software engineering

Software Engineering (SE) is a profession dedicated to designing, implementing, and modifying software so that it is of high quality, affordable, maintainable, and fast to build. It is a "systematic approach to the analysis, design, assessment, implementation, test, maintenance and reengineering of software, that is, the application of engineering to software." [1] The term software engineering first appeared in the 1968 NATO Software Engineering Conference, and was meant to provoke thought regarding the perceived "software crisis" at the time.[2][3] The IEEE Computer Society's Software Engineering Body of Knowledge defines "software engineering" as the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software, and the study of these approaches; that is, the application of engineering to software.[4] It is the application of Engineering to software because it integrates significant mathematics, computer science and practices whose origins are in Engineering.[5]

Software development, a much used and more generic term, does not necessarily subsume the engineering paradigm. Although it is questionable what impact it has had on actual software development over the last more than 40 years,[6][7] 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.[8]
Contents
[hide]

    1 History
    2 Profession
        2.1 Employment
        2.2 Certification
        2.3 Impact of globalization
    3 Education
    4 Comparison with other disciplines
    5 Sub-disciplines
    6 Related disciplines
        6.1 Systems engineering
        6.2 Computer Software Engineers
    7 See also
    8 References
    9 Further reading
Main article: History of software engineering

When the first modern digital computers appeared in the early 1940s,[9] 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 first division between "hardware" and "software" began with abstraction being used to deal with the complexity of computing.

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. E.W. Dijkstra wrote his seminal paper, "Go To Statement Considered Harmful",[10] in 1968 and David Parnas introduced the key concept of modularity and information hiding in 1972[11] to help programmers deal with the ever increasing complexity of software systems. A software system for managing the hardware called an operating system was also introduced, most notably by Unix in 1969. In 1967, the Simula language introduced the object-oriented programming paradigm.

These advances in software were met with more advances in computer hardware. In the mid 1970s, the microcomputer was introduced, making it economical for hobbyists to obtain a computer and write software for it. This in turn led to the now famous Personal Computer (PC) and Microsoft Windows. The Software Development Life Cycle or SDLC was also starting to appear as a consensus for centralized construction of software in the mid 1980s. The late 1970s and early 1980s saw the introduction of several new Simula-inspired object-oriented programming languages, including Smalltalk, Objective-C, and C++.

Open-source software started to appear in the early 90s in the form of Linux and other software introducing the "bazaar" or decentralized style of constructing software.[12] Then the World Wide Web and the popularization of the Internet hit in the mid 90s, changing the engineering of software once again. Distributed systems gained sway as a way to design systems, and the Java programming language was introduced with its own virtual machine as another step in abstraction. Programmers collaborated and wrote the Agile Manifesto, which favored more lightweight processes to create cheaper and more timely software.

The current definition of software engineering is still being debated by practitioners today as they struggle to come up with ways to produce software that is "cheaper, better, faster". Cost reduction has been a primary focus of the IT industry since the 1990s. Total cost of ownership represents the costs of more than just acquisition. It includes things like productivity impediments, upkeep efforts, and resources needed to support infrastructure.
[edit] Profession
Main article: Software engineer

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 Engineers (CEng), while in some areas of Canada, such as Alberta, Ontario,[13] and Quebec, software engineers can hold the Professional Engineer (P.Eng)designation and/or the Information Systems Professional (I.S.P.) designation; however, there is no legal requirement to have these qualifications.

The IEEE Computer Society and the ACM, the two main 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. The IEEE also promulgates a "Software Engineering Code of Ethics".[14]
[edit] Employment

In 2004, the U. S. Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 760,840 software engineers holding jobs in the 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.[15] 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.[16]

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 freelancers. 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 (analysts, architects, developers, testers, technical support, middleware analysts, managers) and in academia (educators, researchers).

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.[17]
[edit] Certification

The Software Engineering Institute offers certifications on specific topics like Security, Process improvement and Software architecture.[18] Apple, IBM, Microsoft and other companies also sponsor their own certification examinations. Many IT certification programs are oriented toward specific technologies, and managed by the vendors of these technologies.[19] These certification programs are tailored to the institutions that would employ people who use these technologies.

