Chapter 7: Different Perspectives on Software Engineering

Introduction

This chapter explores different points of view of software engineering. It aims to highlight the fact that software engineering can be looked at and examined from different perspectives, each emphasizing a different aspect of the field. The importance of this issue stems from the fact that the discipline of software engineering is still a young and evolving field. Consequently, these different perspectives may have a significant influence on the path it takes.

Naturally, it will be impossible to review in one chapter all these perspectives of software engineering. From among the many possible topics to discuss, the following two are selected: the product versus process perspectives of software engineering [Floyd87], and the agile versus the heavyweight software development methods . We find these topics illustrative as they both emphasize the human aspects of software engineering. In addition, to illustrate the dynamic nature of the discipline and the way it evolves, we present several definitions for software engineering, taken from different stages of its development, and examine what conception of the field each reflects.

This chapter can be viewed as an introduction to an analytic approach that encourages an examination of topics related to software engineering from different angles. Chapter 11, Abstraction and Other Heuristics of Software Development, illustrates this approach by analyzing several of the topics discussed in the book through the lens of abstraction.