Outline of software engineering

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to software engineering:

Software engineering – application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is the application of engineering to software.^[1]

Technologies and practices

Skilled software engineers use technologies and practices from a variety of fields to improve their productivity in creating software and to improve the quality of the delivered product.

Software applications

Software engineers build software (applications, operating systems, system software) that people use.

Applications influence software engineering by pressuring developers to solve problems in new ways. For example, consumer software emphasizes low cost, medical software emphasizes high quality, and Internet commerce software emphasizes rapid development.

Business software
- Accounting software
Analytics
- Data mining closely related to database
- Decision support systems
Airline reservations
Banking
- Automated teller machines
- Cheque processing
- Credit cards
Commerce
- Trade
- Auctions (e.g. eBay)
- Reverse auctions (procurement)
- Bar code scanners
Compilers
- Parsers
- Compiler optimization
- Interpreters
- Linkers
- Loaders
Communication
- E-mail
- Instant messengers
- VOIP
- Calendars — scheduling and coordinating
- Contact managers
Computer graphics
- Animation
- Special effects for video and film
- Editing
- Post-processing
Cryptography
Databases, support almost every field
Embedded systems Both software engineers and traditional engineers write software control systems for embedded products.
- Automotive software
- Avionics software
- Heating ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) software
- Medical device software
- Telephony
- Telemetry
Engineering All traditional engineering branches use software extensively. Engineers use spreadsheets, more than they ever used calculators. Engineers use custom software tools to design, analyze, and simulate their own projects, like bridges and power lines. These projects resemble software in many respects, because the work exists as electronic documents and goes through analysis, design, implementation, and testing phases. Software tools for engineers use the tenets of computer science; as well as the tenets of calculus, physics, and chemistry.
- Computer Aided Design (CAD)
- Electronic Design Automation (EDA)
- Numerical Analysis
- Simulation
File
- FTP
- File sharing
- File synchronization
Finance
- Bond market
- Futures market
- Stock market
Games
- Poker
- Multiuser Dungeons
- Video games
Information systems, support almost every field
- LIS Management of laboratory data
- MIS Management of financial and personnel data
Logistics
- Supply chain management
Manufacturing
- Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM)
- Distributed Control Systems (DCS)
Music
- Music sequencers
- Sound effects
- Music synthesis
Network Management
- Network management system
- Element Management System
- Operations Support System
- Business Support Systems
Networks and Internet
- Domain Name System
- Protocols
- Routers
Office suites
- Word processors
- Spreadsheets
- Presentations
Operating systems
- Embedded
- Graphical
- Multitasking
- Real-time
Robotics
Signal processing, encoding and interpreting signals
- Image processing, encoding and interpreting visual information
- Speech processing
- Text recognition
- Handwriting recognition
Simulation, supports almost every field.
- Engineering, A software simulation can be cheaper to build and more flexible to change than a physical engineering model.
- Sciences
Sciences
- Genomics
Traffic Control
- Air traffic control
- Ship traffic control
- Road traffic control
Training
- Drill
- Simulation
- Testing
Visualization, supports almost every field
- Architecture
- Engineering
- Sciences
Voting
World wide web
- Browsers
- Servers

Software engineering topics

Many technologies and practices are (mostly) confined to software engineering, though many of these are shared with computer science.

Programming languages
Ada	APL	B
COBOL	Pascal	C	C++
C#	Clojure	Common Lisp	D
ColdFusion	Delphi	Dylan	Eiffel
Erlang	Fortran	F#	Groovy
Java	Lasso	ML	OCaml
Perl	PHP	PL/SQL	Prolog
Go	Rust	Swift (Apple programming language)	JavaScript
Haskell	Python	Ruby	Scala
Scheme	Smalltalk	Tcl	T-SQL
Verilog	VHDL	Visual Basic	Visual Basic .NET
Assembly language • • • Scripting language • • • List of programming languages

Programming paradigm, based on a programming language technology

Databases

Graphical user interfaces

Patterns, document many common programming and project management techniques

Processes and methodologies

Agile
Heavyweight
- Cleanroom
- ISO/IEC 12207 — software life cycle processes
- ISO 9000 and ISO 9001
Process Models
- CMM and CMMI/SCAMPI
- ISO 15504 (SPICE)
Metamodels
- ISO/IEC 24744
- SPEM

Platforms

A platform combines computer hardware and an operating system. As platforms grow more powerful and less costly, applications and tools grow more widely available.

Other Practices

Other tools

Computer science topics

Skilled software engineers know a lot of computer science including what is possible and impossible, and what is easy and hard for software.

Algorithms, well-defined methods for solving specific problems.
Compiler theory
- Yacc/Bison
Data structures, well-defined methods for storing and retrieving data.
- Lists
- Trees
- Hash tables
Computability, some problems cannot be solved at all
- List of unsolved problems in computer science
- Halting problem
Complexity, some problems are solvable in principle, yet unsolvable in practice
- NP completeness
- Computational complexity theory
Formal methods
- Proof of correctness
- Program synthesis
Adaptive Systems
- Neural Networks
- Evolutionary Algorithms

Mathematics topics

Discrete mathematics is a key foundation of software engineering.

Other

Life cycle phases

Development life cycle phase
- Requirements gathering / analysis
- Software architecture
- Computer programming
- Testing, detects bugs
  - Black box testing
  - White box testing
- Quality assurance, ensures compliance with process.
Product Life cycle phase and Project lifecycle
- Inception
- First development
- Major release
- Minor release
- Bug fix release
- Maintenance
- Obsolescence
Release development stage, near the end of a release cycle
- Alpha
- Beta
- Gold master
- 1.0; 2.0
Software development lifecycle
- Waterfall model — Structured programming and Stepwise refinement
- SSADM
- Spiral model — Iterative development
- V-model
- Agile software development
- DSDM
- Chaos model — Chaos strategy

Deliverables

Deliverables must be developed for many SE projects. Software engineers rarely make all of these deliverables themselves. They usually cooperate with the writers, trainers, installers, marketers, technical support people, and others who make many of these deliverables.

Application software — the software
Database — schemas and data.
Documentation, online and/or print, FAQ, Readme, release notes, Help, for each role
- User
- Administrator
- Manager
- Buyer
Administration and Maintenance policy, what should be backed-up, checked, configured, ...
Installers
Migration
- Upgrade from previous installations
- Upgrade from competitor's installations
Training materials, for each role
- User
- Administrator
- Manager
- Buyer
Support info for computer support groups.
Marketing and sales materials
- White papers, explain the technologies used in the applications

Business roles

Operations
- Users
- Administrators
- Managers
- Buyers
Development
- Analysts
- Programmers
- Testers
- Managers
Business
- Consulting — customization and installation of applications
- Sales
- Marketing
- Legal — contracts, intellectual property rights
- Privacy and Privacy engineering
- Support — helping customers use applications
- Personnel — hiring and training qualified personnel
- Finance — funding new development
Academe
- Educators
- Researchers