{Commons category|Software engineering}}
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| {{wikibooks|Introduction to Software Engineering}}
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| * [http://www.swebok.org/ Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge]
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| * [http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos267.htm Computer Software Engineers] - Definition and statistics from the U.S. [[Bureau of Labor Statistics]]
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| * [http://StudentProjectGuide.info/ A Student's Guide to Software Engineering Projects] - a free online guide for students taking SE project courses
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| * [http://OpenSDLC.org/ The Open Systems Engineering and Software Development Life Cycle Framework] OpenSDLC.org the integrated Creative Commons SDLC
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| * [http://www.slideshare.net/amohanty01/software-engineering-14515160 Function Oriented vs Object Oriented Software Engineering]
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| {{Software engineering}}
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| {{Engineering fields}}
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| {{Computer science}}
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| {{Technology}}
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| {{DEFAULTSORT:Software Engineering}}
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| [[Category:Software engineering| ]]
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| [[Category:Engineering disciplines]]
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