Pears of Wisdom - Software Engineering Overview

Software Engineering Overview

• NO project can succeed without a plan.
• Engineering is the design, construction, and use of engines, in this case, software engines.
• Below are the high level steps that associated with a software engineering project.
• Requirements
• High-Level Design
• Low-Level Design
• Development
• Post Dev-Iterative Testing
• Deployment
• Maintenance
• Wrap-up

Step 0: Don't Start Yet

• There are certain things that ALL software projects require regardless of content.
• Even a simple software project may have tons of documentation. You need document management.
• Do something to reduce the signal to noise ratio in e-mail like prefixing them with something: [PROJECT BLAH]
• You need source control.
• Make sure to comment and document your code appropriately.
• Don't forget to plan for actual application documentation.

Step 1: Figure Out Requirements

• Depends on who the customer is. Make sure you have the right customer, e.g., don't (only) ask a hospital administrator for requirements for software used by nurses.
• Determine the correct customer's wants and needs.
• Turn wants and needs in requirements documentation.
• Use requirements documentation to manage change.

Step 2: High-Level Design

• Includes:
• Platform Design
• Data Design
• Security Design
• User Interface Design
• etc., etc.
• Should cover all aspects of the requirements documentation.
• Should be abstract and include assumptions about the system but not necessarily final decisions about the system.

Step 3: Low-Level Design

• Describes how the pieces of the high-level design should work
• Defines who should do each piece
• May lead to changes in requirements and high-level design

Step 4: Development

• Refines low-level design until it can be implemented
• Remember to write tests and implement in-dev testing