List of software engineering topics |
This list complements the software engineering article, giving more details and examples.
For an alphabetical listing of topics, please see List of software engineering topics (alphabetical).
=Influence on society=
Software engineers affect society by creating applications. These applications produce value for users, and sometimes produce disasters.
==Applications==
Software engineers build Application software that people use.
Applications influence software engineering by pressuring developers to solve problems in new ways. For example, consumer software emphasizes low cost, medical software emphasizes high quality, and Internet commerce software emphasizes rapid development. *Business software **Accounting software *Analytics **Data mining closely related to Database **Knowledge management *Airline reservations *Banking **Automatic Teller Machines **Cheque processing **Credit cards *Commerce **Trade **Auctions (EBay) **Reverse auctions **Bar code scanners *Compilers **Parsers **Compiler optimization **Interpreter (computing)s **Linkers **Loader (computing)s *Communication **Email **Instant messaging **VOIP **Calendars - scheduling and coordinating **Contact managers *Computer graphics **Animation **Special effects for video and film **Editing **Post-processing *Cryptography *Databases, support almost every field *Embedded systems Both software engineers and traditional engineers write software control systems for embedded products. **Automotive software **Avionics software **HVAC software **Medical software **Telephony **Telemetry *Engineering All traditional engineering branches use software extensively. Engineers use spreadsheets, more than they ever used calculators. Engineers use custom software tools to design, analyze, and simulate their own projects, like bridges and power lines. These projects resemble software in many respects, because the work exists as electronic documents and goes through analysis, design, implementation, and testing phases. Software tools for engineers use the tenets of computer science; as well as the tenets of calculus, physics, and chemistry. **CAD **Electronic Design Automation **Numerical Analysis **Simulation *Computer file **FTP **File sharing *Finance **Bond market **Futures market **Stock market *Games **Poker **Multiuser Dungeons **Video games *Information systems, support almost every field **LIS Management of laboratory data **MIS Management of financial and personnel data *Logistics **Supply chain management *Manufacturing **Computer-aided manufacturing **DCS *Music **Music sequencers **Sound effects **Music synthesis *Networks and Internet **Domain Name System **Protocol (computing) **Routers *Office suites **Word processors **Spreadsheets **Presentation program *Operating systems **Embedded system **Graphical user interface **Computer_multitasking **Real-time operating system *Robotics *Signal analysis **Image processing, encoding and interpreting visual information **Signal processing, encoding and interpreting signals **Speech processing **Optical character recognition **Handwriting recognition *Computer simulation, supports almost every field. **Engineering, A software simulation can be cheaper to build and more flexible to change than a physical engineering model. **Sciences *Sciences **Genomics *Traffic Control **Air traffic control **Ship traffic control **Automotive traffic control *Training **Drill **Simulation **Testing *Visualization, supports almost every field **Architecture **Engineering **Sciences *Electronic voting *World wide web **Web browser **Web server
==Disasters==
Software has played a role in many high-profile disasters.
*Ariane 5 Flight 501 *Mars probes *Denver International Airport *TAURUS (software) - UK share settlement system and dematerialised central share depository. *Therac-25 - A radiation therapy machine responsible for six overdoses due to faulty software. *Airbus A320 - The Airbus A320, while a highly safe and successful aircraft, was highly controversial in software engineering circles, being the first civilian Fly-by-wire aircraft. In the Airbus flight control systems, the computer has the final say on all decisions, meaning the safety of passengers depends upon the accuracy of the software specification, and the competence of the engineering teams producing the (multiple, independent) software stacks. Other than the crash of the original plane (in which a demonstration of stability outside the envelope went awry) whose cause is still not fully known, the sole crash which has been attributed to software was the Strasbourg A320 crash of Jan 21, 1992. In this crash which killed 87 people, the pilots had the flat panel display in the wrong mode. It is believed that the pilots had a console in flight path angle mode, instead of vertical speed entry. On entering a vertical speed, the aircraft descended into the mountains, without issuing any kind of warning. This accident shows a fundamental problem of software engineering: even if you implement the specification perfectly, an error in the specification (here, what constitutes an effective user interface), can still be lethal. It also shows another problem with computer controlled vehicles: there is vested interest by the manufacturers to attribute responsibility to the (often deceased) flight crew/drivers, rather than in the design of the vehicle.