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).[20] In 2008 they added an entry-level certification known as the Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA).[21] 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). In Canada the Canadian Information Processing Society has developed a legally recognized professional certification called Information Systems Professional (ISP).[22] The ACM had a professional certification program in the early 1980s,[citation needed] 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.[23]
[edit] Impact of globalization

The initial impact of outsourcing, and the relatively lower cost of international human resources in developing third world countries led to the dot com bubble burst of the 1990s. 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 visa workers.[24] Although statistics do not currently show a threat to software engineering itself; a related career, computer programming does appear to have been affected.[25][26] 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.[27] 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 key human resource sleep patterns.
[edit] Education

A knowledge of 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 19759:2004, describing the body of knowledge that they believe should be mastered by a graduate software engineer with four years of experience.[28] 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.[29] A number of universities have Software Engineering degree programs; as of 2010, 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.[30]

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.
[edit] Comparison with other disciplines

Major differences between software engineering and other engineering disciplines, according to some researchers, result from the costs of fabrication.[31]
[edit] Sub-disciplines

Software engineering can be divided into ten subdisciplines. They are:[4]

    Software requirements: The elicitation, analysis, specification, and validation of requirements for software.
    Software architecture: The elicitation, analysis, specification, definition and design, and validation and control of software architecture requirements.
    Software design: The design of software is usually done with Computer-Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools and use standards for the format, such as the Unified Modeling Language (UML).
    Software development: The construction of software through the use of programming languages.
    Software testing
    Software maintenance: Software systems often have problems and need enhancements for a long time after they are first completed. This subfield deals with those problems.
    Software configuration management: Since software systems are very complex, their configuration (such as versioning and source control) have to be managed in a standardized and structured method.
    Software engineering management: The management of software systems borrows heavily from project management, but there are nuances encountered in software not seen in other management disciplines.
    Software development process: The process of building software is hotly debated among practitioners; some of the better-known process models are the Waterfall Model, the Spiral Model, Iterative and Incremental Development, and Agile Development.
    Software engineering tools, see Computer Aided Software Engineering
    Software quality
    Formal Methods
    Program synthesis

[edit] Related disciplines

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.
[edit] Systems engineering

Systems engineers deal primarily with the overall system design, specifically dealing more with physical aspects which include hardware design. Those who choose to specialize in computer hardware engineering may have some training in software engineering.
[edit] Computer Software Engineers

Computer Software Engineers are usually systems level (software engineering, information systems) computer science or software level computer engineering graduates. This term also includes general computer science graduates with a few years of practical on the job experience involving software engineering.
[edit] See also
Main article: Outline of software engineering

    Software Craftsmanship
    List of basic software engineering topics
    List of software engineering conferences
    List of software engineering publications
    List of software engineering topics
    Bachelor of Software Engineering
    Bachelor of Science in Information Technology

   
    Software portal
    Software Testing portal
[edit] References

    ^ Laplante, Phillip (2007). What Every Engineer Should Know about Software Engineering. Boca Raton: CRC. ISBN 9780849372285. Retrieved 2011-01-21.
    ^ Peter, Naur; Brian Randell (7–11 October 1968). "Software engineering: Report of a conference sponsored by the NATO Science Committee" (PDF). Garmisch, Germany: Scientific Affairs Division, NATO. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
    ^ Randell, Brian (10 August 2001). "The 1968/69 NATO Software Engineering Reports". Brian Randell's University Homepage. The School of the Computer Sciences, Newcastle University. Retrieved 2008-10-11. "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 Fritz Bauer."
    ^ a b SWEBOK executive editors, Alain Abran, James W. Moore ; editors, Pierre Bourque, Robert Dupuis. (2004). Pierre Bourque and Robert Dupuis. ed. Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge - 2004 Version. IEEE Computer Society. pp. 1–1. ISBN 0-7695-2330-7.
    ^ ACM (2006). "Computing Degrees & Careers". ACM. Retrieved 2010-11-23.
    ^ The end of software engineering and the start of economic-cooperative gaming
    ^ 35 years on: to what extent has software engineering design achieved its goals?
    ^ Kalwarski, Tara; Daphne Mosher, Janet Paskin and Donna Rosato (2006). "Best Jobs in America". MONEY Magazine. CNN. Retrieved 2006-04-20.
    ^ Leondes (2002). intelligent systems: technology and applications. CRC Press. ISBN 9780849311215.
    ^ Dijkstra, E. W. (March 1968). "Go To Statement Considered Harmful". Communications of the ACM 11 (3): 147–148. doi:10.1145/362929.362947. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
    ^ Parnas, David (December 1972). "On the Criteria To Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules". Communications of the ACM 15 (12): 1053–1058. doi:10.1145/361598.361623. Retrieved 2008-12-26.
    ^ Raymond, Eric S. The Cathedral and the Bazaar. ed 3.0. 2000.
    ^ Williams, N.S.W. (19–21 February 2001). "Professional Engineers Ontario's approach to licensing software engineering practitioners". Software Engineering Education and Training, 2001 Proceedings. 14th Conference on. Charlotte, NC: IEEE. pp. 77–78.
    ^ Software Engineering Code of Ethics
    ^ Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, USDL 05-2145: Occupational Employment and Wages, November 2004, Table 1.
    ^ "Software Engineering". Retrieved 2008-02-01.
    ^ "Computer Software Engineers and Computer Programmers". Retrieved 2009-12-17.
    ^ SEI certification page
    ^ Wyrostek, Warren (March 14, 2008). "The Top 10 Problems with IT Certification in 2008". InformIT. Retrieved 2009-03-03.
    ^ IEEE Computer Society. "2006 IEEE computer society report to the IFIP General Assembly" (PDF). Retrieved 2007-04-10.
    ^ IEEE. "CSDA". Retrieved 2010-04-20.
    ^ Canadian Information Processing Society. "I.S.P. Designation". Retrieved 2007-03-15.
    ^ ACM (July 17, 2000). "A Summary of the ACM Position on Software Engineering as a Licensed Engineering Profession". Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). Retrieved 2009-03-03. "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]
    ^ As outsourcing gathers steam, computer science interest wanes
    ^ Computer Programmers
    ^ Software developer growth slows in North America | InfoWorld | News | 2007-03-13 | By Robert Mullins, IDG News Service
    ^ Gartner Magic Quadrant
    ^ Abran, Alain, ed (2005) [2004]. "Chapter 1: Introduction to the Guide". Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge. Los Alamitos: IEEE Computer Society. ISBN 0769523307. Retrieved 2010-09-13. "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."
    ^ SE2004 Software Engineering Curriculum
    ^ [1] Degree programs in Software Engineering
    ^ Young, Michal; Faulk, Stuart (2010). "Sharing What We Know About Software Engineering" (pdf). Proceedings of the FSE/SDP workshop on Future of software engineering research (FoSER '10). ACM. pp. 439–442. doi:10.1145/1882362.1882451. ISBN 978-1-4503-0427-6. Retrieved 2011-02-25. "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.

scope of bachelor in information technology

The constant evolution of information technology equals excellent job prospects for students; in fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a predicted 23 percent increase in jobs between 2008 and 2018 for workers in computer network, systems and database administration and analyzation. A bachelor's degree in information technology qualifies workers for one of several IT jobs, each with an average salary that varies depending on industry and location.
Average Salary
Companies require network and computer systems administrators to install and support local networks and systems that provide them with access to information technology, a job that requires a bachelor's degree in areas such as information technology. The average salary of these administrators was $70,930 as of May 2009, according to the bureau. Other information technology workers with a bachelor's degree may find work as a database administrator, testing and implementing changes to databases for the average income of $74,290 a year. These systems and networks are designed and tested by network systems and data communications analysts, who earned an average salary of $76,560 as of 2009.
Industry
The industry with the highest levels of employment for workers with a bachelor's of information technology was computer systems design as of 2009, reports the bureau. Network administrators earned an average of $75,280 in this industry, while database administrators earned an average of $81,250 and systems analysts earned an average of $78,580. The management of companies and enterprises employed both network and database administrators for salary averages of $72,280 and $77,770 respectively, and systems analysts worked for wired telecommunications carriers for the average salary of $78,810 a year.
LocationBoth systems analysts and network administrators earned the highest wages living in New Jersey, a state that offered respective salary averages of $90,120 and $81,160 a year. Network admins living in Maryland earned the second-highest salary average for their profession at $80,100, while California ranked second for systems analysts with a salary average of $85,190. Database administrators earned the highest wages in Maryland with a salary average of $84,300, followed by Delaware with an average of $83,560.
AdvancementThe bureau reports that, particularly for administrator positions, some employers prefer workers with a master's degree in business administration with a concentration in information technology. Analysts and administrators may have the opportunity to advance into such roles as chief technology officer, depending on their company. Other options include moving into higher paying industries, such as computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing, which offered network administrators an average salary of $89,840 as of 2009, or rail transportation, which offered systems analysts an average salary of $98,750, according to the bureau.

