System and Software Engineering

Systems Engineering and Software Engineering

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Software is prominent in most modern systems architectures and is often the primary means for integrating complex system components. Software engineering and systems engineering are not merely related disciplines; they are intimately intertwined. (See Systems Engineering and Other Disciplines.) Good systems engineering is a key factor in enabling good software engineering.

The SEBoK explicitly recognizes and embraces the intertwining between systems engineering and software engineering, as well as defining the relationship between the SEBoK and the Guide to the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) (Bourque, and Fairley, 2014).

This knowledge area describes the nature of software, provides an overview of the SWEBOK, describes the concepts that are shared by systems engineers and software engineers, and indicates the similarities and differences in how software engineers and systems engineers apply these concepts and use common terminology. It also describes the nature of the relationships between software engineering and systems engineering and describes some of the methods, models, and tools used by software engineers.

Topics

Each part of the SEBoK is divided into knowledge areas (KAs), which are groupings of information with a related theme. The KAs, in turn, are divided into topics. This KA contains the following topics:

Software Engineering in the Systems Engineering Life Cycle

The Nature of Software

An Overview of the SWEBOK Guide

Key Points a Systems Engineer Needs to Know about Software Engineering

Software Engineering Features - Models, Methods, Tools, Standards, and Metrics

Discussion

Software engineers, like systems engineers,

engage in analysis and design, allocation of requirements, oversight of component development, component integration, verification and validation, life cycle sustainment, and system retirement.

work with or as a component specialist (for example, user interface, database, computation, and communication specialists) who construct or otherwise obtain the needed software components.

adapt existing components and incorporate components supplied by customers and affiliated organizations.

These commonalities would make it appear that software engineering is merely an application of systems engineering, but this is only a superficial appearance. The differences between the two disciplines arise from two fundamental issues:

Differences in educational backgrounds (traditional engineering disciplines for SE and the computing disciplines for SWE) and work experiences that result in different approaches to problem-solving, and
Different ways of applying shared concepts based on the contrasting natures of the software medium and the physical media of traditional engineering.