A brief glossary of key terms in software engineering
In my initial days as a software engineering student, I was inundated with numerous terms within this field, ranging from scalability to version control and from planning to testing, among many others. You may be like me, so you come to the place where you can find some answers to your questions. Here is a list of important words with examples prepared for you, software enthusiasts. Let’s get started!
Data Accuracy:
It refers to the degree to which data correctly represents the real-world information it is intended to describe. It involves the absence of errors or discrepancies in the data.
In a customer database, data accuracy is crucial. If a customer’s address is recorded as “123 Street” instead of the correct “321 Street,” it could lead to delivery issues. In this case, it is a must to ensure the address information is precise and matches reality enhances data accuracy.
Software Scalability:
It’s about making sure a system or app can handle more work or users without slowing down. This means designing the software to smoothly scale up as demands increase.
Let’s consider an e-commerce website, as the number of users and transactions grows, a scalable system would be able to handle increased traffic by distributing the load across multiple servers or resources. This ensures that the website performs well even during peak times. This provides a positive user experience without significant slowdowns or downtime.
Fluency in the vocabulary of software engineering is the key to turning ideas into reality. It’s the language that transforms concepts into code.
Anonymous
Software Performance:
It describes the behavior and response of a software program or system in terms of speed, responsiveness, and efficiency under various conditions. It involves evaluating the program’s capacity to fulfill specifications and standards.
Let’s onsider again the e-commerce website which should load quickly, and process transactions efficiently. Performance testing would involve evaluating how the website performs under different scenarios, such as simultaneous user loads during a sale event. If the website maintains and quick transaction processing even under high traffic, it demonstrates good performance. Performance testing helps identify and address potential bottlenecks or slowdowns before the website is deployed to the public.
Software Security:
It involves implementing measures to protect computer programs and data from unauthorized access, attacks, and damage. It aims to ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of software systems.
An example of this aspect, using encryption algorithms to safeguard sensitive user information, like passwords, within a financial application, preventing unauthorized access and ensuring data confidentiality.
Software Testing:
It is the process of systematically evaluating a software application or system to identify and rectify any defects. It ensures that it meets specified requirements and functions as intended. It involves executing the software with the intent of finding errors and ensuring its quality.
In the development of a mobile banking application, software testing would involve various stages. Testers would validate that account transactions are accurately recorded, user authentication is secure, and the application performs reliably across different devices and operating systems. Through testing, any issues like login failures or incorrect balance calculations can be identified and addressed before the application is released to users.
Software Maintenance:
It involves activities undertaken to enhance, modify, or fix issues in a software product after its initial release. It includes tasks such as bug fixing, updates, and improvements to ensure the software remains effective and up-to-date with changing requirements and environments.
- Issue: A user reports a bug in a financial software calculation that results in incorrect totals.
- Maintenance: Developers fix the calculation algorithm to ensure accurate results.
Velocity:
It is a metric in Agile development which measures the work completed in a sprint and reflects the effort for user stories. It aids in setting project timelines and improving planning.
Version Control:
It is a system that manages changes to a project’s source code or any other set of files over time. It allows multiple contributors to work collaboratively on a project, tracks modifications, and helps coordinate the integration of these changes. Version control systems (VCS) provide a historical record of changes, enable branching and merging of code, and facilitate collaboration among developers.
Imagine a software development project with multiple team members. They use a version control system (such as Git) to manage their codebase.
1.Initial Commit: This is the start of a project to representing the baseline version of the code.
2. Individual Contributions: Developer A and Developer B work on separate features. They create branches to isolate their changes from the main codebase.
Branch A: - - A1 - - A2 - - A3
\
Branch B: - - B1 - - B23. Merge: Developer A completes their work (A3), and it is merged back into the main branch.
Main: ----A1----A2----A3
\
Branch B: ----B1----B24. Conflict Resolution: Meanwhile, Developer B finishes their work (B2), but when trying to merge, there’s a conflict with the changes made by Developer A. They resolve the conflict and merge their changes.
Main: ----A1----A2----A3----B1----B25. Release: The team decides to release version 1.0 of the software, creating a tag to mark this specific point in the project’s history.
Main: ----A1----A2----A3----B1----B2 (v1.0)Final word: While some terms may appear obvious from constant exposure, the essence lies in mastering them, as advised by my professor. Questioning the fundamentals of software engineering, especially for beginners, fortifies the groundwork to produce a work of high quality. Understanding the context and development metrics is the key to standing out, transcending the role of a mere coder.
