Teaching Software Engineering to Undergraduate System Engineering Sudents

Richard E Fairley

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Conference: 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Vancouver, BC
Publication Date: June 26, 2011
Start Date: June 26, 2011
End Date: June 29, 2011
ISSN: 2153-5965
Conference Session: Developing Systems Engineering Curriculum, Part I
Tagged Division: Systems Engineering
Page Count: 13
Page Numbers: 22.1401.1 - 22.1401.13
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--18941
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/18941
Download Count: 565

Paper Authors

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Richard E Fairley Software and Systems Engineering Associates

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Richard E. (Dick) Fairley is founder and principal associate of Software and System Engineering Associates (S2EA; a consulting and training company) and an Adjunct Professor at Colorado Technical University in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Dr. Fairley has bachelors and masters degree in electrical engineering. His Ph.D. in computer science is from UCLA. He can be contacted at d.fairley@computer.org.

Mary Jane Willshire is a principal associate of S2EA. Dr. Willshire has bachelor's and masters degrees in mathematics. Her Ph.D. in computer science is from Georgia Tech. She can be contacted as mjwillshire@ieee.org.

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Abstract

Teaching Software Engineering Concepts to Undergraduate System Engineering Students By Richard E. (Dick) Fairley and Mary Jane Willshire Corresponding author: d.fairley@computer.org Note to reviewers: This abstract is less than 500 words. Addition of author information has resulted in a document of more than 500 words. ABSTRACT This paper will describe the software engineering concepts that system engineering students need to understand in order to effectively communicate with, and work with software engineers who may be members of their system engineering teams, both as students and as practitioners. In this paper, systems are taken to mean complex arrangements of diverse hardware, software, and people elements that include computing hardware and software. System engineering as conceived by computer engineers is thus subsumed. It is widely recognized that software is the element that binds together the diverse components in modern systems and provides much of the functionality in those systems. However, many system engineering students are never exposed to the ways in which software engineering students are taught (or not taught) to think about systems as complex entities that include hardware, software, people, the interconnections among major system components, and the social/technical environments in which total systems exist. It is somewhat ironic that there should be a disconnect between system engineering education and software engineering education because many of the concepts of software engineering have been adapted from system engineering, including stakeholder analysis, requirements engineering, functional decomposition, design constraints, architectural design, design criteria and design tradeoffs, interface specification, traceability, configuration management, and systematic verification and validation. However, the lack of physical properties and the resulting malleability of software has resulted in differences in the ways the methods and techniques are applied at the system level and at the software level. It is also the case that some methods developed by software engineers, such as model-‐driven development, UML-‐SYSML, use cases, object-‐oriented design, agile methods, continuous integration, incremental V&V, and process modeling and improvement can be, and are being used by system engineers. However, system engineering and software engineering students need to understand the similarities and differences in the ways in which these concepts are applied in each discipline. In addition, the nature of software and the methods used to develop software have resulted in different uses of terminology and emphasis on different aspects of the artifacts produced by system engineers and by software engineers. Some examples: the term “performance” is often used by software engineers in the narrow sense of throughput and response time, whereas system engineers often take performance to mean satisfaction of all the non-‐functional requirements for a system. Safety and dependability are sometimes addressed in software engineering curricula; however, both system and software engineering students need to understand how these issues can and cannot be addressed at the software level. In addition, system-‐engineering students need to understand how software engineers quantify (and do not quantify) non-‐functional considerations such as cost/benefit tradeoffs, risk management, reliability, and MTTF at the system level. This paper will address these and other issues and indicate how software engineering concepts can be injected into undergraduate system engineering curricula. About The Authors: Richard E. (Dick) Fairley is founder and principal associate of Software and System Engineering Associates (S2EA; a consulting and training company) and an adjunct professor at Colorado Technical University in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Dr. Fairley has bachelors and masters degree in electrical engineering. His PhD in computer science is from UCLA. He can be contacted as d.fairley@computer.org. Mary Jane Willshire is a principal associate of S2EA. Dr. Willshire has bachelors and masters degrees in mathematics. Her PhD in computer science is from Georgia Tech. She can be contacted as mjwillshire@ieee.org.

Citation
Format

Fairley, R. E. (2011, June), Teaching Software Engineering to Undergraduate System Engineering Sudents Paper presented at 2011 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Vancouver, BC. 10.18260/1-2--18941

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Teaching  Software  Engineering  Concepts  to  Undergraduate  System  Engineering  Students  By  Richard  E.  (Dick)  Fairley  and  Mary  Jane  Willshire  Corresponding  author:    d.fairley@computer.org    Note  to  reviewers:    This  abstract  is  less  than  500  words.    Addition  of  author  information  has  resulted  in  a  document  of  more  than  500  words.    ABSTRACT         This   paper   will   describe   the   software   engineering   concepts   that   system  engineering  students  need  to  understand  in  order  to  effectively  communicate  with,  and  work  with  software  engineers  who  may  be  members  of  their  system  engineering   teams,   both   as   students   and   as   practitioners.      In   this   paper,  systems   are   taken   to   mean   complex   arrangements   of   diverse   hardware,  software,  and  people  elements  that  include  computing  hardware  and  software.    System  engineering  as  conceived  by  computer  engineers  is  thus  subsumed.          It   is   widely   recognized   that   software   is   the   element   that   binds   together   the  diverse  components  in  modern  systems  and  provides  much  of  the  functionality  in   those   systems.         However,   many   system   engineering   students   are   never  exposed  to  the  ways  in  which  software  engineering  students  are  taught  (or  not  taught)   to   think   about   systems   as   complex   entities   that   include   hardware,  software,  people,  the  interconnections  among  major  system  components,  and  the  social/technical  environments  in  which  total  systems  exist.       It   is   somewhat   ironic   that   there   should   be   a   disconnect   between   system  engineering   education   and   software   engineering   education   because   many   of  the   concepts   of   software   engineering   have   been   adapted   from   system  engineering,   including   stakeholder   analysis,   requirements   engineering,  functional   decomposition,   design   constraints,   architectural   design,   design  criteria  and  design  tradeoffs,  interface  specification,  traceability,  configuration  management,  and  systematic  verification  and  validation.  However,  the  lack  of  physical   properties   and   the   resulting   malleability   of   software   has   resulted   in  differences  in  the  ways  the  methods  and  techniques  are  applied  at  the  system  level  and  at  the  software  level.     It   is   also   the   case   that   some   methods   developed   by   software   engineers,  such   as   model-‐driven   development,   UML-‐SYSML,   use   cases,   object-‐oriented  design,   agile   methods,   continuous   integration,   incremental   V&amp;V,   and   process  modeling   and   improvement   can   be,   and   are   being   used   by   system   engineers.    However,   system   engineering   and   software   engineering   students   need   to  understand   the   similarities   and   differences   in   the   ways   in   which   these  concepts  are  applied  in  each  discipline.      In   addition,   the   nature   of   software   and   the   methods   used   to   develop  software   have   resulted   in   different   uses   of   terminology   and   emphasis   on  different   aspects   of   the   artifacts   produced   by   system   engineers   and   by  software  engineers.    Some  examples:  the  term  “performance”  is  often  used  by  software   engineers   in   the   narrow   sense   of   throughput   and   response   time,  whereas   system   engineers   often   take   performance   to   mean   satisfaction   of   all  the   non-‐functional   requirements   for   a   system.      Safety   and   dependability   are  sometimes  addressed  in  software  engineering  curricula;  however,  both  system  and   software   engineering   students   need   to   understand   how   these   issues   can  and  cannot  be  addressed  at  the  software  level.    In  addition,  system-‐engineering  students   need   to   understand   how   software   engineers   quantify   (and   do   not  quantify)   non-‐functional   considerations   such   as   cost/benefit   tradeoffs,   risk  management,  reliability,  and  MTTF  at  the  system  level.     This  paper  will  address  these  and  other  issues  and  indicate  how  software  engineering   concepts   can   be   injected   into   undergraduate   system   engineering  curricula.         About  The  Authors:  Richard  E.  (Dick)  Fairley  is  founder  and  principal  associate  of  Software  and  System   Engineering   Associates   (S2EA;   a   consulting   and   training   company)   and  an   adjunct   professor   at   Colorado   Technical   University   in   Colorado   Springs,  Colorado.      Dr.   Fairley   has   bachelors   and   masters   degree   in   electrical  engineering.    His  PhD  in  computer  science  is  from  UCLA.    He  can  be  contacted  as  d.fairley@computer.org.  Mary   Jane   Willshire   is   a   principal   associate   of   S2EA.      Dr.   Willshire   has  bachelors  and  masters  degrees  in  mathematics.    Her  PhD  in  computer  science  is  from  Georgia  Tech.    She  can  be  contacted  as  mjwillshire@ieee.org.  
AU  - Richard E Fairley
CY  - Vancouver, BC
DA  - 2011/06/26
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Teaching Software Engineering to Undergraduate System Engineering Sudents
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/18941
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--18941
ER  -