Software engineering

Software Engineering

Software Engineering (pronounced: /ˈsɒftwɛər ˌɛndʒɪˈnɪərɪŋ/) is a field of study and practice that applies engineering principles and methodologies to the design, development, testing, and maintenance of software systems. The term was coined in the late 1960s to reflect the growing complexity of software systems and the need for methods and tools to manage this complexity.

Etymology

The term "Software Engineering" is a combination of two words: "software" and "engineering". The word "software" was first used in the late 1960s to distinguish the software aspects of computing from the hardware aspects. The word "engineering" is derived from the Latin "ingenium", meaning "cleverness" and "ingeniare", meaning "to contrive, devise". The term "Software Engineering" was first used in the 1968 NATO Software Engineering Conference to denote the application of engineering principles to the field of software development.

Related Terms

Computer Science: The scientific and practical approach to computation and its applications. It is the systematic study of the feasibility, structure, expression, and mechanization of the methodical procedures (or algorithms) that underlie the acquisition, representation, processing, storage, communication of, and access to information.

Programming: The process of creating a set of instructions that tell a computer how to perform a task. Programming can be done using a variety of languages, including C++, Java, Python, and many others.

Software Development: The process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components.

Systems Engineering: An interdisciplinary field of engineering and engineering management that focuses on how to design and manage complex systems over their life cycles.

Software Testing: An investigation conducted to provide stakeholders with information about the quality of the software product or service under test.

Software engineering

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