=Technologies and practices=
Skilled software engineers use technologies and practices from a variety of fields to improve their productivity in creating software and to improve the quality of the delivered product.
==Software engineering topics==
Many technologies and practices are (mostly) unique to software engineering, though many of these are shared with computer science.
===Programming languages===
*List of programming languages *Scripting *Ada programming language *COBOL *C programming language *C plus plus *C sharp *Fortran *Java programming language *Perl *PHP *Python programming language *Tcl *Visual Basic
===Programming paradigm, based on a programming language technology===
*Aspect-oriented programming *Functional decomposition *Object-oriented programming *Post-object programming *Structured programming
===Databases===
*Hierarchical database *Object database *Relational database *SQL/XML *Structured Query Language
===Graphical user interfaces===
*Qt toolkit *GTK toolkit
===Programming tools===
*Configuration management and source code management **Concurrent Versions System **Subversion (software) **Revision Control System **Arch_Revision_Control_System *Build tools **Make **Apache Ant *Editors **Integrated development environments **text editors **word processors
===Library (computer science)===
*Software componentry
===Design languages===
*Unified_Modeling_Language
===Patterns, document many common programming and project management techniques===
*Anti-patterns *Design pattern (computer science)
===Software development process and Methodology (software engineering)===
*Agile **Agile software development **Crystal **Extreme programming **Lean manufacturing **Scrum (in management) *Heavyweight **Cleanroom **ISO 12207 — software life cycle processes **ISO 9000 and ISO 9001 **Rational Unified Process *Process evaluation frameworks **CMM and CMMI **ISO 15504 (SPICE)
===System platforms===
A platform combines computer hardware and an operating system. As platforms become more powerful and less expensive, applications and tools become more widely available. *BREW *Cray supercomputers *Digital Equipment Corporation minicomputers *IBM mainframes *Linux Personal computer *Mac OS and Mac OS X Personal computer *Microsoft .NET network software platform *Palm OS Personal Digital Assistant *Sun Microsystems Solaris_Operating_Environment *Microsoft Windows Personal computer (Wintel)
===Other Practices===
*Communication *Pair programming *Refactoring *Software inspections/Code reviews *Software reusability *Systems integration *Teamwork
===Other tools===
*Decision table *Features *Story *Use cases
==Computer science topics==
Skilled software engineers know a lot of computer science including what is possible and impossible, and what is easy and hard for software. *Algorithms, well-defined methods for solving specific problems. **Search algorithm **Sorting **Parsing **Numerical analysis
==Mathematics topics==
Discrete mathematics is a key foundation of software engineering. *Number representation *Sets *Multisets *Graphs **Sequences **Trees **Graphs *Logic **Deduction **First-order logic **Higher-order logic **Combinatory logic *Mathematical induction *Combinatorics
Other *Domain knowledge *Statistics *Decision theory *Type theory
==Life cycle phases==
*Software engineering life cycle phase **Requirements engineering **Software architecture **Computer programming **Software testing, detects computer bug ***Black box testing ***White box testing ***Clear box testing **Quality assurance, ensures compliance with process. *Product (project management) Life cycle phase and Project lifecycle **Inception **First development **Major release **Minor release **Bug fix release **knowledge maintenance **Obsolesence *Release development stage, near the end of a release cycle **development stage#Alpha **development stage#Beta **Gold master **1.0 *System lifecycle **Waterfall model - Structured programming and Stepwise refinement **Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology **Spiral model - Iterative development **Dynamic Systems Development Method **Chaos model - Chaos strategy
==Deliverables==
Deliverables must be developed for many SE projects. Software engineers rarely make all of these deliverables themselves. They usually cooperate with the writers, trainers, installers, marketers, technical support people, and others who make many of these deliverables.
