What is software Engineering?

 

Software Engineering

Software Engineering is the application of a systematic disciplined and the quantifiable approach to the development operation and maintenance of software that is the application of engineering to software one observation to make out of this definition is that software engineering is a discipline applied throughout the entire software life cycle spanning the early phases of system specifications all the way to maintenance after system deployment so why use an engineering approach to software quite simply because the alternative would be to use an ad hoc or disordered approach an engineering approach means predictability and the quantifiable results through the application of theories methodologies frameworks and tools when applied efficiently the result is a high quality software created in a cost-effective manner software engineering in practice is built of three layers the first layer is that of the process the process defines the framework and the order around the various activities undertaken in a software project it sets out how activities of phases such as requirements design construction and testing are undertaken the second layer is that of the methods software engineering methods are practices with proven techniques to perform certain activities for example there are methods for analysis and requirements modeling similarly there are methods for design and design modeling as well as methods for testing the final layer is that of the tools software engineering tools allow automation of activities which helps in the systematic application of software engineering now in the next sections thank you.