IEEE-SWEBOK-2004

IEEE SWEBOK In spite of the millions of software professionals worldwide and the ubiquitous presence of software in our society, software engineering has only recently reached the status of a legitimate engineering discipline and a recognized profession. Achieving consensus by the profession on a core body of knowledge is a key milestone in all disciplines and had been identified by the IEEE Computer Society as crucial for the evolution of software engineering towards professional status. This Guide, written under the auspices o f the Professional Practices Committee, is part of a multi-year project designed to reach such a consensus. WHAT IS SOFTWARE ENGINEERING? The IEEE Computer Society defines software engineering as: “(1) The application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to the development, operation, and maintenance of software; that is, the application of engineering to software. (2) The study of approaches as in (1).”1