List of software engineering topics

Software Engineering Technologies and Practices

• Programming languages
  • Java
  • C++
• Relational databases
  • SQL
• Software tools
  • make
  • cvs
  • editors
• design languages
  • UML
• Patterns and Anti-patterns document many common programming and project management techniques.
• Software development processes
  • ISO 9000
  • CMM and CMMI
  • RUP
  • XP
  • Agile programming
• Platforms. As platforms have become more powerful, tools have become available on less expensive platforms and more widely available.
  • WINTEL PCs
  • IBM mainframes
• Software metrics

Approaches to Programming Practice

• Structured programming

+ Software Reuse and Domain Engineering

• Object-oriented programming
• Software components
• State-oriented programming
• Aspect-oriented programming
• Post-object programming

Life Cycle (Waterfall Point of View)

• Project lifecycle
• Requirements gathering and Analysis
• Software architecture
• Functional decomposition
• Computer programming
• Testing, focuses on detecting (preventing?) bugs
  • Black box testing
  • White box testing
• Quality assurance, ensures compliance with process. It is a misnomer because it is not about quality and it is not about testing.

Management (Management Point of View)

• Project management
• Configuration management
• Personnel management
• Risk management, everything is a risk because everything could cause delays.

Notable Unsolved Problems

• Complexity or scaling
• Software brittleness problem
• Second system syndrome
• Estimation

Notable Software Engineers

• John Backus: Fortran, first optimizing compiler
• Donald Bagert: First professional software engineer in U.S. in 1998.
• Kent Beck: Refactoring, XP (pair programming, test driven development).
• Barry Boehm: Economics, COCOMO, spiral model.
• Grady Booch: Object-oriented design, UML.
• Fred Brooks: System 360, OS 360, Mythical Man Month.
• Michael Fagan: Code reviews.
• Grace Hopper: First compiler (Mark 1), COBOL.
• Watts S. Humphrey: CMM, headed (founded?) the SEI.
• Jean Ichbiah: Ada
• Bill Joy: Berkeley Unix, VI, Java.
• Brian Kernighan: C and Unix.
• Bertrand Meyer: Design by Contract, Eiffel programming language.
• Peter G. Neumann: Computer Risks, ACM Sigsoft.
• David Parnas: Module design, social responsibility.
• Dennis Ritchie: C and Unix.
• Winston W. Royce: Waterfall model.
• Will Tracz: Reuse, ACM Software Engineering Notes.
• Richard Stallman: Founder of the Free Software Foundation
• Gerald Weinberg: The Psychology of Computer Programming.
• Ed Yourdon: Structured programming, The Decline and Fall of the American Programmer.

Notable Software Moguls

• Bill Gates: Microsoft
• Larry Elison: Oracle Corporation
• Mitch Kapor: Lotus (now with the Open Source Applications Foundation)

Notable Applications

• Compilers
  • Interpreters
  • Linkers
  • Loaders
• Computer graphics
  • Special effects for video and film
• Image processing
• Email
• Embedded systems
  • Avionics software
  • Automotive software
• Graphical user interfaces
• Office suites
• Operating systems
• Relational databases
• Robotics
• Video games
• World wide web (Tim Berners-Lee)

Notable Books

• The Mythical Man-Month, by Fred Brooks: Written at UNC describing what Brooks learned from IBM's OS 360 project.
• The Capability Maturity Model, by Watts Humphrey. Written for the Software Engineering Institute, emphasizing management. Humphreys was a VP at IBM.
• The Psychology of Computer Programming, by Gerald Weinberg. Written as an independent consultant, partly about his IBM years.
• The Fall of the American Programmer by Ed Yourdon.
• Object-oriented Analysis and Design by Grady Booch.
• The Art of Computer Programming by Knuth. This was the cookbook for many software engineers for decades.

Related Fields

• Software engineering
• Computer science
• Information science
• Computer engineering
• Information systems