Software Engineering – History, Principles & Challenges

Vocabulary flashcards summarising key terms, definitions and historical milestones from the Software Engineering lecture notes.

Software Crisis

Period during the 1960s-70s when growing project size, missed deadlines, budget overruns and faulty software exposed limits of ad-hoc programming.

NATO Software Engineering Conferences (1968/69)

Meetings where the term “Software Engineering” was coined as a remedy for the software crisis.

Software Engineering (NR68 definition)

Applying sound engineering principles to obtain economical, reliable and efficient software for real machines.

Software Engineering (IEEE 1983 definition)

Systematic approach to the development, operation, maintenance and retirement of software.

Triple Responsibility

SE must satisfy demands on the product, the development methods, and the engineer’s ethical conduct.

Engineering Discipline

Field that uses scientific knowledge, judgement and creativity to build technical systems for human benefit.

Technological Sciences (Technikwissenschaften)

Academic fields focused on designing technology through modelling, testing and simulation (e.g., mechanical or electrical engineering).

Essential Complexity

Unavoidable complexity inherent in the problem domain or system itself.

Accidental Complexity

Extra complexity introduced by inappropriate tools, goals or processes; can be reduced or avoided.

Abstraction

Hiding lower-level details by using models or higher-level concepts to manage complexity.

Modularization

Dividing a system into well-defined components to enable separation of concerns and easier maintenance.

Standardization

Use of agreed rules and interfaces to enable reuse, integration and knowledge consolidation.

Body of Knowledge (BOK)

Curated set of concepts, methods and tools recognised as essential for a professional field.

SWEBOK

IEEE guide specifying the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge and its knowledge areas.

Stable Core

Long-lived principles and tools within the BOK that tackle essential complexity and avoid unnecessary complexity.

ACM/IEEE Code of Ethics

Professional ethical guidelines that software engineers should follow in their work.

Software Quality Attributes

Desired properties such as correctness, reliability, safety, efficiency, usability, maintainability and reusability.

Software Requirements

Documented needs and conditions a software system must satisfy.

Software Design

Process of defining the architecture, components and interfaces of a system.

Software Construction

Detailed coding and unit testing activities that create executable software.

Software Testing

Activities aiming to detect defects and evaluate software quality before release.

Software Maintenance

Modification of a software product after delivery to correct faults or improve performance.

Software Configuration Management

Control and tracking of versions, builds and change history of software artefacts.

Software Engineering Economics

Study of cost, value and economic trade-offs in software projects.

Design Science Research

Research paradigm that produces prescriptive knowledge (technological rules) through iterative problem-solution cycles.

Technological Rule

General prescription linking a problem to an effective solution, e.g., “To achieve X, apply technique Y.”

HELENA Study

International survey investigating the use of hybrid development approaches in software projects.

CHAOS Report

Standish Group report analysing project success and failure factors; highlights incomplete requirements as top issue.

Heartbleed

2014 OpenSSL vulnerability allowing attackers to read server memory due to unchecked length field.

Software Fail Watch (Tricentis)

Report estimating US$1.7 trillion in 2017 losses due to software failures and inadequate testing.

SCRUM

1995 agile framework for iterative and incremental software development.

Agile Manifesto (2001)

Statement of values emphasizing individuals, working software, customer collaboration and adaptability.

DevOps

Cultural and technical movement (≈2010) integrating development and operations to accelerate delivery.

Microservices

Architectural style (≈2010) that structures an application as a suite of small, independent services.