1

Why Software
Engineering ?
❖ Change in nature & complexity of software

❖ Concept of one “guru” is over

❖ We all want improvement

Ready for change

2
 The Evolving Role of
Software
❖ Software industry is in Crisis!

success
16%
failur
e
31%

over budget
53%

Source: The Standish Group International, Inc. (CHAOS research)

3
 The Evolving Role of
Software

This is the Completed

Successful –
28%
SORRY state Late, over
budget, and/or
of Software with features
missing – 49%

Engineering
Today! Cancelled –
23%

• Data on 28,000 projects

completed in 2000
4
 The Evolving Role of
Software

As per the IBM report, “31%of the project get

cancelled before they are completed, 53% over-
run their cost estimates by an average of 189%
and for every 100 projects, there are 94 restarts”.

5
 The Evolving Role of
Software

Hw cost
Sw
cost

1960 Year
1999
Relative Cost of Hardware and Software

6
 The Evolving Role of
Software
• Unlike Hardware
– Moore’s law: speed/memory capacity doubles
processor every two
years

7
 The Evolving Role of
Software
Managers and Technical Persons are asked:

✓ Why does it take so long to get the program finished?

✓ Why are costs so high?

✓ Why can not we find all errors before release?

✓ Why do we have difficulty in measuring progress of software

development?

8
Factors Contributing to the Software
Crisis
• Larger problems,

• Lack of adequate training in software engineering,

• Increasing skill shortage,

• Low productivity improvements.

9
 Some Software
failures
Ariane 5
It took the European Space Agency 10
years and $7 billion to produce Ariane 5,
a giant rocket capable of hurling a pair of
three-ton satellites into orbit with each
launch and intended to give Europe
overwhelming supremacy in the
commercial space business.

The rocket was destroyed after 39 seconds

of its launch, at an altitude of two and a
half miles along with its payload of four
expensive and uninsured scientific
satellites.
10
 Some Software
failures
When the guidance system’s own
computer tried to convert one
piece of data the sideways velocity
of the rocket from a 64 bit
format to a 16 bit format; the
number was too big, and an
overflow error resulted after 36.7
seconds. When the guidance
system shutdown, it passed
control to an identical, redundant
unit, which was there to provide
backup in case of just such a
failure. Unfortunately,
unit, which the second
had failed in the
identical manner a few
milliseconds before.
11
 Some Software
failures
Y2K problem:

It was simply the ignorance about the

adequacy or otherwise of using only
last two digits of the year.

The 4-digit date format, like 1964,

was shortened to 2-digit format, like
64.

12
 Some Software
failures
The Patriot Missile
o First time used in Gulf war
o Used as a defense from Iraqi Scud
missiles
o Failed several times including one that
killed 28 US soldiers in Dhahran,
Saudi Arabia
Reasons:
A small timing error in the system’s clock
accumulated to the point that after 14
hours, the tracking system was no longer
accurate. In the Dhahran attack, the
system had been operating for more than
100 hours.
13
 Some Software
failures
The Space Shuttle
Part of an abort scenario for the
Shuttle requires fuel dumps to
lighten the spacecraft. It was
during the second of these
dumps that a (software) crash
occurred.
...the fuel management module,
which had performed one
dump and successfully exited,
restarted when recalled for the
second fuel dump...

14
 Some Software
failures
A simple fix took care of the problem…but the
programmers decided to see if they could come up with a
systematic way to eliminate these generic sorts of bugs in
the future. A random group of programmers applied this
system to the fuel dump module and other modules.
Seventeen additional, previously unknown problems
surfaced!

15
 Some Software
failures
Financial Software
Many companies have experienced failures in their
accounting system due to faults in the software itself. The
failures range from producing the wrong information to
the whole system crashing.

16
 Some Software
failures
Windows XP
o Microsoft released Windows XP on October 25, 2001.
o On the same day company posted 18 MB of
compatibility patches on the website for bug fixes,
compatibility updates, and enhancements.
o Two patches fixed important security holes.

This is Software Engineering.

17
 “No Silver
Bullet”
The hardware cost continues to decline
drastically.
However, there are desperate cries for a
silver bullet something to make software
costs drop as rapidly as computer hardware
costs do.
But as we look to the horizon of a decade,
we see no silver bullet. There is no single
development, either in technology or
in managementtechnique, that by itself
promises even one order of magnitude
improvement in productivity, in reliability
and in simplicity.
18
 “No Silver
Bullet”
The hard part of building software is the specification, design and
testing of this conceptual construct, not the labour of representing it
and testing the correctness of representation.
We still make syntax errors, to be sure, but they are trivial as
compared to the conceptual errors (logic errors) in most systems.
That is why, building software is always hard and there is inherently
no silver bullet.
While there is no royal road, there is a path forward.
Is reusability (and open source) the new silver bullet?

