Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of Software

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Prospects for an Engineering Discipline of
Software

• Mary Shaw
• Presented by Lihua Xu

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Outline

• What is Engineering?
• Where does software stand as an engineering
  discipline?
• Software engineering is not yet a true
  engineering discipline, but it has the potential
  to become one.
• Older engineering fields suggest the character
  software engineering might have.

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What is engineering

• The disciplined application of scientific
  knowledge to resolve conflicting constraints and
  requirements for problems of immediate, practical
  significance.
• Creating cost-effective solutions
• To practical problems
• By applying scientific knowledge
• To building things
• In the service of mankind

• Current software practice
• Reuse? X
• Reference? X

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Routine and Innovative Design

• Routine Design
• Solving familiar problems
• Reusing prior solutions
• Innovative Design
• Unfamiliar problems
• Rarely needed
• Most engineering disciplines capture, organize,
  and share design knowledge to make routine design
  simpler.
• e.g. handbooks, manuals

• Current software design
• Original in most application domain
• Not adequate communications of experience

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Evolution model for engineering discipline

• Management and production techniques enable
  routine production
• The problems of routine production stimulate the
  development of a supporting science

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Examples from traditional engineering

• Civil engineering a basis in theory
• Rooted in two scientific theories
• An irresistible transition from a traditional
  craft, concerned with tangible fashioning,
  towards an abstract science, based on
  mathematical calculation
• Chemical engineering a basis in practice
• Rooted in empirical observation
• The basis of ChE is a pragmatically determined
  collection of very high-level functions that
  adequately and appropriately describe the
  processes to be carried out

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Software Engineering

• Creating cost-effective solutions
• To practical problems
• In the service of mankind
• the practical application of scientific
  knowledge in the design and construction of
  computer programs and the associated
  documentation required to develop, operate, and
  maintain them. Barry Boehm, 1976
• Life-cycle models, routine methodologies,
  cost-estimation techniques, documentation
  frameworks, configuration-management tools,
  quality-assurance techniques, and software
  management.

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Evolution of Software Technology

• Information processing as an economic force
• Growing role of software in critical applications
• Maturity of development techniques
• Programming-any-which-way
• Programming-in-the-small
• Programming-in-the-large
• Scientific basis for engineering practice
• Maturity of supporting science
• Interaction between science engineering

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Evolution of Software Engineering
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Steps to True engineering discipline

• Understand the nature of expertise
• Specific contents about implications and
  appropriate use
• Recognize different ways to get information
• Creating the materials required to organize
  information, especially reference material for
  practitioners.
• Encourage routine practice
• Reference materials and case studies
• Expect professional specializations
• Explicit recognition of specialties
• Improve the coupling between science and
  commercial practice
• Research and production communications should be
  nurtured

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Things to Discuss

• Where are we in the evolution model?
• Foundation is not adequate yet
• Big gap between industry research
• Will be based in computer science?
• Progress was not slowed by problems in
  formulating science notations
• E.g. UML
• What are the duties for software engineer? Are we
  doing it?