Software Engineering Development of procedures and systematic applications that are used on electronic machines. Software engineering incorporates various accepted methodologies to design software. This particular type of engineering has to take into consideration what type of machine the software will be used on, how the software will work with the machine, and what elements need to be put in place to ensure reliability

Software engineering is the branch of systems engineering concerned with the development of large and complex software intensive systems

It focuses on: the real-world goals for, services provided by, and constraints on such systems; the precise specification of system structure and behavior, and the implementation of these specifications; the activities required in order to develop an assurance that the specifications and real-world goals have been met; the evolution of such systems over time and across system families.

The Three Dimensions of Software Engineering: Software engineering is a rich, multi-faceted, and evolving field. It is often useful to think of it in three dimensions, each dimension being concerned with one particular aspect. The first dimension contains all of the tools, techniques, methods, and processes required to develop software. The second contains the management techniques required to organize software projects successfully, to monitor the effectiveness of the development, and to improve the development process. The third addresses the way in which the non-functional attributes of the software being developed in achieved. Non-functional attributes refer not to what the software does (its function) but instead to the manner in which it does it (its dependability, security, composability, portability, interoperability

The Three Components of Software Engineering There is also another way of looking at software engineering. This is sometimes referred to as the three Ps: People, Product and Process. People are a very important aspect of software engineering and software systems. People use the system being developed, people design the system, people build the system, people maintain the system, and people pay for the system. Software engineering is as much about the organization and management of people as it is about technology.

Specification Design Validation Evolution The software process is a structured set of activities required to develop a software system: Specification Design Validation Evolution

These activities vary depending on the organization and the type of system being developed. There are several different process models and the correct model must be chosen to match the organization and the project.

Software Characteristics The software has a very special characteristic e.g., “it does not wear out”. Its behaviour and nature is quite different than other products of human life

Characteristics are discussed below: Software does not wear out Software is not manufactured Reusability of components Software is flexible