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Scaling Up A Research Agenda for Software Engineering (1989) / Chapter Skim
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3. Engineering Practice
Pages 15-18

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From page 15...
... SHORT-TERM ACTIONS Codify Software Engineering Knowledge for Dissemination and Reuse Codifying existing software engineering knowledge and disseminating it through handbooks would help achieve several desirable ends: increasing the amount of software that can be created routinely, contributing to knowledge reuse, and ultimately, it is hoped, helping to reduce the size of programs, the time required to develop them, the risk of unacceptable errors, and the tendency to reinvent solutions to the same problems. For software engineering to progress as a discipline, far more "routine" software development must be produced routinely.
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From page 16...
... Develop Software Engineering Handbooks Software engineering should follow the lead of other engineering fields, which codify basic knowledge and use handbooks as carriers of common knowledge, thereby reducing the tendency for dispersed practitioners to independently develop solutions to common problems, duplicating effort while diluting progress. Handbooks for such disciplines as mechanical and chemical engineering allow a broad sharing of general and specific technical knowledge, which provides a base for further progress.
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From page 17...
... LONG-TERM ACTIONS Automate Handbook Knowledge 1b maximize the effectiveness of an electronic handbook, advances in several areas that will make such products easy and attractive to use will be necessary. A research initiative aimed at the development of an electronically accessible, interactive software handbook should be inaugurated to develop the following: · concepts and notations for describing designs and components; · techniques for organizing and cataloging designs and components; · techniques and representations for storing, searching, and retrieving designs and components; · codification of routine designs and components for a large variety of types of software and applications; · techniques for evaluating designs and components in terms of engineering tradeoffs; · techniques for modeling and simulating systems based on routine designs and components; · criteria for evaluating and accepting or rejecting handbook entries; and · technology to make the handbook easily usable and easily accessible.
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From page 18...
... In gross terms, software engineering is concerned with the practical aspects of developing software, such as design under various constraints and economic delivery of software products. It overlaps all of the various specialties of software research, including programming languages, operating systems, algorithms, data structures, data bases, and file systems, and it also addresses such cross-cutting qualities as reliability, security, and efficiency.
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Key Terms

  • software development
  • routine designs
  • current software
  • software research
  • software engineers

  • engineering knowledge
  • routine design
  • engineering handbooks
  • network access
  • engineering disciplines

  • produced routinely
  • valuable research
  • independently develop
  • liar soiiware
  • reuse involves

  • classic reference
  • various specialties
  • brute force
  • pragmatic refinement
  • workshop sponsored

  • electronic handbooks
  • disciplines includes
  • remains unmet
  • widely discussed
  • represent reusable

  • rejecting handbook
  • increased productivity
  • minimizing programming
  • engineering consists
  • productivity enhancements


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