Chapter 23
Maximizing Software Engineering Methods
WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?
- What a software life cycle model is, with examples of the Stagewise Model, the Waterfall Model, the Spiral Model, and RUP
- What software engineering methodologies are, with examples of Agile, Scrum, XP, and Software Triage
- What Source Code Control means
Chapter 23 starts the last part of this book, which is about software engineering. This part describes software engineering methods, code efficiency, cross-platform development, software testing, software debugging, design techniques, and design patterns.
When you first learned how to program, you were probably on your own schedule. You were free to do everything at the last minute if you wanted to, and you could radically change your design during implementation. When coding in the professional world, however, programmers rarely have such flexibility. Even the most liberal engineering managers admit that some amount of process is necessary. Knowing the software engineering process is as important these days as knowing how to code.
This chapter surveys various approaches to software engineering. It does not go into great depth on any one approach — there are plenty of excellent books on software engineering processes. The idea is to cover the different types of processes in broad strokes so you can compare and contrast them. We try not to advocate or discourage any particular methodology. Rather, we hope that by learning about the tradeoffs of several different ...
