Software - Software Engineering - Articles - listings

All the software you need - browse the huge selection at SoftwareStore.com! (Page will open in a new window).

Software - Software Engineering - Articles - web pages

On the Criteria To Be Used in Decomposing Systems into Modules - One of the classic articles leading to modern software engineering, by D.L. Parnas.

Nine Steps to Delivering Defect-Free Software - By a software developer and consultant with over 30 years experience.

Designing and Managing Successful Projects - An overview of some simple principles to attain success designing and implementing new projects

Community for Software Engineers - Offers various resources - including news, articles, forum and job board.

Large Software Systems - Back to Basics - John Evans; Crosstalk, June 2000. The importance of software architecture, and related items such as unambiguous requirements and coding standards.

The Therac-25 Accidents - Case study of a well known software error.

The Programmers' Stone - Recapturing, exploring and celebrating the Art of Computer Programming.

Classic Mistakes Enumerated - Description of 36 ineffective development practices: people-related, process-related, product-related, technology-related. (Sample chapter from Steve McConnell's book Rapid Development.)

Classic Testing Mistakes - The role of testing, Planning the complete testing effort, Personnel issues, The tester at work, Test automation, Code coverage

Introducing Demeter and its Laws - Adaptive Programming - specifying the connections between objects as loosely as possible. Makes programs more flexible, more resilient to change, and more adaptable to varying configurations of classes within a given domain

Sure It Works, But Is It Beautiful: The Relationship Between Software Aesthetics and Quality - Some aspects of the relationship between quality and aesthetics (beauty) in software, using architecture analogies.

Scripting: Higher Level Programming for the 21st Century - The advantages of scripting languages - typeless data, smaller code size, greater reuse, higher productivity. By TCL creator John Ousterhout.

To Hell and Back - CIOs reveal the projects that did not kill them and made them stronger.

Seven Principles Of Software Development - Emphasizes 'soft' issues - attitude, approach.

Ten Things Your Mother Never Told You About the Capability Maturity Model - Margaret Kulpa; Crosstalk, September 1998. Common misconceptions concerning software process improvement and the Software CMM.

Principles of Good GUI Design - Describes the basic rules for all good interfaces - the cardinal dos and don'ts.

High-Pressure Steam Engines and Computer Software - Software safety. Parallels between the early development of high-pressure steam engines and software engineering that we can apply to the use of computers in complex systems.

Orphans Preferred - Characteristics of software developers - personality type, demographics, age, education, attitudes.

Building bug-free O-O software: An introduction to Design by Contract (TM) - Advanced use of assertions for clearer specifications and greater software reliability. By OO guru Bertrand Meyer, creator of Eiffel.

What Do Users Want? Engineering Usability into Software - User-Centered Design. Simple approaches for delivering smaller, simpler systems that better serve the needs of users.

Lessons Learned -- Current Problems - Technical and managerial best/worst practices. Based on study of US Department of Defense software projects.

Successful Engineering Management: 7 Lessons Learned - People management advice for technical people.

The Many Dimensions of the Software Process - Explores the importance and purpose of software process and quality.

Seven Steps to Test Automation Success - This paper presents seven key steps: improve the testing process, define requirements, prove the concept, champion product testability, design for sustainability, plan for deployment, and face the challenges of success.

Heavy Rotation - For business software, faster-cheaper can be better too.

Major Causes of Software Project Failures - Lorin J. May; Crosstalk, July 1998. Based on interviews with software consultants and practitioners who were asked to provide 'autopsies' of failed projects with which they have been acquainted.

Survival Crib Notes: NASA's Success Checklist - 9 Dos and 8 Don'ts for software project success, from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. (Sample chapter from Steve McConnell's book Software Project Survival Guide.)

Essays on System Effectiveness Management - Index to articles written by members of Jerry Weinberg's SEM Group.