Software Engineering (7th Edition) [Hardcover]

Ian Sommerville (Scientific Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0321210263 | ISBN-13: 978-0321210265 | Publication Date: May 20, 2004 | Edition: 7

Software Engineering presents a broad perspective on software systems engineering, concentrating on widely used techniques for developing large-scale systems. The objectives of this seventh edition are to include new material on iterative software development, component-based software engineering and system architectures, to emphasize that system dependability is not an add-on but should be considered at all stages of the software process, and not to increase the size of the book significantly.

To this end the book has been restructured into 6 parts, removing the separate section on evolution  as the distinction between development and evolution can be seen as artificial. New chapters have been added on:

Socio-technical Systems ¿ discussing the context of software in a broader system composed of other hardware and software, people, organisations, policies, procedures and laws.

Application System Architectures ¿ to teach students the general structure of application systems such as transaction systems, information systems and embedded control systems. The chapter covers 6 common system architectures with an architectural overview and discussion of the characteristics of these types of system.

Iterative Software Development ¿ looking at prototyping and adding new material on agile methods and extreme programming.

Component-based Software Engineering ¿ introducing the notion of a component, component composition and component frameworks and covering design with reuse.
Software Evolution ¿ revising the presentation of the 6th edition to cover re-engineering and software change in a single chapter.

The book supports students taking undergraduate or graduate courses in software engineering, and software engineers in industry needing to update their knowledge.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 784 pages
• Publisher: Addison Wesley; 7 edition (May 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321210263
• ISBN-13: 978-0321210265
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #408,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars good overview of the main issues, April 22, 2005

By 

W Boudville (Terra, Sol 3) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

Software engineering is to computer science what engineering is to physics, as the author suggests. Here, the emphasis is on a higher level than, say, the crafting of algorithms. The scope is for systems analysis, design and implementation. He explains that the traditional waterfall method had many shortcomings. Its monolithic stages often proved unwieldy.

The book goes into alternatives. It also gives a good overall treatment of such ideas as formal specification and architectural design. With an entire chapter focusing on the key ways to have distributed systems architectures. Unsurprisingly, CORBA gets the most extensive description. A reflection of the amount of effort that has gone into using it since the late 80s. However, there is scant mention of its drawbacks. Most important of which has been that the exchange of binary data has been very brittle.

He mentions p2p and Web Services, as contrasting approaches. Where the latter uses XML to exchange data in a readable format. This has been widely seen as a big advantage over CORBA, but the book doesn't mention it. Given the continued rise in Web Services, perhaps a future edition of the book could give it more coverage?

The most controversial part of the text might be the section on Extreme Programming. Its characteristics are well described. But perhaps not enough on its disadvantages. Like the idea of collective ownership of code. Not all programmers have the same ability or expertise. Some programmers are far better than others. It is very bad to have a tyro unwittingly change code for which she has insufficient understanding. While the author may not necessarily agree with this, he should at least describe it.

Other sections of the book, especially on testing software and validating critical system parts, are quite lucid and should excite little disagreement.

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best books I've read, April 18, 2005

By 

Brian Maula "Brian" (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Software Engineering (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

Concise is the best word to describe it. Software Engineering covers a broad range of topics - what are software engineers, documentation, designing, architecture (types and methods) - this book is pretty much my bible on all things software engineering.

Here are some of my recommendations:

Professors: This book is best accompanied if you assign a semester long project. My prof did this and it placed the book into a different light. Half the things don't make sense if you simply read the book such as Data Flow Models or even Project Management, but when you assign a project and coincide the project with the material in the book, it's 100 times more helpful and it elucidates the material more and more.

Students: This book covers a lot, so get ready to learn new terms and methods. This book covers Project Management, which helped me out alot. For the most part, it gives you good material on how to write good documentation as well as methods and styles for how to design or architect software. Read, read, read is the best advice I can give you.

Overall, Amazon's ratings go only as far as 5 stars, I'd give this book a 10. It's a keeper in my library and a book that I'll be referencing for years to come.

2 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Ian Sommerville's Software Engineering, February 28, 2006

By 

Goldeneye (Jersey City, NJ, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Software Engineering (7th Edition) (Hardcover)

A great introductory book on software engineering. It gives you a holistic view of software engineering, but lacks in details. It won't teach you how to draw ER diagrams but it will tell you what they are.