Read more: The Average Salary of a Bachelor's of Information Technology | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8534195_average-salary-bachelors-information-technology.html#ixzz1RzTiPdOy

payscale of different fields of information technology

Computer Systems Analysts
One position in information technology is the computer systems analysts. Essentially, this person analyzes data processing efficiency and issues with user requirements and company procedures in mind says the Bureau of Labor Statistics. As of May 2009, the Occupational Employment Statistics lists the mean or average salary of computer systems analysts as $38.67 hourly or an annual $80,430. The 50th percentile of computer systems analysts that year made $77,080 annually.
Computer Programmers
Computer programmers are the builders of the information technology field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics says they take the procedures and requirements of the company to create a logical set of parameters written into various computer codes to create usable programs for documents, databases and other information retrieval and storage. As of May 2009, computer programmers earned a mean wage or average salary of $35.91 an hour, which equates to $74,690 per year.
Database AdministratorsFor every company that keeps a database for inventory or product specifications, a database administrator probably oversees its maintenance and security measures. They use a specialized knowledge of database management systems to test and improve database efficiency and security as necessary according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The Occupational Employment Statistics says database administrators took home an average of $35.72 per hour or $74,290 per year in May 2009.
Computer Systems Software Engineers
Computer systems software engineers are similar to computer programmers in that they use coding to create and repair programs, but software engineers perform this on only the software a company uses without altering the hardware itself. Computer systems software engineers averaged $46.45 an hour, equaling $96,620 per year, in May 2009 as listed by the Occupational Employment Statistics website. The median or 50th percentile made a reported $93,470 per year or $44.94 an hour.
Computer and Information Systems Managers
Computer and information systems managers do not specialize in any single aspect of computer and information management. In smaller companies, the computer or information systems manager is likely to perform the tasks listed in the previous positions on their own or as part of a small team. The Occupational Employment Statistics list their average salary as $58.00 hourly or $120,640 per year in May 2009 with the median or 50th percentile at $54.67 an hour or $113,720 a year.

Read more: The Average Salary in Computer Information Technology | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_7910252_average-salary-computer-information-technology.html#ixzz1RzS2P2d9

Information technology and it's scope

Many companies are attempting to run their IT organizations like a business. They are viewing internal business units as “customers” who require maximum value from their IT investments, rapid response to their needs, consistent service levels, and full visibility into technology costs. In particular, senior executives are demanding this cost visibility to exercise appropriate financial controls and more accurately benchmark service costs.
To adopt this strategy, organizations must understand the business—including visibility into the defined or documented service offerings and business processes the IT organization delivers to the organization.
It is here the IT service lifecycle (ITSL) can help. It can serve as a framework to help define, publish, and improve service offerings by redefining an IT service in the context of a dynamic business environment. The ITSL includes eight essential elements:
1. Definition- Service definition is the most important element of the ITSL. The definition of a service begins by documenting the intended business goals, policies, and procedures. These include the desired functional requirements, such as the need to produce a service report or generate an invoice. Non-functional requirements such as service availability, performance, accuracy, and security, also must also be considered.
Services need to be described in a meaningful way to the user. For example, “300 Gb Ultra SCSI hard drive in RAID 5 array,” could easily be described as “secure data storage” to non-technical staff.
2. Publication- Once defined, the definition is published in a service catalog. The goal of the service catalog is to create a vehicle that enables users to proactively select the IT services that best suit their needs.
Many companies publish several service catalogs created by various internal groups. This can be confusing to users who need to be aware of multiple locations to make requests. The trend is to create and publish a single common user interface containing a central repository of all IT service offerings, regardless of the internal or external service provider.
3. Request Model - A service provider interacts with end users or business units through the end-user request model or the subscription model.
The end-user request model enables the user to select services from a published catalog. The goal is to automate those human steps necessary to deliver the service to the end user, including required and often time-consuming “hand offs” such as multi-departmental reviews and approvals.
The subscription model automatically delivers a standard set of services according to a pre-arranged service level agreement (SLA). For example, when creating an email account for a new employee, a specific request is made to subscribe to this service on behalf of the employee.
These two interaction mechanisms can be employed separately or together. For example, a user-facing catalog may contain a service called “add new hire", which in turn enables the delivery of a continuous email subscription.
4. Provisioning - IT service provisioning enables the automated delivery of services selected from a catalog, such as setting up an email account, software installation, or providing access to a specific application.

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