Introduction to Software Engineering

Abstract

Welcome and congratulations on your entry to this course in software engineering. The fact that you are in this course means that you have covered several fundamental topics in programming, data structures, and perhaps user interface. You have been writing computer programs to solve basic and intermediate-level problems. Now you want to take your learning experience to another level: you want to learn how to design, develop and manage complex software systems (small, medium sized and large), which may consist of tens or hundreds of programs all seamlessly integrated into a coherent whole. You will learn all of these and more in this course, but first, we must start at the beginning. This chapter introduces you to the discipline of software engineering. Topics covered include the following: