"What is Software Engineering? Design and testing are crucial stages in software production. Justify this statement by briefly outlining and critically evaluating what went wrong in a couple of documented software disasters. How could the disaster you outlined have been avoided?"
What is software engineering? There isn’t actually a dictionary meaning for ‘software engineering’ but the two separate words beginning with software mean: - “Written programs, procedures or rules” and engineering is: “To plan, construct or manage as an engineer”. So, putting the two together will give “To plan, construct or manage a written program, procedures or rules”. Software engineering is actually a profession that encompasses the terms computer programmer and systems analysis and combines them to create the job of a software engineer. Being a software engineer means that you will have to undertake a systematic approach to the analysis, design, implementation, and maintenance of software, so that the piece of software will run without errors or interruptions to the user’s daily operation. When creating a system, the software engineer will have to pay particular attention to the design and testing of the system. This is because the design of the system and the subsequent testing will determine whether the system is successful or not. If the system is inappropriate after the system has been created it would be difficult to change it. It may be deemed inappropriate for a number of reasons but for many programs, it was deemed inappropriate because the interface was too difficult to use for users that were not IT illiterate. Testing is when a program is put through a number of environments to see if the program will ‘survive’ or pass these tests. Examples of tests include simulation of power failure and test to see if buttons do what they are meant to do. These two stages of creating a piece of software are conveniently at the start and end of the process so if the design and...