19
 “No Silver
Bullet”
The blame for software bugs belongs to:

• Software companies
• Software developers
• Legal system
• Universities

20
 What is
software?
• Computer programs and
associated documentation

21
 What is
software?
Programs

Documentation Operating
Procedures

Software=Program+Documentation+Operating Procedures
Components of software

22
 Documentation consists of different types of manuals
are Formal Specification
Analysis Context-
/Specification Diagram
Data Flow
Diagrams
Flow
Design
Charts
Documentation Entity-Relationship
Manuals Diagram
Source Code Listings
Implementation Cross-Reference
Listing
Test Data
Testing
Test Results

List of documentation manuals

23
Documentation consists of different types of manuals
are System Overview
User Beginner’s Guide
Manuals Tutorial
Reference Guide

Operating
Procedures

Installation Guide
Operational
Manuals
S
y
s
t
e
m
A 24
d
 Software
Product

• Software products may be developed for a

particular customer or may be developed for a general
market
• Software products may be
–Generic - developed to sold to a range of different
be customers
–Bespoke (custom) - developed for a single customer according
to their specification

25
 Software
Product
Software product is a product designated for
delivery to the user
ssoouu
rrccee ddooccuum
ccoodd rreeppo
meennttss
eess
orrttss
oobbjj plans mmaann
plans
eecctt
ccood uuaallss
ddaa
deess
ttaa
tteessttssu tteessttrrees prototypes
prototypes
uiitteess suullttss
26
 What is software
engineering?
Software engineering is an engineering discipline which
is concerned with all aspects of software production
Software engineers should
– adopt a systematic and organised approach to their
work
– use appropriate tools and techniques depending on
• the problem to be solved,
• the development constraints and
– use the resources available
27
 What is software
engineering?
At the first conference on software engineering in 1968, Fritz Bauer
defined software engineering as “The establishment and use of
sound engineering principles in order to obtain economically
developed software that is reliable and works efficiently on real
machines”.

Stephen Schach defined the same as “A discipline whose aim is the

production of quality software, software that is delivered on time,
within budget, and that satisfies its requirements”.

Both the definitions are popular and acceptable to majority.

However, due to increase in cost of maintaining software, objective
is now shifting to produce quality software that is maintainable,
delivered on time, within budget, and also satisfies its requirements.
28
 Software
Process
The software process is the way in which we
produce software.

Why is it difficult to improve software process ?

• Not enough time

• Lack of knowledge

29
 Software
Process
• Wrong motivations
• Insufficient commitment
Improved future state
Process improvement
begins
Initial state
state

Productivity

Do not quit here!

Learning curve

Time

30
 Software
Characteristics:
✓Software does not wear
out.
Burn-in
phase Wear out
phase
Failure Intensity

Useful life
phase

Time
31
 Software
Characteristics:
✓ Software is not manufactured
✓ Reusability of components
✓ Software is flexible

32
 Software Characteristics:
Comparison of constructing a bridge vis-à-vis writing a program.
Sr. Constructing a bridge Writing a program

No
1. The problem is well understood Only some parts the problem are
of understood, others are
not
2. There are many existing bridges Every program is different and designed for
special applications.
3. The requirement for a bridge typically do Requirements typically change during
not change much during construction all phases of development.
4. The strength and stability of a bridge can be Not possible to calculate correctness of a
calculated with reasonable precision program with existing methods.
5. When a bridge collapses, is a When a program fails, the reasons are often
there detailed investigation and unavailable or even deliberately concealed.
report
6. Engineers have been constructing bridges Developers have been writing programs
for thousands of years for 50 years or so.

7. Materials (wood, stone,iron, steel) and Hardware and software changes rapidly.
techniques (making joints in wood, carving
stone, casting iron) change slowly.
33
The Changing Nature of
Software
System Real
Software Time
Software

Engineering Embedded
and Scientific Software
Software

Web based Business

Software
Software
Artificial
Intelligence Personal
Software Computer
Software

34
 The Changing Nature of
Software

Trend has emerged to provide source code to the

customer and organizations.

Software where source codes are available are known

as open source software.
Examples
Open source software: LINUX, MySQL, PHP, Open office,
Apache webserver etc.

35
Software Myths (Management
Perspectives)
Management may be confident about good
standards and clear procedures of the company.

But the taste of any food item

is in the eating;
not in the Recipe !

