Software Engineering: The First Forty Years

The phrase ‘software engineering’ was first used in a public discourse at a NATO Science Committee sponsored conference, held at Garmisch, Germany, from 7th to 11th October, 1968. More than forty years hence, there is still not much unanimity on a definition of software engineering.

According to Boehm, software engineering involves the application of science and mathematics through which the facilities of computer equipment are made useful to human beings via computer programs, procedures, and associated documentation. Pfleeger identifies software engineering with the utilization of tools, techniques, procedures, and paradigms toward quality improvement of the software product. Naur and Randall see software engineering in terms of establishing and using sound engineering principles to obtain economically effective and reliable software that can work efficiently on real machines. According to Freeman and Von Staa, software engineering involves the organized application of methods, tools, and knowledge towards fulfilling stated technical, economic, and human goals for a software-intensive system. Kacmar says simply applying engineering principles to designing and constructing computer software can be termed software engineering. To Schach, software engineering is the discipline that aims at producing fault-free software, to be delivered on time and within budget, which satisfies the user’s needs. Whitmire describes software engineering as a ‘slippery’ term, and says for some it is something that can only be applied to a large project, while to others it is just a ‘figment of collective imaginations’. He gives a working definition as, ‘Software engineering is the science and art of designing and building, with economy and elegance, software systems and applications so they can fill the uses to which they may be subjected’

Many views and much variety!

However, there seems to be little room for debate on Brooks’ characterization of software - software is inherently complex; software must be made to conform to existing interfaces; software is constantly subject to change; and software is invisible and unvisualizable.

Software engineering can be viewed as an organized response to the challenges these very characteristics of software engenders. Software engineering is concerned with the problem of change and the problem of complexity.

Between change and complexity, does one necessarily insinuate the other?

What do you think?