Introduction to Software

Engineering
Software is a program or set of programs containing instructions
that provide the desired functionality. Engineering is the process
of designing and building something that serves a particular
purpose and finds a cost-effective solution to problems.

Table of Content

What is Software Engineering?

Key Principles of Software Engineering
Main Attributes of Software Engineering
Dual Role of Software
Objectives of Software Engineering
What Careers Are There in Software Engineering?
What Tasks do Software Engineers do?
How Much do Software Engineers Make?
What Skills do Software Engineers Need?
Program vs Software Product
Advantages of Software Engineering
Disadvantages of Software Engineering
Questions For Practice
Conclusion
FAQs on Software Engineering

What is Software Engineering?

Software Engineering is the process of designing, developing,
testing, and maintaining software. It is a systematic and
disciplined approach to software development that aims to create
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 high-quality, reliable, and maintainable software.

1. Software engineering includes a variety of techniques, tools,

and methodologies, including requirements analysis, design,
testing, and maintenance.
2. It is a rapidly evolving field, and new tools and technologies
are constantly being developed to improve the software
development process.
3. By following the principles of software engineering and using
the appropriate tools and methodologies, software
developers can create high-quality, reliable, and maintainable
software that meets the needs of its users.
4. Software Engineering is mainly used for large projects based
on software systems rather than single programs or
applications.
5. The main goal of Software Engineering is to develop software
applications for improving quality, budget, and time
efficiency.
6. Software Engineering ensures that the software that has to
be built should be consistent, correct, also on budget, on
time, and within the required requirements.

Key Principles of Software Engineering

1. Modularity: Breaking the software into smaller, reusable
components that can be developed and tested
independently.
2. Abstraction: Hiding the implementation details of a
component and exposing only the necessary functionality to
other parts of the software.
3. Encapsulation: Wrapping up the data and functions of an
object into a single unit, and protecting the internal state of
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 an object from external modifications.
4. Reusability: Creating components that can be used in
multiple projects, which can save time and resources.
5. Maintenance: Regularly updating and improving the
software to fix bugs, add new features, and address security
vulnerabilities.
6. Testing: Verifying that the software meets its requirements
and is free of bugs.
7. Design Patterns: Solving recurring problems in software
design by providing templates for solving them.
8. Agile methodologies: Using iterative and incremental
development processes that focus on customer satisfaction,
rapid delivery, and flexibility.
9. Continuous Integration & Deployment: Continuously
integrating the code changes and deploying them into the
production environment.

Main Attributes of Software Engineering

Software Engineering is a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable
study and approach to the design, development, operation, and
maintenance of a software system. There are four main Attributes
of Software Engineering.

1. Efficiency: It provides a measure of the resource

requirement of a software product efficiently.
2. Reliability: It assures that the product will deliver the same
results when used in similar working environment.
3. Reusability: This attribute makes sure that the module can
be used in multiple applications.
4. Maintainability: It is the ability of the software to be
modified, repaired, or enhanced easily with changing
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 requirements.

Dual Role of Software

There is a dual role of software in the industry. The first one is as a
product and the other one is as a vehicle for delivering the
product. We will discuss both of them.

1. As a Product

It delivers computing potential across networks of Hardware.

It enables the Hardware to deliver the expected functionality.
It acts as an information transformer because it produces,
manages, acquires, modifies, displays, or transmits
information.

2. As a Vehicle for Delivering a Product

It provides system functionality (e.g., payroll system).

It controls other software (e.g., an operating system).
It helps build other software (e.g., software tools).

Objectives of Software Engineering

1. Maintainability: It should be feasible for the software to
evolve to meet changing requirements.
2. Efficiency: The software should not make wasteful use of
computing devices such as memory, processor cycles, etc.
3. Correctness: A software product is correct if the different
requirements specified in the SRS Document have been
correctly implemented.
4. Reusability: A software product has good reusability if the
different modules of the product can easily be reused to
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 develop new products.
5. Testability: Here software facilitates both the establishment
of test criteria and the evaluation of the software concerning
those criteria.
6. Reliability: It is an attribute of software quality. The extent to
which a program can be expected to perform its desired
function, over an arbitrary time period.
7. Portability: In this case, the software can be transferred
from one computer system or environment to another.
8. Adaptability: In this case, the software allows differing
system constraints and the user needs to be satisfied by
making changes to the software.
9. Interoperability: Capability of 2 or more functional units to
process data cooperatively.

