Software Engineering

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CHAPTER 6 
Impediments to Software Design
became larger and more industry specific, they became known as software applica-
tions. However, the flow-charting techniques could not scale accordingly to express 
these larger design dilemmas.
A series of progressive software methodologies or design techniques were pro-
moted since the 1960s that attempted to improve the software development success 
rates. 
Figure 6.3
 provides a timeline that identifies the emergence of various soft-
ware development methodologies, techniques, and standards.
4
 This figure identifies 
12 topics that are of concern to software engineering or the design of a software 
product, 5 topics that are not related to software engineering, 3 topics associated 
with programming automation, and 7 standards that address software development 
best practices. Each of these categories of topics are briefly addressed in 
Table 6.4
.
Despite all of these efforts by the software industry to regiment the develop-
ment of software products, the state of the practice is still chaotic. It is essential 
for software development approaches to be bolstered by rigorous design techniques 
that can contend with the difficulties associated with developing products out of a 
material known as software. Developing any product requires disciplined adherence 
FIGURE 6.3
The progression of software development methods and standards.
4 
Data extracted and refined from David F. Rico, “Short History of Software Methods.”

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