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2005-2548-1119

Software Engineering Standards in the ECET curriculum Ron Krahe Penn State Erie, Behrend College

Abstract

This paper introduces the need for including software engineering standards in the ECET (Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology) curriculum today, and discusses the desired depth of coverage. ECET comprises a broad array of topics, including both hardware and software design and development. Many current electrical and computer systems contain embedded controls of one sort or another, and in nearly all of them, the control affects the safety of the user and others, or impacts the efficacy of the system in some way.

An overview of software standards is followed by a listing of national and international regulatory agencies organizations, including both private industry and public government bodies, who have an interest in software engineering standards. The criticality of software has led to the rapid growth in the use of software engineering standards for designers and developers.

After the brief survey, the paper focuses on the comprehensive set of IEEE software engineering standards as an example. And it puts particular emphasis on condensing the full set to a manageable size to be incorporated in an intermediate embedded systems algorithmic processes course.

Introduction

Others 1, 2, 3 have discussed the need for using formal design methods in engineering courses. However, simply using such methods do not particularly facilitate students buying into a complex problem. Experience has shown that it is not uncommon for students to misinterpret an assignment, to solve the wrong problem, to write programs that contain errors and give the incorrect answers, and then blame everything and everyone other than themselves for the mistakes.

This condition is not unique to the education environment. Numerous examples could be given of lengthy product development projects that yielded defective products; products that didn't meet the customer need, and worse yet, programs that performed a miscalculation and caused damage to equipment, and resulted in human injury and death.

Governments, industry, and user organizations have long realized that it is not sufficient to rely simply on the intelligence, cleverness, and integrity of individuals or organizations to produce worthwhile software. Many sets of standards have been written to better control the process of software development.

Proceedings of the 2005 American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition Copyright (c) 2005, American Society for Engineering Education

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Krahe, R. (2005, June), Software Engineering Standards In The Ecet Curriculum Paper presented at 2005 Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon. 10.18260/1-2--14220