36
Software Myths (Management
Perspectives)
Company has latest computers and state-of-
the-art software tools, so we shouldn’t worry
about the quality of the product.

The infrastructure is
only one of the several factors
that determine the quality
of the product!

37
Software Myths (Management
Perspectives)
Addition of more software specialists, those
with higher skills and longer experience may
bring the schedule back on the track!

Unfortunately,
that may further delay the schedule!

38
Software Myths (Management
Perspectives)

Software is easy to change

The reality is totally different.

39
 Software Myths (Management
Perspectives)

Computers provide greater reliability

than the devices they replace

This is not always true.

40
Software Myths (Customer
Perspectives)
A general statement of objectives is sufficient to get started with
the development of software. Missing/vague requirements can
easily be incorporated/detailed out as they get concretized.

If we do so, we are heading

towards a disaster.

41
 Software Myths (Customer
Perspectives)

Software with more features is

better software

Software can work right the first time

Both are only myths!

42
Software Myths (Developer
Perspectives)

Once the software is demonstrated, the job is done.

Usually, the problems just begin!

43
 Software Myths (Developer
Perspectives)
Software quality can not be assessed
before testing.

However, quality assessment techniques

should be used through out the
software development life cycle.

44
 Software Myths (Developer
Perspectives)
The only deliverable for a
software development project is the tested
code.

Tested code is only one of the deliverable!

45
 Software Myths (Developer
Perspectives)

Aim is to develop working programs

Those days are over. Now objective is

to develop good quality maintainable
programs!

46
 Some
Terminologies
➢ Deliverables and Milestones

Different deliverables are generated during software development.

The examples are source code, user manuals, operating procedure
manuals etc.
The milestones are the events that are used to ascertain the status of
the project. Finalization of specification is a milestone. Completion of
design documentation is another milestone. The milestones are
essential for project planning and management.

47
 Some
Terminologies
➢ Product and Process
Product: What is delivered to the customer, is called a product. It
may include source code, specification document, manuals,
documentation etc. Basically, it is nothing but a set of deliverables
only.

Process: Process is the way in which we produce software. It is the

collection of activities that leads to (a part of) a product. An efficient
process is required to produce good quality products.

If the process is weak, the end product will undoubtedly suffer, but
an obsessive over reliance on process is also dangerous.

48
 Some
Terminologies
➢ Measures, Metrics and Measurement

A measure provides a quantitative indication of the extent,

dimension, size, capacity, efficiency, productivity or reliability of
some attributes of a product or process.

Measurement is the act of evaluating a measure.

A metric is a quantitative measure of the degree to which a system,

component or process possesses a given attribute.

49
 Some
Terminologies
➢ Software Process and Product Metrics

Process metrics quantify the attributes of software development

process and environment;
whereas product metrics are measures for the software product.
Examples
Process metrics: Productivity, Quality, Efficiency etc.
Product metrics: Size, Reliability, Complexity etc.

50
 Some
Terminologies
➢ Productivity and Effort

Productivity is defined as the rate of output, or production per unit of

effort, i.e. the output achieved with regard to the time taken but
irrespective of the cost incurred.

Hence most appropriate unit of effort is Person Months (PMs),

meaning thereby number of persons involved for specified months.
So, productivity may be measured as LOC/PM (lines of code
produced/person month)

51
 Some
Terminologies
➢ Module and Software Components

There are many definitions of the term module. They range from “a
module is a FORTRAN subroutine” to “a module is an Ada
Package”, to “Procedures and functions of PASCAL and C”, to “C+
+ Java classes” to “Java packages” to “a module is a work
assignment for an individual developer”. All these definition are
correct. The term subprogram is also used sometimes in place of
module.

52
 Some
Terminologies
“An independently deliverable piece of functionality providing
access to its services through interfaces”.

“A component represents a modular, deployable, and replaceable

part of a system that encapsulates implementation and exposes a set
of interfaces”.

53
 Some Terminologies

➢ Generic and Customized Software Products

Generic products are developed for anonymous customers. The target

is generally the entire world and many copies are expected to be
sold. Infrastructure software like operating system, compilers,
analyzers, word processors, CASE tools etc. are covered in this
category.

The customized products are developed for particular customers.