What Careers Are There in Software

Engineering?
A degree in software engineering and relevant experience can be
utilized to explore several computing job choices. Software
engineers have the opportunity to seek well-paying careers and
professional progress, although their exact possibilities may vary
depending on their particular school, industry, and region.

Following are the job choices in software engineering:

SWE (Software Engineer)

SDE ( Software Development Engineer)
Web Developer
Quality Assurance Engineer
Web Designer
Software Test Engineer
Cloud Engineer ·
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 Front-End Developer
Back-End Developer
DevOps Engineer.
Security Engineer.

What Tasks do Software Engineers do?

The main responsibility of a software engineer is to develop useful
computer programs and applications. Working in teams, you
would complete various projects and develop solutions to satisfy
certain customer or corporate demands.

Some of the key responsibilities of software engineer are:

Requirement Analysis: Collaborating with stakeholders to

understand and gather the requirements to design and
develop software solutions.
Design and Development: Creating well-structured,
maintainable code that meets the functional requirements
and adheres to software design principles.
Testing and Debugging: Writing and conducting unit tests,
integration tests, and debugging code to ensure software is
reliable and bug-free.
Code Review: Participating in code reviews to improve code
quality, ensure adherence to standards, and facilitate
knowledge sharing among team members.
Maintenance: Updating and maintaining existing software
systems, fixing bugs, and improving performance or adding
new features.
Documentation: Writing clear documentation, including
code comments, API documentation, and design documents
to help other engineers and future developers understand the
system.
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 How Much do Software Engineers Make?
The majority of software developers globally make less than
$50,000 annually on average. This covers not only junior
developers but also some senior ones based on where they work
and for what company. However, it is more likely that a mid-level
or senior software engineer makes between $50,000 and
$120,000 per year.

Salaries for Careers with a Software Engineering Degree:

Average Average Average Average

Role Salary in Salary in Salary in Salary in
USA Australia India Germany
Software
$124,200 €67,260 ₹9,00,000 €56,787
Engineering
Backend
$157,602 €72,354 ₹9,61,589 €60,100
Dev
Frontend
$113,249 €69,173 ₹6,50,000 €49,380
Dev
Full Stack
$123,809 €72,286 ₹ 9,20,000 €51,074
Dev
Java Dev $92,565 €70,958 ₹7,36,651 €50,635
Python Dev $123,663 €84,296 ₹5,50,000 €55,235

What Skills do Software Engineers Need?

To achieve success, software engineers require a unique set of
technical and soft skills. These skills include computer
programming knowledge for designing, developing, testing, and
debugging software, as well as soft skills for interacting with
stakeholders, team members, and company leadership.

Following are some must have technical skills to become

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 Software Engineers:

Coding and computer programming

Software testing
Object-oriented design (OOD)
Software development

Following are some must have soft skills to become Software

Engineers:

Communication skills
Team player
Problem solving
Attention to detail

Program vs Software Product

Parameters Program Software Product
Software is when a program is
A program is a
made available for commercial
set of
business and is properly
instructions that
documented along with its
Definition are given to a
licensing.
computer in
order to achieve
Software Product = Program +
a specific task.
Documentation + Licensing.
Software Development usually
Program is one
follows a life cycle, which involves
of the stages
Stages the feasibility study of the project,
involved in the
Involved requirement gathering,
development of
development of a prototype,
the software.
system design, coding, and testing.

