How software engineering differs from other engineering

Engineering: making new stuff Re-engineering: making old stuff better. UML is one of many software engineering tools used to help understand an application and design software for it.

Object-oriented programming is just one possible methodology in the field of software engineering. It is a type of software engineering. See the related questions for a definition of object-oriented programming. Software manufacturing refers to the whole process from scratch to end. Where conventional engineers chemical, mechanical, etc.

Will work with physical objects, soft ware engineers work with software. Software is program which computer language only computer can understand.

Hardware is external devices which fully depend on software instruction and produce effective out come. Posted by AdministratorSoftware engineering is based on computer science, information science and discrete mathematics whereas traditional engineering is based on mathematics, science and empirical knowledge. Traditional engineers construct real artefacts and software engineers construct non-real abstract artefacts.

In traditional engineering, two main concerns for a product are cost of production and reliability measured by time to failure whereas in software engineering two main concerns are cost of development and reliability measured by the no. Both disciplines requires maintenance but in different ways. Software engineers often apply new and untested elements in software projects while traditional software engineers generally try to apply known and tested principles and limit the use of untested innovations to only those necessary to create a product that meets its requirements.

Software engineers emphasize projects that will live for years or decades whereas some traditional engineers solve long-ranged problems that ensure for centuries. Software engineering is about 50 years old whereas traditional engineering as a whole is thousand of years old.

Software engineering is often busy with researching the unknown eg. To drive an algorithm right in the middle of a project whereas traditional engineering normally separates these activities. A project is supposed to apply research results in known or new clever ways to build the desired result.

Software engineering has first recently started to codify and teach best practice in the form of design pattern whereas in traditional, some engineering discipline have thousands of years of best practice experience handed over from generation to generation via a field's literature , standards, rules and regulations.

Log in. Computer Terminology. Customer Interface 8. Technical Manager 9. Information Manager Process Engineer Coordinator Your email address will not be published. The same thing applies to software to a lesser degree. Technology advances. Programming languages become more powerful than they were before.

Processing power increases. All of these things give software professionals more tools with which to work. Those professionals must revise their code and system hierarchies to accommodate the increases in power and efficiency. Sometimes, a customer will provide a company with software tools its employees will already have created. Also, the engineer must talk with the developers so that they know and understand the structure and hierarchy of the programming already in these tools.

Not everything engineers and developers do will be in the context of programming or system building. Often, there will be meetings to attend, classes to take or teach, or even other assignments, as needed, within the company. These employees must be both flexible and capable of doing extra jobs.

The meetings themselves once presented a technical challenge to the folks who designed, tested, and implemented any of the virtual meeting programs. They had to make sure that everyone who joined the meeting maintained a stable connection. They had to make sure, too, that everyone could hear everyone else and that there were sufficient muting capabilities for the meeting leader to keep control in a meeting room that could include dozens, if not hundreds, of people.

These meeting programs also contain video recorders, file sharing capabilities, and much more that facilitates successful online video communication. The developers created each separate function of these apps, and then the engineers stitched them all together to make the whole program. Today, companies and businesses all over the world use these programs to stay productive during a time when face-to-face meetings of any size are impossible.

When bringing new software into being, engineers and developers must remember a few key items that are not part of their lexicon but are nevertheless crucial for success. They need to know that both names and naming conventions matter. They must format everything the same way, such as sticking with the same indentation, capitalization practices, or even spaces between aspects of code.

Terrific code actually looks pleasant. It is not jumbled nor haphazard. Everything is neat and in place. Simple code is better that code that is complex just to be complex.

Code should always and forever only be as complex as it needs to be to complete the assigned functions. Clean, good-looking code is not repetitive either. In Software Engineering Process, most development effort goes into building new designs and features.

In Conventional Engineering Process, most development efforts are required to change old designs. It majorly emphasize on quality. It majorly emphasize on mass production. Recommended Articles. Article Contributed By :. Easy Normal Medium Hard Expert. Writing code in comment?