Software engineering: first 50 years of formation and development

Abstract

The article analyzes the main stages of software engineering (SE) development. Based on the analysis of materials from the first SE conferences (1968-1969), it was determined how the software crisis prompted scientists and practitioners to join forces to form an engineering approach to programming. Differences in professional training for SE are identified. The fundamental components of the training of future software engineers are highlighted. The evolution of approaches to the design, implementation, testing and documentation of software is considered. The system scientific, technological approaches and methods for the design and construction of computer programs are highlighted. Analysis of the historical stages of the development of SE showed that despite the universal recognition of the importance of using the mathematical apparatus of logic, automata theory and linguistics when developing software, it was created empirically without its use. The factor that led practitioners to turn to the mathematical foundations of an SE is the increasing complexity of software and the inability of empirical approaches to its development and management to cope with it. The training of software engineers highlighted the problem of the rapid obsolescence of the technological content of education, the solution of which lies in its fundamentalization through the identification of the basic foundations of the industry. It is determined that mastering the basics of computer science is the foundation of vocational training in SE.