The specific product is designed and developed as per customer
requirements. Most of the development projects (say about
80%)come under this category.
54
Role of Management in Software
Development

Factors

People Project

Product Process

55
Role of Management in Software
Development
People

Project 4 Dependency Product

2
Order

Process

56
 Multiple Choice
Questions
Note: Select most appropriate answer of the following questions:
1.1 Software is
(a) Superset of programs (b) subset of programs
(c) Set of programs (d) none of the above
1.2 Which is NOT the part of operating procedure
(a) User manuals
manuals? (b) Operational manuals
(c) Documentation manuals (d) Installation manuals
3. Which is NOT a software characteristic?
(a) Software does not wear out (b) Software is flexible
(c) Software is not manufactured (d) Software is always correct
4. Product is
(a) Deliverables (b) User expectations
(c) Organization's effort in development (d) none of the above
1.5 To produce a good quality product, process should be
(a) Complex (b) Efficient
(c) Rigorous (d) none of the above
57
 Multiple Choice
Note: Select mostQuestions
appropriate answer of the following questions:
1.6 Which is not a product metric?
(a) Size (b) Reliability
(c) Productivity (d) Functionality
7. Which is NOT a process metric?
(a) Productivity (b) Functionality
(c) Quality (d) Efficiency
8. Effort is measured in terms of:
(a) Person-months (b) Rupees
(c) Persons (d) Months
1.9 UML stands for
(a) Uniform modeling language (b) Unified modeling language
(c) Unit modeling language (d) Universal modeling language
1. An independently deliverable piece of functionality providing access to
its services through interface is called
(a) Software measurement (b) Software
(c) composition
Software measure (d) Software component
58
 Multiple Choice
Questions
Note: Select most appropriate answer of the following questions:
1.11 Infrastructure software are covered under
(a) Generic products (b) Customized products
(c) Generic and Customized products (d) none of the above
1.12 Management of software development is dependent
on (a) people (b) product
(c) process (d) all of the above
1.13 During software development, which factor is most crucial?
(a) People (b) Product
(c) Process (d) Project
1.14 Program is
(a) subset of software (b) super set of software
(c) software (d) none of the above
1.15 Milestones are used to
(a) know the cost of the project (b) know the status of the project
(c) know user expectations (d) none of the above
59
 Multiple Choice
Note: Select mostQuestions
appropriate answer of the following questions:
1.16 The term module used during design phase refers to
(a) Function (b) Procedure
(c) Sub program (d) All of the above
1.17 Software consists of
(a) Set of instructions + operating system
(b) Programs + documentation + operating procedures
(c) Programs + hardware manuals (d) Set of
programs
1.18 (a) Better engineering
Software performanceapproach
of hardware (b) Error free software
is used to achieve:
(c) Reusable software (d) Quality software product
1.19 Concept of software engineering are applicable to
(a) Fortran language only (b) Pascal language only
(c) ‘C’ language only (d) All of the above
1.20 CASE Tool is
(a) Computer Aided Software Engineering (b) Component Aided Software Engineering
(c) Constructive Aided Software Engineering (d)Computer Analysis Software Engineering

60
 Exercises
1.Why is primary goal of software development now shifting
from producing good quality software to good quality maintainable
software?
2.List the reasons for the “software crisis”?Why are CASE tools
not normally able to control it?
3.“The software crisis is aggravated by the progress in
hardware technology?” Explain with examples.
4. What is software crisis? Was Y2K a software crisis?
5.What is the significance of software crisis in reference to
software engineering discipline.
6.How are software myths affecting software process? Explain with the
help of examples.
7.State the difference between program and software. Why have documents
and documentation become very important.
8. What is software engineering? Is it an art, craft or a science? Discuss.

61
 Exercises
9.What is aim of software engineering? What does the discipline
of software engineering discuss?
10.Define the term “Software engineering”. Explain the major differences
between software engineering and other traditional engineering disciplines.
11. What is software process? Why is it difficult to improve it?
12.Describe the characteristics of software contrasting it with
the characteristics of hardware.
13.Write down the major characteristics of a software. Illustrate with a
diagram that the software does not wear out.
14.What are the components of a software? Discuss how a software differs
from a program.
15. Discuss major areas of the applications of the software.
16. Is software a product or process? Justify your answer with example

62
 Exercises
1.17 Differentiate between the following
(i) Deliverables and milestones (ii) Product and process
(iii) Measures, metrics and measurement
18.What is software metric? How is it different from software
measurement
19. Discuss software process and product metrics with the help of examples.

20.What is productivity? How is it related to effort. What is the unit of

effort.
21. Differentiate between module and software component.

22.Distinguish between generic and customized software products. Which

one has larger share of market and why?

23. Is software a product or process? Justify your answer with example

63
 Exercises

23.Describe the role of management in software development with the help

of examples.
24.What are various factors of management dependency in
software development. Discuss each factor in detail.

25. What is more important: Product or process? Justify your answer.

64