THE NAME AND NATURE OF SOFTWARE ENGINEERING

The nature of software engineering is discussed with particular reference to software-intensive application systems—those whose fundamental purpose is to bring about desired effects in a physical and human problem world by interaction with a programmed machine. Such systems bring together a problem world—which is typically composed of heterogeneous domains, most of which are non-formal—and the formal or semi-formal domain of the machine. A clean engineering separation of the two is rarely, if ever, possible; and attempts to treat the application problem world as an extension of the formal machine are obstructed by its non-formal nature. Software engineers have much to learn from the structure and practices of the established branches of engineering. We must learn from their treatment of formal analysis and reasoning, from their practice of intense specialisation, from their attention to particular instances no less than to general concerns, and—above all—from their reliance on normal artifact design and on normal design disciplines: both are the golden fruit of specialisation