Advantages of Software Engineering

There are several advantages to using a systematic and
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 disciplined approach to software development, such as:

1. Improved Quality: By following established software

engineering principles and techniques, the software can be
developed with fewer bugs and higher reliability.
2. Increased Productivity: Using modern tools and
methodologies can streamline the development process,
allowing developers to be more productive and complete
projects faster.
3. Better Maintainability: Software that is designed and
developed using sound software engineering practices is
easier to maintain and update over time.
4. Reduced Costs: By identifying and addressing potential
problems early in the development process, software
engineering can help to reduce the cost of fixing bugs and
adding new features later on.
5. Increased Customer Satisfaction: By involving customers
in the development process and developing software that
meets their needs, software engineering can help to increase
customer satisfaction.
6. Better Team Collaboration: By using Agile methodologies
and continuous integration, software engineering allows for
better collaboration among development teams.
7. Better Scalability: By designing software with scalability in
mind, software engineering can help to ensure that software
can handle an increasing number of users and transactions.
8. Better Security: By following the Software Development
Life Cycle (SDLC) and performing security testing, software
engineering can help to prevent security breaches and
protect sensitive data.

In summary, software engineering offers a structured and

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 efficient approach to software development, which can lead to
higher-quality software that is easier to maintain and adapt to
changing requirements. This can help to improve customer
satisfaction and reduce costs, while also promoting better
collaboration among development teams.

Disadvantages of Software Engineering

While Software Engineering offers many advantages, there are
also some potential disadvantages to consider:

1. High upfront costs: Implementing a systematic and

disciplined approach to software development can be
resource-intensive and require a significant investment in
tools and training.
2. Limited flexibility: Following established software
engineering principles and methodologies can be rigid and
may limit the ability to quickly adapt to changing
requirements.
3. Bureaucratic: Software Engineering can create an
environment that is bureaucratic, with a lot of processes and
paperwork, which may slow down the development process.
4. Complexity: With the increase in the number of tools and
methodologies, software engineering can be complex and
difficult to navigate.
5. Limited creativity: The focus on structure and process can
stifle creativity and innovation among developers.
6. High learning curve: The development process can be
complex, and it requires a lot of learning and training, which
can be challenging for new developers.
7. High dependence on tools: Software engineering heavily
depends on the tools, and if the tools are not properly
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 configured or are not compatible with the software, it can
cause issues.
8. High maintenance: The software engineering process
requires regular maintenance to ensure that the software is
running efficiently, which can be costly and time-consuming.

Conclusion:
In summary, software engineering can be expensive and time-
consuming, and it may limit flexibility and creativity. However, the
benefits of improved quality, increased productivity, and better
maintainability can outweigh the costs and complexity. It’s
important to weigh the pros and cons of using software
engineering and determine if it is the right approach for a
particular software project.

Questions For Practice

1. A software configuration management tool
helps in:

(A) keeping track of the schedule based on the milestone

reached

(B) maintaining different versions of the configurable items

(C) managing manpower distribution by changing the project

structure

(D) all of the above

Solution: Correct Answer is (B).

2. Which of the following statements is/are true?

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 P: Software Reengineering is preferable for software products
having high failure rates, poor design, and/or poor code structure.

Q: Software Reverse Engineering is the process of analyzing

software with the objective of recovering its design and
requirement specification.

(A) P only

(B) Neither P nor Q

(C) Q only

(D) Both P and Q

Solution: Correct Answer is (D).

3. The diagram that helps in understanding and

representing user requirements for a software
project using UML (Unified Modeling Language)
is:

(A) Entity Relationship Diagram

(B) Deployment Diagram

(C) Data Flow Diagram

(D) Use Case Diagram

Solution: Correct Answer is (D).

Conclusion
Software engineering is a key field that involves creating and
maintaining software. It combines technical skills, creativity, and
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 problem-solving. As technology advances, the need for software
engineers increases, making it a great career choice. Whether
you’re new to the field or want to learn more, understanding
software engineering is crucial. Keep exploring, learning, and
enjoying the challenges and opportunities this field offers.

FAQs on Software Engineering

What is Software Re-Engineering?

Ans: Software Re-Engineering is basically a process of

software development that helps in maintaining the quality of
the system.

2. State some Software Development Life Cycle

Models?

Ans: Some of the Software Development Life Cycle Models

are mentioned below.

Waterfall Model
Big-Bang Model
Spiral Model
Iterative Model
V-Model

3. What is Verification and Validation in Software

Engineering?

Ans: Verification refers to the set of activities or functions

that checks whether software has implemented the correct
function or not.
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 Validation refers to set of activities that ensures that the
software is built as per the requirement of the client.

For more, refer to Verification and Validation in Software

Engineering.

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