Software Engineering for Students A Programming Approach

The organization of this book
The chapters are grouped into sections on:
■ preliminaries
■ design
■ programming languages
■ verification
■ process models
■ project management
■ review.
Preface xxi
Several of these sections present a variety of alternative techniques, for example, a variety
of design approaches.
Case studies
A number of case studies are used throughout the book to illustrate the use of the various
techniques. They constitute a range of typical software systems and are presented
in Appendix A. Many chapters use one of the case studies. The case studies are also used
as part of the exercises at the end of each chapter.
You could also use the case studies as projects carried out in parallel to the study of
this book.
Self-test questions
These are placed throughout the text so that you can check your understanding of topics.
They promote active learning. The answers are at the end of each chapter.
Software tools
With the notable exception of four chapters on languages, we do not have a separate
chapter on software tools. Instead we ask the reader in the exercises to suggest suitable
tools for use with each technique.
Is this all I need to know?
This book is about the theories behind software engineering and gives an explanation
of current techniques. But many people would argue you really need to experience the
reality of software development to fully appreciate the ideas. Probably, therefore, you