Software Engineering: A Methodical Approach

Software Engineering: A Methodical Approach (Second Edition) provides a comprehensive, but concise introduction to software engineering. It adopts a methodical approach to solving software engineering problems, proven over several years of teaching, with outstanding results. The book covers concepts, principles, design, construction, implementation, and management issues of software engineering. Each chapter is organized systematically into brief, reader-friendly sections, with itemization of the important points to be remembered. Diagrams and illustrations also sum up the salient points to enhance learning. Additionally, the book includes the author’s original methodologies that add clarity and creativity to the software engineering experience.

New in the Second Edition are chapters on software engineering projects, management support systems, software engineering frameworks and patterns as a significant building block for the design and construction of contemporary software systems, and emerging software engineering frontiers. The text starts with an introduction of software engineering and the role of the software engineer. The following chapters examine in-depth software analysis, design, development, implementation, and management. Covering object-oriented methodologies and the principles of object-oriented information engineering, the book reinforces an object-oriented approach to the early phases of the software development life cycle. It covers various diagramming techniques and emphasizes object classification and object behavior. The text features comprehensive treatments of:

• Project management aids that are commonly used in software engineering
• An overview of the software design phase, including a discussion of the software design process, design strategies, architectural design, interface design, database design, and design and development standards
• User interface design
• Operations design
• Design considerations including system catalog, product documentation, user message management, design for real-time software, design for reuse, system security, and the agile effect
• Human resource management from a software engineering perspective
• Software economics
• Software implementation issues that range from operating environments to the marketing of software
• Software maintenance, legacy systems, and re-engineering

This textbook can be used as a one-semester or two-semester course in software engineering, augmented with an appropriate CASE or RAD tool. It emphasizes a practical, methodical approach to software engineering, avoiding an overkill of theoretical calculations where possible. The primary objective is to help students gain a solid grasp of the activities in the software development life cycle to be confident about taking on new software engineering projects.

Elvis C. Foster is Professor of Computer Science at Keene State College. He holds a Bachelor of Science (BS.) in Computer Science and Electronics, as well as a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Computer Science (specializing in software engineering and database systems) from University of the West Indies, Mona Jamaica. His research interests include the development as well as evaluation of management support systems for contemporary organizations.

Bradford A. Towle, Jr. is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at Florida Polytechnic University and is the interim-department chair. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree (BS) in Computer Engineering from Montana State University, Master of Science (MS), and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science and Engineering from the University of Nevada, Reno (specializing in artificial intelligence and robotics).