*Application - the software *Database - schemas and data. *Software documentation, online and/or print, FAQ, Readme, release notes, Help, for each role **User (computing) **Administrator **Manager **Buyer *Administration and Maintenance policy, what should be backed-up, checked, configured, ... *Installers *Migration **Upgrade from previous installations **Upgrade from competitor s installations *Training materials, for each role **User **Administrator **Manager **Buyer *Support info for computer support groups. *Marketing and sales materials **White papers, explain the technologies used in the applications **Comparisons with competitor products
==Business roles==
*Operations **Users **Administrators **Managers **Buyers *Development **Analysts **Programmers **Testers **Managers *Business **Consulting - customization and installation of applications **Sales **Marketing **Legal - contracts, intellectual property rights **Support - helping customers use applications **Personnel - hiring and training qualified personnel **Finance - funding new development *Academe **Educators **Researchers
==Management topics==
*Leadership **Coaching **Communication, SEs easily ignore this **Listening **Motivation **Vision, SEs are good at this **Example, everyone follows a good example best *Human resource management **Hiring, getting people into an organization **Staffing, getting people onto a project **Training **Evaluation *Project management **Goal setting **Customer interaction (Rethink) **Estimation **Risk management **Change management *Process management **Processes ***Software development processes ***Methodology (software engineering) **Software metric
==Business topics==
*Quality programs **Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award **Six Sigma **Total Quality Management (TQM)
=Community topics=
==Pioneers==
Many people made important contributions to SE technologies, practices, or applications.
See also *List of programmers *List of computer scientists *List of software moguls
==Notable publications==
See also *List of important publications in computer science#Software engineering in CS.
==Professional topics==
*Software engineering demographics *Software engineering economics *CCSE *Software engineering history *Software engineering professionalism **Ethics **Licensing *Software engineering legal **Intellectual property **Consumer protection
=Odds and ends=
==Related fields==
*Traditional engineering **Computer engineering **Electrical engineering *Software engineering **Domain engineering **Information engineering **Knowledge engineering **User interface engineering *ARts and Sciences **Mathematics **Computer science **Information science *Applications **Information systems *Programming
==Different languages==
*In Chinese language, software engineer is called ruan jian gong cheng shi —— 软件工程师 *In French language, software engineering is called Ingéniérie logicielle . *In German language, software engineering is called Softwaretechnik . *In Norwegian language, software engineering is called Programvareutvikling . *In Spanish language, software engineering is called Ingeniería del software ,
==Miscellaneous and to do==
*Complexity or scaling *Software brittleness problem *Second system syndrome *Software specialists share common language, terminology, certification, and so on. *Traditional engineers frequently resort to a balance of factors to achieve optimization (computer science). *Biology and biological engineering have other issues. *Source code escrow *Feature interaction problem *Certification (software engineering)
=See also=
*SWEBOK Software engineering body of knowledge *CCSE Computing curriculum for software engineering *List of computer term etymologies, the origins of computer terms
=External links=
*Professional Organizations **[http://www.bcs.org/ British Computer Society] **[http://www.acm.org/ Association for Computing Machinery] **[http://www.computer.org/ IEEE Computer Society] *Professionalism **[http://www.computer.org/tab/seprof/code.htm SE Code of Ethics] **[http://www.tbpe.state.tx.us/nm/sofupdt.htm Professional licensing in Texas] *Education **[http://sites.computer.org/ccse/ CCSE Undergraduate curriculum] *Standards **[http://standards.ieee.org/software/index.html IEEE Software Engineering Standards] **[http://www.ietf.org Internet Engineering Task Force] **ISO *Government organizations **[http://www.esi.es European Software Institute] **[http://www.sei.cmu.edu/ Software Engineering Institute] *Agile **[http://www.agilealliance.org/ Organization to promote Agile software development] **[http://www.testdriven.com Test driven development] **[http://www.extremeprogramming.org Extreme programming] *Other Organizations **[http://www.software-engineer.org/ Online community for software engineers] *Demographics **[http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos267.htm U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on SE] *Surveys **[http://www.ics.uci.edu/~redmiles/ David Redmiles page from the University of California site] *Other **[http://homepages.cs.ncl.ac.uk/brian.randell/NATO/ Full text in PDF from the NATO conference in Garmisch] **[http://catless.ncl.ac.uk/Risks Computer Risks] Peter G. Neumann s risks column.|
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